Health Industry Today articles from September 1999

Health Industry Today archives from September 1999

Internet marketing to physicians creating footprint for providers >BY John Dalton.
September 1, 1999... E-commerce marketers looking to make their presence known in physician offices have come to realize they have a foot in the door but they aren't home yet. The proliferation of on-line sites that allow doctors to order devices and...

HemaSure corporate heart healthy as pulse rate of filter market rises.
September 1, 1999... As the worldwide market for blood leukocyte filters rises, so does the corporate heartbeat of HemaSure, Inc., once considered nearly dead on arrival but now resting comfortably with a promising shot at leading a profitable life. The new...

customers.com offers good starting point for planning medical device e-commerce >BY Donald E. L. Johnson.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Manufacturers and distributors are investing millions of dollars in Web sites that are bringing in new customers and improving customer service for existing ones. Those are the three most important things to know about corporate Web...

Owens & Minor.(Owens & Minor has completed its purchase of Medix Inc.)
September 1, 1999... Owens & Minor, Richmond, Va., has completed its purchase of Medix, Inc., a distributor of med/surg supplies headquartered in Waunakee, Wis. The sale closed following review by the Federal Trade Commission under the Hart-Scott-Rodino...

Bioject Medical Technologies, Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Bioject Medical Technologies, Inc., Portland, Ore., a manufacturer of jet injection technology for needle-free drug delivery, and its joint venture partner, Elan Corp., have announced that a third development partner, Marathon Medical...

Picker International.
September 1, 1999... Picker International, Cleveland, has won an industrial design award for its Mx8000 multislice computer tomography (CT) scanner. The device, according to I.D. Magazine, "sets the benchmark for contemporary design." Now in it 45th year,...

Medtronic, Inc.(Medtronic Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Boston Scientific Corp. and SciMed Life Systems)
September 1, 1999... Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Boston Scientific Corp., Natick, Mass., and SciMed Life Systems, Osseo, Minn. to enforce the Jervis nitinol patents it acquired from Raychem, Menlo Park, Calif.,...

Terumo Corp.(purchases 3M's cardiovascular units)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Terumo Corp., Tokyo, has closed on its acquisition of the cardiovascular business units of 3M, St. Paul, Minn. The units consist of hardware and disposables used for patient support during open heart surgery and are expected to add in excess...

Luxtec Corp.(contract with RMS International)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Luxtec Corp., Worchester, Mass., has extended its master distributor agreement with RMS International of Boston in hopes of broadening its international marketing coverage. RMS, a specialty medical device distributor that sells and...

Joint Purchasing Corp.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Joint Purchasing Corp. cooperatives adding life to traditional buying plan of old-line company A 77-year-old institution within the group purchasing industry has adopted some new ways, and the result has been a shot in the arm for its...

The idea that a training class concentrating on national account sales and marketing can be conducted on a not-for-profit basis may go hand-in-hand with the philosophy of the presenters.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... "I suppose it is a continuation," chuckles Jack Nally of Corporate Contracts, Inc. (CCI). "Considering that dealing with national accounts is undergoing a redirection -- that there's less emphasis on selling an individual product than...

BBA of 1997 decimating home health, therapy merger & acquisition market.
September 1, 1999... A report issued by Irving Levin Associates, Inc., New Canaan, Conn., indicates that in the past 12 months merger and acquisition volume in the home health care, contract rehabilitation therapy and institutional pharmacy markets has dropped...

Physician practice management groups growing despite setbacks, says SMG.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Faced with ineffective management and the integration of facilities and physicians, as well as the rapid acquisition of practices, physician practice management companies (PPMs) are beginning to recover from a disappointing 1998, says SMG...

Growth opportunities booming for cardiothoracic surgery, says MDI.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery (MICS) products and procedures are rapidly penetrating the traditional cardiothoracic surgery market and are projected to reach nearly 40% annual growth over the next few years, says a report issued...

Health care industry share prices up by just 1.1% in first half of 1999.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Health care industry share prices showed anemic growth in the first six months of 1999, rising 1.1% but rebounding from a 4.7% decline in the first quarter of the year, says HealthCare Markets Group, Hilton Head Island, S.C. The upswing...

Manufacturers targeting managed care sales can aid search with new database from MCIC.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Medical device manufacturers and sales and marketing executives selling to managed care organizations can target prospects using the Web-based National Managed Care Organizations Online Database, a new offering researched and developed by the...

Preventing, reducing med device safety risks is the goal of online info from Chubb Group, ECRI.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Medical device manufacturers and the organizations and people who use those devices stand to benefit from a new database offered by The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and ECRI. The Medical Device Safety Reports (MDSR) is a Web-based...

Smaller device companies looking for buyout advised that big firms don't hold all the cards.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Small and mid-sized medical device companies looking for a buyout by a larger firm can find themselves in precarious positions. Mostly shut out, at least momentarily, from public money as a result of the recent poor performance of small-cap...

MDMA takes vinyl case to state legislatures; says FDA should limit Web reprocessing promos.(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... In the wake of what at first seemed quick and expeditious resolution of the vinyl medical device mini-tempest-in-a-teapot (see Health Industry Today, August, 1999), Washington, D.C.-based Medical Device Manufacturers Assn. (MDMA) has taken...

New health industry coalition calling for restoration of Medicare reductions.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... A grassroots health care group called the Coalition to Fix Medicare Now! formed by organizations representing health professionals, consumer advocates and health care providers has launched its effort to restore Medicare cuts it says...

Varian Medical Systems.(contract with Health Services Corporation of America)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, Calif., has renewed a sole source contract to supply Health Services Corp. of America (HSCA) members with systems for treatment cancer with radiotherapy through the year 2002. The contract covers Varian's...

Henry Schein.(signs contract with Long Island College Hospital, New York)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Henry Schein, Inc., Melville, N.Y., through its Caligor Medical Supply Division, has signed a four-year, $15 million, low unit of measure contract with Long Island College Hospital, a New York-area facility that is part of Continuum Health...

Toshiba America Medical Systems.(contract with Appalachian Regional Healthcare)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Toshiba America Medical Systems, Tustin, Calif., has signed an exclusive, four- year contract to provide diagnostic imaging systems to Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH), a private, not-for-profit integrated delivery network based in...

Owens & Minor, Richmond, Va.(contract with TriHealth)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Owens & Minor, Richmond, Va., has signed a five-year supply agreement with TriHealth of Cincinnati. The agreement is expected to generate an estimated $25 million annually in sales. TriHealth consists of Bethesda Oak, Bethesda North and Good...

Sunrise Medical Inc.(contracts with Novation University HealthSystem Consortium)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... Sunrise Medical Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., through its Home Healthcare Group, has signed a pair of contracts with Novation, the supply company of VHA Inc. and the University HealthSystem Consortium. The sole-source contracts stipulate that...

GE Medical Systems.(GE Medical Systems will provide diagnostic imaging equipment and services for Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation)
September 1, 1999... GE Medical Systems, Waukesha, Wis., has announced a new long-term strategic relationship to provide diagnostic imaging equipment and services for Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation. The multi-year agreement is valued at more than $1.5...

AmeriNet, Inc.(AmeriNet, Inc. has signed an agreement with Ethicon, Inc., and Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., for wound closure products)
September 1, 1999... AmeriNet, Inc., St. Louis, has signed a four-year agreement with Ethicon, Inc., and Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., for wound closure products. The agreement took effect Sept. 1, 1999, and covers such products as sutures, surgical mesh, pacing...

Olympus America, Inc.(Olympus America Inc. has signed a sole-source, three-year contract with Premier Inc.)
September 1, 1999... Olympus America, Inc., Melville, N.Y., has signed a sole-source, three-year contract with Premier, Inc., to be the exclusive provider of flexible endoscopy products and a dual-source provider of surgical endoscopy products for Premier...

Mallinckrodt Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Mallinckrodt Inc., St. Louis, and Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., San Diego, have extended by two years an existing agreement under which the Mallinckrodt, Nellcor and Puritan Bennett product lines will be provided to Premier Purchasing...

Medex, Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Medex, Inc., Dublin, Ohio, and HSCA, Cape Girardeau, Mo., have agreed to a three-year renewal of their national supply contract covering Medex' line of vascular access products and patient monitoring and infusion systems. The renewal became...

Medrad, Inc.
September 1, 1999... Medrad, Inc., Pittsburgh, and AmeriNet Inc., St. Louis, have entered into a three-year contract under which Medrad will supply the GPO with pressure injectors and injector syringes. With the agreement, Medrad becomes AmeriNet's primary source...

Shared Services Healthcare Inc.(contracts with Johnson and Johnson and Kimberly Clark)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Shared Services Healthcare Inc., Atlanta, has awarded a three-year, dual-source contract for disposable surgical packs, gowns and related products to Johnson & Johnson and Kimberly Clark. Total combined sales are expected to exceed $10...

Siemens Medical Systems, Inc.
September 1, 1999... Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., Iselin, N.J., and Novation, Irving, Tex., have extended a previous agreement with the University HealthSystem Consortium for an additional six months. The contract, valid until Dec. 31, 1999, is for nuclear...

Spinal cage intro by Medtronic Sofamor Danek followed by preliminary injuction vs. competitor.
September 1, 1999... Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Minneapolis, followed its announcement of FDA clearance for its INTER FIX spinal fusion cage and mid-summer marketing introduction (Health Industry Today, August, 1999) with the announcement that it has secured a...

New breast biopsy system approved in Canada, U.S. OK expected to follow.
September 1, 1999... A variation of a minimally invasive breast biopsy device manufactured by Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., Cincinnati, has been approved for use in Canada and is expected to receive FDA clearance for U.S. applications in the near future. The...

Kodak says new imaging system to be available nationwide.
September 1, 1999... Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., used the American Healthcare Radiology Administrators meeting in Orlando, Fla., to announce the nationwide availability of its new Distributed Medical Imaging System for referral printing of imaging...

Kensey Nash begins testing of Aegis vein graft device.(Brief Article)
September 1, 1999... Kensey Nash Corp., Exton, Pa., has begun clinical trials of its Aegis Vortex System, a device designed to open occluded saphenous vein grafts (SVG) in patients who previously received coronary bypass surgery but now have blockages in the...

LaserSight excimer laser system completes FDA QS/GMPI.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... LaserSight Inc., Winter Park, Fla., took another step toward market approval when its LaserScan LXS excimer laser system successfully completed the FDA's Quality System/Good Manufacturing Practices Inspection following field inspection of the...

McKinley expands its IV infusion market with approval for European distribution.
September 1, 1999... McKinley Medical, LLLP, Wheat Ridge, Colo., has received the CE Mark for its new WalkMed[umlaut] Plus Ambulatory Infusion Pump and will begin selling the multi-therapy pump in Europe. Introduced in March, 1999, the WalkMed Plus is...

FIT hoping new light source will brighten marketing vision.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 1999... Fiber Imaging Technologies (FIT), a subsidiary of Luxtec Corp., Worcester, Mass., has developed what it calls the surgical vision market's brightest lightweight xenon light source and says it hopes the new product, the Model JD300X, will...

VIDAR debuts film digitizers for oncology treatment planning.
September 1, 1999... VIDAR Systems Corp., Herndon, Va., has introduced new medical film digitizers developed to meet oncology community needs for treatment planning and radiation dosimetry. The VIDAR[umlaut] VXR-16 and VXR-16 DosimetryPro Film Digitizers...

Former division of Smith & Nephew finds new name and marketing direction.
September 1, 1999... In a move the company says it hopes will reflect continued success and further growth, the former Brace and Support Systems Division of Smith and Nephew, Inc., Vista, Calif., which included the DonJoy[umlaut] and ProCare[umlaut] orthopedic...

Portability a selling point, says Varian of new system.
September 1, 1999... Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, Ca., has introduced a transportable version of its high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy system that is used in the treatment of gynecological, lung, prostate and other cancers. Moving traditional...

Show biz.
September 1, 1999... Editor's Note: If a trade show or expo you are or were involved with increased (or decreased) the number of participants, exhibitors or floor space, let HIT know. We're also interested in your reactions to today's trade shows. Contact...

Tissue repair, replacement, regeneration to be spotlighted by Techvest, LLC.
September 1, 1999... Techvest, LLC, New York, will host the Tissue Repair, Replacement and Regeneration Conference Oct. 27-28, 1999, at the New York Marriott East Side Hotel. More than 45 biotechnology and biomedical companies, both public and private, will...

Eye physicians, surgeons hold joint medical meeting.
September 1, 1999... More than 26,000 people are expected to attend the joint meeting of two of the world's leading medical eye associations -- the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Pan-American Assn. of Ophthalmology. The 103rd Annual Meeting of the...

HIGPA 1999 International EXPO to showcase The GPO Pavilions.
September 1, 1999... Health Industry Group Purchasing Association's 1999 International EXPO, to be held Oct. Oct. 20-22 at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa, Palm Desert, Calif., will highlight The GPO Pavilions, proving trading partner company...