Fending off threat from Baxter, Owens & Minor holds most VHA business. (Baxter Hospital Supply; Owens and Minor Inc.; VHA Inc.)

Owens & Minor has apparently shrugged off dire predictions concerning the retention of its linchpin business with VHA Inc., the Irving, Texas-based group that accounts for as much as half of all Owens annual revenue. Doubt from many quarters arose early this year when Baxter Hospital Supply, McGaw Park, Ill., was granted authorized distribution agent (ADA) status by VHA, giving Baxter a chance to snare a portion of business away from Owens and the two other ADAs, Shared Service Systems of Nebraska (which has 26 VHA customers) and the Burrows Co., Wheeling, Ill. (which has 85), in toe-to-toe competition. VHA member organizations were given until March 31 to select their ADA. …