A Medical Device Daily
Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of resuscitation devices and related software solutions, reported that it has entered into a multi-year agreement to license Inovise Medical's (Newberg, Oregon) Audicor technology.
The Audicor technology analyzes heart sounds to provide more diagnostic capabilities, in addition to the ECG alone, to aid in diagnosing acute and occasionally occult heart failure.
"Integrating advanced diagnostic technology into our resuscitation equipment further emphasizes our ongoing commitment to improving all aspects of resuscitation and providing clinicians with the most comprehensive set of technologies available to improve outcomes," said Richard Packer, chairman/CEO of Zoll.
Peter Bauer, president of Inovise, added, "Our strategy is to deploy our advanced technology through partners and we are pleased that through Zoll's successful products, more patients and clinicians will benefit from earlier diagnosis and treatment in the near future."
Inovise Medical's technology includes advanced ECG algorithms for improved myocardial infarction detection and Audicor, which evaluates the performance of the heart by analyzing heart sounds and cardiac timing intervals.
In other agreements/contracts news, Roche (Basel, Switzerland) and Google (Mountain View, California) recently started a joint project to demonstrate the feasibility of developing a multidisciplinary surveillance, research and response system. This system will enhance the ability to predict and prevent emerging infectious diseases in East Africa.
Roche has donated a Genome Sequencer FLX system as backbone of this project.
"We are proud to work with Google.org, and the dedicated research organizations in Kenya to bring this technology to a region of the world where novel viruses frequently emerge. We are confident that access to the 454 Sequencing Systems will improve monitoring of novel infectious diseases and enable faster discovery in case of an outbreak," said Chris McLeod, CEO of 454 Life Sciences (Branford, Connecticut), a member of the Roche Group.
The project will focus primarily on arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses), a large group of viruses which frequently cause emergent disease and are transmitted by blood-sucking insects and their arthropod cousins, such as ticks.
• IntraNexus (Virginia Beach, Virginia) said that Advocate Health Care (Oak Brook, Illinois) has signed an agreement to extend its license for IntraNexus Sapphire Patient Financial Management software suite for three years. The extension, which covers all nine of Advocate's hospitals, continues a relationship begun 16 years ago, making Advocate one of IntraNexus' longest-running clients.
• The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS; Olympia, Washington) has awarded a $19 million, five-year contract to fight and prevent Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse to Ingenix (Eden Prairie, Minnesota), an information, technology and consulting services company.
Washington's initial investment in the contract is funded by a $5.9 million Medicaid Transformation Grant awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The grant application to CMS outlined the goal of creating a second-generation fraud and abuse detection system.
Washington's DSHS has worked with Ingenix and other subject matter experts to mine healthcare claims data. Using Ingenix rules-based algorithms, peer group models, data analysis tools and provider self-review functionalities, DSHS was able to identify, prevent, and/or recover inappropriate payments to healthcare providers.
The new contract with Ingenix will enhance the State's Medicaid Program Integrity efforts.