A Medical Device Daily

Pall Life Sciences (East Hills, New York) said it has agreed to support the New York Blood Center's (NYBC) transition to a new filtration system intended to improve efficiency when removing white blood cells from donated blood.

Pall is a unit of Pall Corp. (East Hills, New York). NYBC is an independent, non-profit, community-based blood collection center.

The Pall technology, Leukotrap RC System with RC2D Filter, incorporates a process (leukoreduction) that provides a blood product with fewer white blood cells. NYBC determined that Pall's new in-line filtration process, which removes white blood cells during processing, would help the center effectively deliver leukoreduced red blood cells to meet increased hospital demand.

"[Our] commitment to this technology will ensure that it can continue to provide the region's hospitals with the blood it needs to meet increasingly stringent requirements," said Robert Jones, MD, NYBC president/CEO. "In-line filtration will help us advance the safe and effective collection of blood while improving plasma yields and increasing platelet availability."

Blood collected by the Pall Leukotrap RC System with RC2D Filter can be stored up to 72 hours at 1 to 6 degrees C before filtration, permitting greater flexibility for staff scheduling. Units that arrive late on Friday can be processed on Monday, reducing the need for Saturday filtration staffing, the company noted. The Pall RC2D Filter design increases the filtration surface area by 50% over single-sided filters. It provides consistent performance across a broad range of processing conditions, resulting in lower white blood cell residuals with greater consistency and reduced filter plugging, Pall said.

"The Pall RC2D Filter is integral to the blood collection system," said Allan Ross, president of the medical business at Pall Life Sciences. "We developed this system to help our customers collect, process and deliver the highest quality blood products utilizing the safest, quickest and most efficient processes."

Pall developed leukocyte reduction filters in the late 1980s and provides of these technologies worldwide to help blood collection centers maximize the value of whole blood donations.

In other agreements and contracts news:

• Emergency Medical Services (EMS; Greenwood Village, Colorado) said it has agreed to be a national provider of hospital-based physician services (emergency department, hospitalist, anesthesiology and radiology), to Community Health Systems Professional Services Corp. (CHSPSC; Franklin, Tennessee) and Quorum Health Resources (QHR; Brentwood, Tennessee), subsidiaries of Community Health Systems. The organization's affiliates own, operate or lease more than 110 hospitals in 28 states and provide hospital management, consulting and advisory services to more than 160 independent community hospitals and health systems throughout the U.S.

According to the three-year agreements with CHSPSC and QHR, facilities may contract for services with EmCare, and will benefit from preferred pricing for certain services provided under the agreement, with opportunities for additional cost savings as more agreements are entered into for hospital-based services.

EMS provides emergency medical services in the U.S. It operates two business segments: American Medical Response, its healthcare transportation services segment, and EmCare Holdings, its emergency department and hospital-based management services segment.

• Hoana Medical (Honolulu) reported a partnership with Kahala Nui, a life care retirement community in Honolulu, to deliver vigilance technology to patients and residents at its Hi'olania Care Center. Kahala Nui joins a list of progressive healthcare facilities by providing the LifeBed Patient Vigilance System technology that tracks a patient's or residents' vital signs, while minimizing the risk of falling out of bed, a major health risk with elderly patients. The LifeBed identifies patients as they begin to deteriorate and immediately notifies the nursing staff. It can alert nurses immediately to changes in a patient's condition, according to the company.

• Zynx Health (Los Angeles) and Cerner (Kansas City, Missouri), a supplier in healthcare information technology solutions, reported expanding their existing strategic relationship.

Currently, Cerner offers ZynxOrder, a solution used by hospital clients to customize and update evidence-based order sets, with its Cerner Millennium computerized provider order entry solution. Under the expanded agreement, Cerner also will offer ZynxCare, a solution used to customize and maintain interdisciplinary plans of care and bring evidence-based knowledge to clinical teams at the point of decision making, with its CareNet and PowerPlan solutions. ZynxCare will provide clinicians with access to more than 150 customizable interdisciplinary plans of care. Use of both ZynxOrder and ZynxCare will empower all providers, including physicians, nurses, and the interdisciplinary care team, to provide patients with consistent, evidence-based care.

• ICU Medical (San Clemente, California), a manufacturer of safe medical connectors, custom medical products and critical-care devices, has entered into a five-year agreement with Premier (San Diego), operator of one of the nation's largest healthcare purchasing networks.

ICU will offer Premier its complete line of Clave and MicroClave needleless IV systems, its custom IV set program, and its "safe handling" oncology products.