A Medical Device Daily

Seeking to continue its service to military personnel, their families and retirees, and its operation in support of the Department of Defense's (DoD) Tricare healthcare program, TriWest Healthcare Alliance (Phoenix) reported that it submitted its bid to continue to support the DoD in the delivery of healthcare for the 2.7 million beneficiaries residing in the 21-state West Region.

"It has been our honor and privilege over the past 12 years to contribute to the health and well-being of military families and those brave men and women who so selflessly serve in defense of freedom and we hope to continue to do so for years to come," said TriWest president/CEO David McIntyre Jr.

"If afforded the privilege of continuing to serve those we count as heroes, we will maintain our strong record of stewardship toward those we serve, the 135,000 healthcare providers who partner with us in this endeavor, and the taxpayer," he added. "We will continue to support our Military Health System partners with solid, effective and efficient programs that are fair, transparent, and deliver an optimal outcome."

TriWest Healthcare Alliance was founded by a group of locally based not-for-profit healthcare entities in 1995 to administer the DoD's Tricare contract for the 16-state Tricare Central Region. In 2003, TriWest doubled in size when it was awarded the successor contract to administer the Tricare program in the new 21-state West Region. The new bid is a re-compete for the same 21-state region.

In other grants and contracts news:

• Wound Management Technologies (WMT; Fort Worth, Texas) said it has signed a commission-based sales agreement for its wound care product, CellerateRx, with EWA Government Systems (Herndon, Virginia).

CellerateRx's collagen fragments are a fraction of the size of native collagen molecules found in other products, and provide the benefits of collagen to the body immediately. The product provides a range of use, cost savings and patient friendliness.

"We believe that this agreement is a huge step for us, and that EWA GSI's capabilities in marketing our product represent a strong alliance with a major distributor that facilitates the needs of government entities," said Scott Haire, CEO of WMT.

The agreement grants to EWA GSI the right to market both the gel and powder forms of CellerateRx and will be compensated strictly on a commission basis for products sold.

• The healthcare business of Thomson Reuters (Ann Arbor, Michigan) has been selected to assist in providing data analysis services for Kentucky's Medicaid fraud detection program.

Thomson Reuters will provide these services as a subcontractor to Health Care Excel, a healthcare utilization management and quality improvement organization. Health Care Excel is providing surveillance and utilization review services to the Kentucky Medicaid program.

• Luminetx (Memphis) reported that it has signed a three-year supplier contract with Novation (Irving, Texas), a group purchasing organization.

Novation is the healthcare contracting services company of VHA, University Health System Consortium (Oak Brook, Illinois) and Provista (Irving, Texas). Through the deal, the company's 14,500-plus member base will have access to custom Novation group purchasing discounts as they relate to the VeinViewer, Luminetx's vascular imaging system that allows healthcare professionals to clearly see accessible vasculature (or lack thereof) in real time.