A Medical Device Daily

DR Systems (San Diego), a provider of medical imaging and information systems for diagnostic imaging centers and hospitals and manufacturer of the Unity RIS/PACS, reported nine new contracts with healthcare facilities, totaling more than $3.8 million.

The nine contracts are with Sierra Vista Diagnostics (Sierra Vista, Arizona); Presbyterian Hospital of Rockwall (Rockwall, Texas); Glendale Memorial Hospital & Health Center (Glendale, California); Charleston Radiologists P.A. (Charleston, South Carolina); Mercy Hospital (Bakersfield, California); Mercy Southwest Hospital (Bakersfield); Buena Vista Regional Medical Center (Storm Lake, Iowa); Global Imaging (Sugarland, Texas); Imaging Center of Las Cruces Radiology Associates (Las Cruces, New Mexico).

These facilities range from diagnostic imaging centers to a 346-bed hospital, with contract size ranging from $100,000 to $800,000.

In other contract news: I-Flow (Lake Forest, California) reported that it has secured additional contracts with insurance companies to cover ON-Q for patients having outpatient surgeries across the U.S. This brings the total number of U.S. lives covered to 57 million, increasing the number of insurance contracts to 48.

Separately, in January 2006, Medicare reported a change in designation of the code that includes ON-Q (A4306) to be a payable covered benefit and, therefore, medically necessary under the hospital outpatient payment system. A year later, this ruling was expanded to include Medicare coverage of ON-Q under the facility rate for patients having their surgeries performed in non-hospital-based Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs).

Finally, the increasing recognition of ON-Q as a reimbursable expense by private payers for outpatient procedures indicates an industry-wide trend of the growing acceptance of ON-Q as replacing the current standard of care (narcotics) for post-surgical pain relief.

I-Flow develops drug delivery systems and surgical products for post-surgical pain relief and surgical site care.