A Medical Device Daily
Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and Volcano (Rancho Cordova, California), a developer of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) systems and imaging catheters, reported compatibility between the Philips Allura Xper FD systems and Volcano's s5i suite of integrated IVUS systems.
This compatibility allows clinicians to connect the Volcano IVUS system with the Allura Xper FD when additional imaging is required to complement cardiovascular X-ray during cath lab procedures, the companies said. By cutting down the time it takes to set up these key cath lab systems, customers of both companies will optimize workflow and increase productivity.
Philips said it has acknowledged Volcano as a non-exclusive vendor of choice for new cath lab installations which specify integrated IVUS capabilities.
Volcano offers a suite of devices designed to facilitate endovascular procedures, enhance the diagnosis of vascular and structural heart diseases and guide optimal therapies.
Philips develops diagnostic imaging and monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, personal care and home appliances and consumer electronics.
In other agreement news:
• HealthInfoNet (Salt Lake City) said it has selected 3M Health Information Systems division (St. Paul, Minnesota) as its vendor to provide the interoperability solution needed to build one of the nation's first statewide health information-sharing networks.
Following a national search, 3M and its partners, Orion Health (Santa Monica, California) and Connectria (St. Louis), were chosen to create an integrated health information system in Maine. The parties said they are negotiating a definitive agreement.
Following a three-year planning and development process, HealthInfoNet's first-stage implementation phase will permit rapid access to patient-specific healthcare data at the point of care and across networks, hospital systems and state lines. Maine is one of nine states chosen by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to gather and report information to help establish best practices for HIE projects and Regional Health Information Organizations.
3M Health Information will deliver an interoperable system that includes the 3M Clinical Data Repository, 3M Enterprise Master Person Index and 3M Healthcare Data Dictionary. Orion Health will provide its Concerto Medical Applications Portal, Rhapsody Integration Engine, and Concerto Forms solution. Connectria will supply remote hosting services.
HealthInfoNet is a public/private partnership governed by a board of directors that includes providers, employers, consumers, payers and state government.
Orion will provide Maine HealthInfoNet with its Concerto Medical Applications Portal to review and report patient data and its Rhapsody Integration Engine to ensure smooth communication between new and existing information management systems and partner applications.
Connectria delivers a range of enterprise hosting and infrastructure outsourcing solutions to more than 200 large and mid-sized organizations worldwide.
• Quidel (San Diego), a provider of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tests, said it has entered into a supply agreement for its QuickVue immunochemical Fecal Occult Blood (iFOB) test with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina).
The QuickVue iFOB patient collection kits will be distributed to patients throughout LabCorp's patient service centers and affiliated physician offices, and the QuickVue iFOB tests will be used at LabCorp's 36 regional laboratories. The QuickVue iFOB test is used to detect the presence of blood in stool specimens, an indication of a number of gastrointestinal disorders.
Quidel's products includes tests that aid in the diagnosis of several disease or condition states, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, fecal occult blood, Strep A, pregnancy, bacterial vaginosis, infectious mononucleosis, H. pylori and Chlamydia.
LabCorp says it is the first in its industry to embrace genomic testing.