A Medical Device Daily

Eastman Kodak (Rochester, New York) reported a two-year agreement that makes it the exclusive supplier of dental X-ray films to SmileCare Family Dentistry, operating more than 60 multi-specialty dental centers in California and Nevada.

SmileCare practices will use Kodak Ultra-Speed Intraoral Dental Film and Kodak T-MAT G Extraoral Dental Film, both high-resolution films offering excellent image quality. SmileCare also will use Kodak's family of Cook-Waite anesthetic products.

In other agreements:

• CareScience (Philadelphia), a division of Quovadx (Greenwood Village, Colorado), providing care management, clinical analysis and clinical quality improvement solutions, reported being named an approved Data Vendor by The Leapfrog Group, a consortium of large companies and purchaser coalitions driving improvements in hospitals.

As a result, CareScience said it will be able to streamline the data submission process for its new and existing customers participating in the Leapfrog Hospital Insights program through its CareScience Standards of Care offering.

Leapfrog Hospital Insights is a voluntary performance measurement program that assesses hospital quality, efficiency and performance in five clinical areas using nationally standardized measures (coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary intervention, acute myocardial infarction, community-acquired pneumonia and deliveries/newborn care).

• FirstHand Technologies (Ottawa, Ontario), which focuses on transforming smart phones and dual-mode devices into business telephones, and NEC Unified Solutions (NEC; Irving, Texas), focused on VoIP and data communications for the enterprise and small-medium business, have entered an agreement to deliver Mobile Unified Communications.

The FirstHand Enterprise Mobility Solution will be fully integrated with the NEC Univerge portfolio. This solution will extend Univerge enterprise functionality to smart phones and dual-mode devices, including BlackBerry RIMs, Nokia E-series devices and Windows Mobile devices, over both the cellular and WiFi networks, creating global-reach mobile extensions.

• Amerinet (St. Louis) reported that Blackhawk Healthcare (Austin, Texas), an owner and operator of rural hospitals, has chosen Amerinet to serve as its sole-source group purchasing organization.

The three-year national sales agreement creates a partnership of shared responsibility to reduce costs and develop new revenue streams through Amerinet's solution-based programs and services.

The partnership will focus on global supply spend management and margin enhancement services, including cost reduction, contract evaluation, contract implementation and program coordination at all of Blackhawk Healthcare's facilities. Amerinet will negotiate contracts on behalf of Blackhawk and provide access to an array of competitively priced products and services.