A Medical Device Daily

MedAssets Supply Chain Systems (Atlanta) reported selecting Inviro Medical Devices (Atlanta) to provide MedAssets customers access to Inviro's portfolio of safety hypodermic needle and syringe products, as of March 1.

MedAssets said it selected Inviro through an assessment conducted at its Technology and Innovation Forum in September, one of its annual forums that showcases companies of all sizes with medical technologies. These companies are reviewed and ranked by the MedAssets' customer advisory committees.

John Kautzer, director of distribution, said, "The recently completed agreement with Inviro Medical brings a unique safety technology to our mutual customers. It also helps broaden the overall safety portfolio that MedAssets offers."

Jim Charlesworth, senior VP of sales for Inviro, said, "The clinical response to our line of safety products during the MedAssets Supply Chain Systems Technology and Innovation Forum was extremely positive, and mirrors what we've seen across the country."

Inviro engineers medication delivery systems focused on safety, including the patented InviroSNAP! Safety Syringe for the $1.6 billion safety syringe market and introducing its breakthrough infection control technology in North America. The SNAP! Safety Syringe, a manually retractable syringe device. After using standard technique to administer a medication dose, the clinician pulls the plunger back, causing the needle to retract inside the barrel. The plunger is then snapped off, permanently disabling the device.

MedAssets says its clients include more than 2,400 hospitals and 25,000 non-acute care healthcare providers

In other agreement news:

Hospital products firm Hospira (Lake Forest, Illinois) reported collaborations with several industry leaders to ensure the compatibility of Hospira's medication management products with other hospital information technologies. These companies include Cerner and Cerner Bridge Medical; McKesson; and Siemens Medical Solutions.

By improving the flow of essential patient and clinical data throughout the hospital, this work can help prevent intravenous (IV) medication delivery errors and lead to better care. Hospira will be exhibiting several of these products at this week's Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting in New Orleans.

Symeria Hudson, vice president, Marketed Products, Global Devices. "As we interface our products with other leading industry platforms, we can better help hospitals advance healthcare quality."

Hospira says it is working with several leading hospital information system providers to establish communications between their medication management solutions and its own.

The company says it is working on these projects with specialized industry leaders, including: InnerWireless (Richardson, Texas), for system designed to guarantee wireless coverage inside hospitals); Omnicell (Mountain View, California) for bedside medication administration system; and Orion Health (Santa Monica California), for clinical workflow and integration technology).