Masimo expands $500,000 guarantee

Masimo (Irvine, California) reported that it is expanding its $500,000 performance guarantee to include all commercially available pulse oximetry technologies. It said that if, after side-by-side hospital evaluation, Masimo SET does not outperform any other commercially available pulse oximetry technology under the most challenging conditions of motion and low perfusion, it will pay up to $500,000 towards the purchase of that pulse oximetry system. The offer is available only to hospitals whose goal is to upgrade their pulse oximetry hospital-wide.

"We are hopeful that decision makers within hospitals see this guarantee as a can't lose offer," said Joe Kiani, founder and CEO of Masimo. "If the evaluation proves that their level of care can be improved with Masimo SET, not only will they benefit from improved patient outcomes and safety, but in most cases, the conversion can be completed with no capital outlay and no increase in annual operating costs."

He said that if the evaluation proves that Masimo is not the best performing technology in this application, the hospital will receive $500,000 towards the purchase of another technology that can deliver similar patient care benefits.

Half of women don't get annual mammogram

Nearly half (49.6%) of women 40 and older say they do not receive an annual mammogram as recommended by the American Cancer Society (Atlanta), according to a recent online survey of more than 680 women conducted by Eastman Kodak's (Rochester, New York) Health Group and Zoomerang (San Francisco) in December 2006.

A large percentage of women indicate they are aware of the significant threat breast cancer poses and the frequency with which they should receive a mammogram examination, but cite a number of reasons as why they do not. Of those that do know how often they should have a mammogram examination, 32% said they do not follow the recommended timeframes. The biggest reasons for not following these recommendations include lack of medical insurance (19%), followed by not considering it a high priority (15%) and not believing they are at risk (12 %).

More than 37% of women say they do not know how often they should have a mammogram based on their age and risk level.

The survey also revealed that 37% of women perceive technology to be the No. 1 factor in receiving a high quality mammogram,and that 59% of women said they would be willing to travel a further distance for a digital exam, even though digital mammography technology has not been shown to offer an advantage over conventional mammography for women with average breast density.