A Medical Device Daily

The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati , the largest integrated delivery network in southwest Ohio, reported that it will purchase from Hospira (Lake Forest, Illinois) its Plum A+ infusion devices with the wireless Hospira MedNet system for intravenous (IV) drug delivery for its seven hospital facilities and another planned hospital.

Health Alliance said the contract is one of the largest clinical equipment purchases in the its 11-year history, a significant placement for Hospira and a first for the healthcare industry using an electronic real-time bidding process called a reverse auction coordinated by group purchasing organization Broadlane (Dallas).

The Health Alliance said it will replace all IV pumps across its all locations over the next year with the Hospira infusion devices and customizable safety software to help improve overall IV quality and safety.

Hospira MedNet software is designed to facilitate the distribution and documentation of hospital-specific medication dosing best practices at the bedside. The customizable software has been enhanced to store up to 2,700 I.V. drug and fluid names in a hospital-defined drug library, while providing area-specific limits for up to 18 clinical care areas.

The wireless version of the Hospira MedNet system works with other hospital technologies to establish real-time send-and-receive capability and link to the hospital information system network.

In making the contract decision, the alliance noted the high rate of adverse drug events in hospital and the recommendation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (Washington) and patient advocacy groups to use wireless technology to prevent IV drug errors.

“This purchase agreement is first and foremost about patient safety and quality of care,” said Dennis Robb, senior VP of supply chain management for the alliance. “That’s why we engaged nurses, pharmacists, physicians, bio-engineers and information technology specialists from each hospital to review and select the product that met the end-user’s criteria for high quality, safe delivery of IV medications.”

The Plum A+ infusion therapy pump helps hospital staff intercept and prevent errors through a therapy confirmation screen and a dose calculator. The screen requires a clinician to review and confirm drug, dose, concentration and weight before infusion begins; and the calculator defaults to recommended units of concentration for the selected drugs.

Linda Day, Broadlane’s executive VP for contracting services, said the contract “further cements Broadlane’s emergence as the leader in using Web-based sourcing (e-Sourcing) capabilities in the healthcare industry.”

In other contract news:

• In other news from Broadlane, the organization reported that Toshiba America Medical Systems (TAMS; Tustin, California) was the winner in a live capital equipment group buy conducted for computed tomography (CT). Participating in person at the event last week were 23 Broadlane hospital client experts representing four hospital systems and more than $22 million in anticipated spending during the next 12 months in this category.

Financial terms of the award were not announced.

As a result of the Broadlane group buy, it said participating healthcare systems will save about 15% over the next 12 months from what they expected they would have to spend on this category of equipment.

In grant news:

• GT Urological (Minneapolis), a company developing products to treat urinary incontinence, reported being awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health . The amount of the award was not disclosed.

Gerald Timm, PhD, GT Urological’s president and co-founder and founder of a number of urological device companies, including Mentor (Carlsbad, California), was named as the principal investigator.

“This SBIR Phase I grant will allow GT Urological to study the feasibility of its latest concept for an implantable artificial urinary sphincter,” said Timm.

Founded in 2002, GT Urological said it has been the recipient of two previous SBIR Phase I grants from the NIH within the area of urological implants for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). GT Urological also markets the ActiCuf Compression Pouch, an external management device designed to prevent leakage in men experiencing light-to-moderate urinary incontinence following prostate surgery.