A Medical Device Daily

Harris (Melbourne, Florida) has been awarded a one-year, $14 million contract by Evolvent Technologies to develop and implement the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) military health system's global Healthcare Artifact and Image Management Solution (HAIMS).

The contract is for one year, with potential for four one-year incentive options.

HAIMS will provide all 65 hospitals and medical centers within the global DoD healthcare system, as well as dental and medical clinics, enterprise-wide access and viewing of healthcare artifacts and images. The program also enables seamless access for beneficiaries supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Under the contract, Harris will provide program management, software design, systems development, and test and evaluation expertise for the web-based HAIMS solution.

"HAIMS is a next-generation approach to global military healthcare delivery and a defining step toward the new Military Health System (MHS) enterprise architecture," said Jim Traficant, vice president of Harris Healthcare Solutions. "This breakthrough approach will help save lives and improve care for our wounded warriors, veterans and their families over the full continuum of care."

In other agreements/contracts news:

• CryoLife (Kennesaw, Georgia) reported that it has been awarded roughly $1.7 million under the Department of Defense appropriations bill to continue development of CryoLife's protein hydrogel technology. Preclinical studies of the company's BioFoam Surgical Matrix, a protein hydrogel product under development for organ sealing, are nearing completion.

This grant will help fund upcoming clinical studies of BioFoam in the U.S.

In December 2008, CryoLife received conditional approval from the FDA to conduct the feasibility phase of its BioFoam IDE submission for liver parenchyma sealing.

• AmeriHealth New Jersey (Mt. Laurel, New Jersey) reported several new and extended multi-year contracts with health systems across the state that will enable AmeriHealth New Jersey members who participate in all medical products to access services and health professionals on an in-network basis, which will mean lower costs for those members under most plan designs from the following physician groups and facilities:

Garden State Urology (Morristown), Meridian Health System (Neptune), Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (New Brunswick), Southern Ocean County Hospital (Manahawkin) and Vista Health System (Summit).