February 2008
February 8, 2008 Download print version
Merck to pay $650 million in Medicaid
settlement
AHRMM announces grants
Severe stressful events early in pregnancy may
be associated with schizophrenia among offspring
Merck to pay $650 million in Medicaid settlement
Merck agreed yesterday to pay more than $650 million to settle
charges that it routinely overbilled the government for its
most popular medicines, the arthritis drug Vioxx and the
cholesterol drug Zocor, cheating Medicaid out of millions of
dollars in discounts over eight years. Prosecutors say the
drugmaker gave pills to hospitals at virtually no cost to hook
poor patients on expensive medicine. When the patients left
the hospital, they often continued taking the drugs, but with
the government footing the higher bill. The Merck settlement
culminates an investigation that began in 2000 and is one of
the first in a series of cases centering on whether drugmakers
used unfair pricing practices to bilk the government. The
Justice Department is looking into 630 healthcare
whistleblower claims.
H. Dean
Steinke, a district sales manager for Merck, set off the investigation after
he noticed his company was using questionable sales tactics. Steinke
complained to his supervisors, who brushed him off, so he turned to federal
authorities.Steinke, a 51-year-old Michigan native, will receive about $68
million from the settlement as a whistleblower reward. He said he was
prompted to go to authorities after his direct supervisor told him: "I don't
care how you do it, but get the damn business," when he questioned the sales
practices. "There comes a time when you just dig in your heels and say, 'You
know what? They're not going to get away with it,' " Steinke said.
The agreement yesterday, one of the largest health-care fraud
recoveries, also closes a related case about Merck overcharging for the
antacid Pepcid. William St. John LaCorte, a doctor in New Orleans who
questioned the Pepcid charges, will receive a yet-to-be-determined share of
the settlement proceeds.
Merck did
not admit wrongdoing. The country's third-largest drugmaker stood by its
pricing strategies but wanted to resolve the disputes, executives said in a
statement. Merck agreed to heightened oversight by regulators for five years
as part of the deal. The company remains the focus of a separate grand jury
investigation related to Vioxx marketing and is striving to execute another
multibillion-dollar settlement of thousands of lawsuits filed by people who
had heart attacks after taking the painkiller.
The
whistleblowing case centered on Merck's giving hospitals across the country
92 percent discounts on Vioxx, an arthritis drug pulled from the market
three years ago for safety concerns; Zocor, a popular cholesterol-lowering
medicine that drew intense competition from rivals; and Pepcid, an antacid
tablet now sold over-the-counter. Merck offered the pills at the discount
under a legal loophole, known as nominal pricing, that Congress created a
generation ago to give poor patients access to medicine.
Merck and industry experts had argued that the pricing
strategy fell within the law and helped reduce costs for many
government-funded hospitals. But prosecutors said the Whitehouse Station,
N.J., drugmaker used the discounts to outflank its competition, offering
massive markdowns to hospitals that agreed to put its medicines on a list of
preferred drugs or to prescribe them for as many as three-quarters of
eligible patients. In some cases, hospitals favored Merck's drugs over
cheaper generics. This practice conflicted with the law because Merck did
not offer Medicaid the same discounts, authorities said. The law requires
the government be charged no more than other customers. (Washington Post)
Click here for the complete story.
AHRMM announces grants
The Board of Directors of the Association for Healthcare Resource &
Materials Management (AHRMM) has donated over $175,000 in research grants to
three groups supported by collegiate institutions.
AHRMM contributed $75,000 to ASU to support further development and
implementation of SCMetrix - a sophisticated online benchmarking tool to
help hospitals compare their supply expense and supply chain processes to
those of peer hospitals. AHRMM and the W.P. Carey School of Business began
work on the joint project in 2007. In 2006, AHRMM granted ASU $100,000 to
determine the study's metrics, build the survey tool and the program's Web
site, and host several educational seminars to help hospitals gain a better
understanding of SCMetrix and promote project participation. This year's
grant will support the tool's continued development and refinement and will
further assist with the marketing and educational efforts so that more
hospitals will learn how to become part of SCMetrix and begin importing
their data into the online system. A hospital does not have to attend the
webinar to obtain the tools. Instead, they recommend that you listen to the
web recording and download the tools at this site. The
downloadable tools are located on the web page under Participate.
AHRMM also donated $50,000 to the MEHD Group, a healthcare supply chain
initiative within the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics created to
drive innovation in the field. The MEHD Group will use the AHRMM grant to
create new insights, technologies, and business practices to improve
healthcare delivery everywhere. In doing so, they will conduct research to
identify the dynamics of the current healthcare supply chain, apply
scenario-based planning methodologies to the healthcare supply chain, and
recommend and develop innovative strategies, policies, and technologies. The
MEHD Group has partnered with several companies to move this initiative
forward including Caremark, Pfizer, Cardinal Health, and Cephalon.
CIHL, a collaboration of University of Arkansas researchers, healthcare
providers, interested corporations, and government agencies seeking
healthcare supply chain and logistic innovations, received $50,000 for its
initiative "Identifying Opportunities for Cost and Quality Improvements in
Healthcare Logistics." CIHL was established through an initial investment of
$1 million and primary funding commitments from strategic partners Wal-Mart,
Blue Cross and Blue Shield (of Arkansas, Alabama, and Illinois) and VHA to
recover significant costs and achieve new efficiencies through the
healthcare supply chain while improving safety, quality, and equity of
patient care.
For more information on SCMetrix, please
visit. For more information on the work of the MEHD Group,
please visit. For more information on CIHL,
please visit
http://cihl.uark.edu.
New
strategy helps reduce errors in obstetrical care
Researchers at Yale
School of Medicine have implemented patient safety enhancements to
dramatically reduce errors and improve the staff’s own perception of the
safety climate in obstetrical care. Edmund F. Funai, M.D., associate
professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive
Sciences at Yale, presented preliminary results from this research at the
Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine Annual Meeting. An estimated 44,000 to
98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year as a result of errors. About
half of medical errors are linked to communication errors and system
failures. Obstetrics has lagged behind other specialties in attempts to
improve safety because perinatal adverse events are both relatively uncommon
and usually unexpected, occurring in previously healthy patients who are
anticipating good outcomes.
Funai
and his team designed and implemented clinical patient safety interventions
at Yale-New Haven Hospital. These included communication training,
standardizing interpretation of fetal monitoring, and creating a novel staff
role—the patient safety nurse. In tracking and analyzing 14 markers for
adverse outcomes, the team found that the rate of adverse events decreased
by about 60 percent over 2.5 years, while the staff’s own perception of the
overall safety climate increased by 30 percent, according to a survey given
by a third party. Funai said that the main cause of adverse events and
patient injury is a breakdown in communication, usually involving failure to
recognize the severity of a given situation or condition, often involving a
newborn’s status.
Funai
said, “After taking these surprisingly simple steps to address safety, both
patients and staff report that the care is much more seamless and better
organized,” he said. “The staff is more comfortable and empowered to
communicate their concerns about a patient. A comfortable staff often leads
to more successful patient outcomes.”
See this link
Severe stressful
events early in pregnancy may be associated with schizophrenia among
offspring
Children of women who undergo an extremely stressful event, such as the
death of a close relative, during the first trimester of pregnancy appear
more likely to develop schizophrenia, according to a report in the February
issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
“The common conception that a mother’s psychological state can influence her
unborn baby is to some extent substantiated by the literature,” the authors
write as background information in the article. “Severe life events during
pregnancy are consistently associated with an elevated risk of low birth
weight and prematurity.” Schizophrenia, a disabling condition associated
with abnormal brain structure and function, is increasingly believed to
begin in early brain development. Environmental factors, including those
occurring during pregnancy, and susceptibility genes may interact to
influence risk.
Ali S. Khashan, M.Sc., of the University of Manchester, England, and
colleagues used data from 1.38 million Danish births occurring between 1973
and 1995. Women were linked to close family members using a national
registry, and the same registry was used to determine if any of these
relatives died or received a diagnosis of cancer, heart attack or stroke
during each mother’s pregnancy. Their children were followed from the 10th
birthday through June 30, 2005 or until they died, moved out of the country,
or developed schizophrenia.
During the study period, mothers of 21,987 children were exposed to the
death of a relative during pregnancy, 14,206 were exposed to a relatives’
serious illness during pregnancy and 7,331 of the offspring developed
schizophrenia. The risk of schizophrenia and related disorders was
approximately 67 percent greater among the offspring of women who were
exposed to the death of a relative during the first trimester. However,
death of a relative up to six months before or any other time during
pregnancy was not related to risk for schizophrenia in the child, nor was
exposure to serious illness in a relative. The association between a family
death and risk of schizophrenia appeared to be significant only for
individuals without a family history (parents, grandparents or siblings) of
mental illness.
Pre-chewed baby food said to transmit H.I.V.
Researchers have identified another way that babies can be infected with
H.I.V. — through food pre-chewed by an infected parent or caretaker.
Although thousands of babies have been infected in the United States over
the last 15 years, pre-chewed food has been documented as the cause of just
three cases, federal epidemiologists said wednesday. But such transmission
may not be so rare, Dr. Kenneth L. Dominguez’s team from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said at the 15th Conference on Retroviruses
and Opportunistic Infections.
Pre-chewing food apparently occurs among many groups in this country and
elsewhere. So transmission of H.I.V., the AIDS virus, to infants may be an
unrecognized problem in developing countries where dental care is lacking,
commercially prepared baby foods and blenders are not available and parents
and caretakers may need to soften foods, Dr. Dominguez said in an interview.
His team said there were several reasons for reporting the three cases,
dating from 1993, for the first time. One was to make healthcare providers
and caregivers of infected children aware of the potential risk of
pre-chewing. Another was to ask doctors and family members to report
suspected cases to health officials to quantify the threat.
Human immunodeficiency virus is present in saliva, but usually in amounts
too low to cause transmission. So, presumably, blood, which has larger
amounts of the virus, is also needed for transmission. Infected chewers with
inflammations or open mouth sores can pass the virus to infants through cuts
or other common teething conditions, Dr. Dominguez said.
Although the three cases were among African-Americans born in the United
States, pre-chewing is prevalent among many ethnic and racial groups,
according to a recent national survey of infant feeding by the C.D.C., Dr.
Dominguez said. “It’s likely that some cultural influences are involved, and
I am sure that people are doing what their grandmothers and aunties did in
practices carried through generations,” Dr. Dominguez said.
The first two cases involved boys from Miami infected in the mid-’90s. One
boy’s infection was detected when he was 39 months old, shortly before his
death, after previously testing negative for the virus twice. The mother,
who was infected, reported pre-chewing food for the boy.
The second boy’s mother was uninfected but lived with an infected aunt who
pre-chewed his food. He survives. In the third case, a girl from Memphis was
found to be infected in 2004 at 9 months old after testing negative for the
virus three times. Her mother was infected and pre-chewed food for her
daughter.
Researchers will try to determine whether other dangerous microbes like
hepatitis B virus and Helicobacter pylori might be transmitted through
pre-chewed food. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/us/07hiv.html?ref=health
Study suggests new therapy for lung disease patients
A
new study by researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of
Medicine may change current thinking about how best to treat patients in
respiratory distress in hospital intensive care units. It has been commonly
believed that high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) or hypercapnia in the
blood and lungs of patients with acute lung disease may be beneficial to
them. Now, for the first time, scientists have shown how elevated levels of
CO2 actually have the opposite effect. The excessive CO2 impairs the
functioning of the lungs. Jacob Sznajder, M.D., chief of pulmonary and
critical care at the Feinberg School, and his research team found that high
levels of CO2 make it harder for the lungs to clear fluid.
The excess CO2 initiates a signaling cascade leading to the inhibition of
the action of sodium “pumps” that help move water out of the air spaces.
This creates a greater risk of edema in which the lungs flood with fluid.
The investigators worked with rats and human cells for the study, which was
published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
"Allowing high levels of CO2 may contribute to the high mortality of
patients with diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),"
said Sznajder, a professor of medicine and of cell and molecular biology at
the Feinberg School and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "This
study argues toward therapies to reduce the high CO2 levels of patients
toward normal levels, which is not the current practice in the intensive
care unit."
COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, killing more
than 120,000 people, according to the National Institutes of Health. When
people have COPD, their lungs lose elasticity and have trouble exchanging
carbon dioxide for oxygen. COPD used to be strictly a disease of smokers,
but now it's also crippling the lungs of non-smokers.
WHO releases new report on global tobacco control efforts
WHO has released new data showing that while progress has been made, not a
single country fully implements all key tobacco control measures, and
outlined an approach that governments can adopt to prevent tens of millions
of premature deaths by the middle of this century. In a new report which
presents the first comprehensive analysis of global tobacco use and control
efforts, WHO finds that only 5% of the world’s population live in countries
that fully protect their population with any one of the key measures that
reduce smoking rates. The report also reveals that governments around the
world collect 500 times more money in tobacco taxes each year than they
spend on anti-tobacco efforts. It finds that tobacco taxes, the single most
effective strategy, could be significantly increased in nearly all
countries, providing a source of sustainable funding to implement and
enforce the recommended approach, a package of six policies called MPOWER.
The report also documents the epidemic's shift to the developing world,
where 80% of the more than eight million annual tobacco-related deaths
projected by 2030 are expected to occur. Other key findings in the report
include:40% of countries still allow smoking in hospitals and schools; Only
5% of the world’s population lives in countries with comprehensive national
bans on tobacco advertising and promotion; Just 15 countries, representing
6% of the global population, mandate pictorial warnings on tobacco
packaging; Services to treat tobacco dependence are fully available in only
nine countries, covering 5% of the world’s people; Tobacco tax revenues are
more than 4000 times greater than spending on tobacco control in
middle-income countries and more than 9000 times greater in lower-income
countries. High- income countries collect about 340 times more money in
tobacco taxes than they spend on tobacco control. See this link
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2008/pr04/en/index.html
Comatose locusts may help relieve migraines
The way locusts react to stress may provide an important clue to
understanding what causes human migraines – and how to reduce their painful
effects, says Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada, Biology professor,
Mel Robertson. With PhD student Corinne Rodgers, Dr. Robertson is using
insect models to examine how the nervous system controls breathing when
stress is induced through high temperatures and oxygen deprivation. They
have discovered that the locust’s reaction to extreme heat is very similar
to a disturbance in mammals that has been associated with human migraines
and stroke.
As a way of temporarily shutting down and conserving energy when conditions
are dangerous, the locust’s coma has many of the same characteristics seen
in people at the onset of a migraine. “We feel there may be an evolutionary
link between the two,” Dr. Robertson suggests. His team’s findings are
published on-line in the journal PLoS
ONE.
The study monitors locust breathing cycles, which are controlled by a
collection of nerve cells in the central nervous system. With heat or lack
of oxygen, the insects initially breathe more quickly and then go into a
coma. They recover when the temperature comes down again, or oxygen levels
rise.
“We find that the point of coma is always associated with a surge of
extra-cellular potassium ions: the same as has been observed in human brain
tissue during surgery,” says Rodgers. For the nervous system to work
properly, potassium should be high inside cells and low outside, she points
out. “What we’re seeing is a failure of that ability to maintain this
equilibrium – but in fact, in the locust, it appears to be an adaptive
response to protect the system.”
Previous research in Dr. Robertson’s lab has shown a genetic component to
this response, which indicates there may be an evolutionary link to what
happens during migraines in people. “It’s possible, for example, that the
brain architecture necessary for increased sensitivity also predisposes
areas of some people’s brains to become over-excited, and that migraines
provide a means of temporarily ‘shutting things down,’” he suggests.
While migraine has been associated with this disturbance for some time, the
mechanisms underlying the phenomenon are not yet well understood. And that
understanding will be key to designing new migraine treatments.
“We found that we could precondition the locust system to be more
stress-tolerant. If the mechanisms are the same as those in humans, then
similar manipulations could help to protect brain function under stressful
conditions, such as those leading to migraine,” says Dr. Robertson.
“Something is triggering events like this,” he adds. “Maybe we can just bias
that slightly, so it won’t trigger as often, or the consequences will not be
as severe.” See this link
February 7, 2008 Download print version
Intensive blood sugar treatment in trial of
diabetes and cardiovascular disease changed
Safety of drug imports questioned; Some in
Congress want FDA to expand overseas inspections
Broadlane announces strategic relationship
with ECRI Institute
Intensive blood sugar treatment in trial of
diabetes and cardiovascular disease changed
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the
National Institutes of Health has stopped one treatment within
a large, ongoing North American clinical trial of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease 18 months early due to safety concerns
after review of available data, although the study will
continue. In this trial of adults with type 2 diabetes at
especially high risk for heart attack and stroke, the medical
strategy to intensively lower blood glucose (sugar) below
current recommendations increased the risk of death compared
with a less-intensive standard treatment strategy.
Study participants receiving intensive blood glucose
lowering treatment will now receive the less-intensive
standard treatment. The ACCORD (Action to Control
Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) study enrolled 10,251
participants. Of these, 257 in the intensive treatment group
have died, compared with 203 within the standard treatment
group. This is a difference of 54 deaths, or 3 per 1,000
participants each year, over an average of almost four years
of treatment. The death rates in both groups were lower than
seen in similar populations in other studies.
“A thorough review of the data shows that the
medical treatment strategy of intensively reducing blood sugar
below current clinical guidelines causes harm in these
especially high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes,” said
Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D., director, NHLBI. “Though we have
stopped this part of the trial, we will continue to care for
these participants, who now will receive the less-intensive
standard treatment. In addition, we will continue to monitor
the health of all participants, seek the underlying causes for
this finding, and carry on with other important research
within ACCORD.”
“The
ACCORD findings are important, but will not change therapy for
most patients with type 2 diabetes. Few patients with high
cardiovascular risk like those studied in ACCORD are treated
to blood sugar levels as low as those tested in this study, “
said Judith Fradkin, M.D., director, Division of Diabetes,
Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases at the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
“People with diabetes should never adjust their treatment plan
or goals without consulting their healthcare providers.” See
THIS LINK
Safety of drug imports questioned; Some in
Congress want FDA to expand overseas inspections
With an ever-larger percentage of prescription drugs and drug
ingredients coming to the U.S. market from developing nations
such as
China
and
India,
Congress is voicing concern that the number of inspections of
those plants by the
Food and
Drug Administration has grown far more slowly. In a
Feb. 1 letter to the FDA,
Sen. Charles
E. Grassley (R-IA) said that the small number of
inspections in these newer markets is putting consumers at
risk.
In particular, he wrote, he was concerned that the
number of inspections in
China, a major supplier of active drug ingredients, is small
and actually dropped from 18 in 2004 to 11 in 2007.
China
is believed to have hundreds, if not thousands, of plants that
make ingredients for drugs headed to the
United States.
"I found these numbers very troubling," Grassley wrote. "Since
the beginning of FY 2002, the FDA conducted approximately
1,379 inspections of foreign pharmaceutical facilities, often
focused in countries with few reported quality concerns."
Other lawmakers and outside experts are worried that drugs
from low-cost producers in
India, China and elsewhere are not receiving the FDA scrutiny
they require. Grassley's staff asked the FDA last year if it
is planning to open an office in India.
In December, the agency said it was considering a new office
only in China. Last month, however, FDA Commissioner Andrew C.
von Eschenbach told reporters that he was working on a plan to
station inspectors in six regions abroad so they can inspect
plants on an "ongoing and continuous basis rather than
episodic and periodic."
According to the statistics provided to Grassley,
even that kind of inspection does not happen very often. And
an overwhelming number of inspections are conducted in nations
such as
Germany,
Switzerland,
Italy
and
Canada
rather than in countries with much weaker drug inspection
programs of their own. This is largely because the FDA can
allocate "user fees" provided by brand-name drug companies to
pay for inspections of their plants, many of which are in
Europe.
The agency does not have nearly as much money to pay for
inspections for low-cost generic drugs because those
manufacturers do not pay such fees. Grassley said in his
letter that "this seems to be a misplacement of limited FDA
resources."
The FDA says that consumers still can be confident
in the quality of the drugs they take. The agency says it has
required improvements in the entire drug manufacturing process
and does not rely entirely on inspections. Responding to an
October letter from Grassley's staff, Stephen R. Mason, the
FDA's acting commissioner for legislation, said it cost the
agency $6.2 million in fiscal 2007 to pay for about 300
foreign drug inspections. The Bush administration has proposed
a budget increase of 5.7 percent for the FDA, with additional
money for foreign inspections, especially of food. But critics
said those funds will barely keep up with scheduled pay
raises. The
Government
Accountability Office reported last year that the
FDA does not know how many foreign plants are manufacturing
products for the American drug market, and is unaware whether
they are being inspected effectively. (Washington Post) See
THIS LINK
Last chance to register for the Supply Chain
Technology Symposium in
Orlando
The HIMSS-AHRMM pre-conference Supply Chain Technology
symposium, previously sold out, has announced that they were
able to add room for just 25 more attendees. These spots are
available on a first come basis only.
For
registration information see
THIS LINK
HIMSS (The Healthcare Information and Management Systems
Society) is collaborating with the Association for Healthcare
Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) to provide a
value-packed, one-day preconference symposium on healthcare
supply chain technology, to be held Sunday, February 24,
from
8 am
to
4 pm ET
in
Orlando,
FL at the Orange County Convention Center.
Educational
sessions will focus on the supply chain process and the
information systems that support it. This event is essential
for materials managers, Logisticians, Supply Chain Officers
and IT professionals to learn about leading practices in the
industry, data management and utilization, and integration and
implementation solutions. Join AHRMM at the HIMSS08 Annual
Conference. Supply chain solutions are constantly moving
ahead...don’t get left behind!
Topics of discussion include: “Best practices from around the
world that can be applied in the U.S.”;
“The next generation in supply chain benchmarking”; “How to
create an effective data warehouse in a provider setting”;
“How proposed standards could impact quality and patient
safety”. Join your peers to learn the very latest in your
profession today, and what it could mean for all of us
tomorrow. Opening keynote speaker, Jay Kirkpatrick, CMRP, CEO,
Nashville Supply Chain Services, will address: “Supply Chain
Management from A to Z; Where we are, Where we need to go, and
What we need to do to get there”.
To view
the agenda see
THIS LINK
For more information on the HIMSS conference see
THIS LINK
In
addition, there will be an annual Supply Chain Management
Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting at the HIMSS conference:
"Disaster Planning from the Supply Chain Perspective" on
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 1:30- 3 pm, Orlando Convention Center, Room
240C. No registration is necessary for the SIG meeting –
please join us!
Broadlane announces strategic relationship
with ECRI Institute
ECRI
Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that
researches the best approaches to improving patient care, will
serve as an unbiased expert, offering equipment purchasing
clients the inside track on the latest medical equipment at
Broadlane’s upcoming Computed Tomography (CT) Live Group Buy.
“Roughly 41 percent of hospitals will be purchasing a CT this
year,” said Kerry Tucker, vice president, supply chain
services, Broadlane. “By combining ECRI Institute’s
state-of-the-art technology and marketplace insight with
Broadlane’s rigorous Live Group Buy process, attendees should
achieve double-digit savings and confidence they are making
wise product choices based on the best information available.”
ECRI Institute will present a technology session and be
on-hand as an expert resource during the CT Live Group Buy,
which will occur March 26-28. ECRI Institute will provide
event participants insight into: The state of the marketplace:
What technologies are available now and where are they
heading? Key clinical issues: What issues are most important
when considering a purchase? Recent technological advances:
How do these advances impact performance and value?
Participants have three options: 1.) Attend the Live Group Buy
with the ECRI Institute technology seminar 2.) Attend only the
ECRI Institute technology seminar 3.) Call into an audio
conference for key topics in the ECRI Institute seminar
Future
Live Group Buys: The Cardiac Cath Lab/Angio Suites Live Group
Buy will be held April 23-25; and the MRI Live Group Buy will
be held May 28-30. Other Live Group Buys scheduled for 2008
include Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine/PET-CT, Digital
Mammography, Digital Radiography and Radiography and
Fluoroscopy (R&F).
The
Broadlane Live Group Buy process is unique within the
industry: Participants determine and weight the criteria used
to evaluate the equipment and suppliers. Participants then
rate supplier technology, identify key operational support
components, participate in live negotiations and ultimately
make a contract award.
If you are interested in attending a Broadlane Live Group Buy
or have any other questions, please visit
www.broadlane.com/groupbuyad.html or contact Patricia
Coffey at 866.276.2356, ext. 7520 or patricia.coffey@broadlane.com.
For more information see
THIS LINK.
Wal-Mart will expand in-store medical
clinics
Moving to upgrade its walk-in medical clinic business,
Wal-Mart
is set to announce on Thursday plans for several hundred new
clinics at its stores, using a standardized format and jointly
branded with
hospitals
and medical groups. The first of the new Clinic at Wal-Mart
walk-in centers, as they will be called, is to open in Little
Rock, AR, in April and be run by
nurse
practitioners employed by the St. Vincent Health
System, a three-hospital group in central Arkansas. Wal-Mart
also says it plans to brand 200 of the new clinics with
RediClinics, one of the Revolution Health companies of Steven
Case, the
AOL
co-founder. Those are to be operated in partnership with
various local healthcare providers. RediClinic, which already
operates 13 clinics in Wal-Mart stores, plans to open one of
the new units in Atlanta
in April and another in Dallas
next summer.
“We have learned that people are willing to receive
their healthcare from the front of a store or the back of a
drugstore,” said Dr. John Agwunobi, a medical doctor who is a
Wal-Mart senior vice president. “But customers also have said
they would rather it be delivered by a trusted name, a local
healthcare practice, a trusted local provider of care.”
In all, Wal-Mart plans to have 400 store clinics by
2010, including current units that will be converted to the
new brand as their leases come up for renewal. The company
currently has 78 in-store clinics around the country, but has
had uneven performance in some cases. Wal-Mart does not
operate any clinics itself but is seeking local hospitals and
medical practices as partners, said Deisha Galberth, a
Wal-Mart spokeswoman.
Walk-in medical clinics are a growing industry, with
numerous competitors that include big-box retailers,
drugstores and even grocery chains around the country.
Industry executives say 1,500 to 1,800 clinics will be open by
the end of the year. Propelled by the drugstore chains
CVS
and
Walgreens,
by far the biggest sponsors of the clinics to date, more than
700 clinics have opened in the last 15 months. But the
business model is unproven so far. Few, if any, clinics are
profitable, according to industry analysts, and only a handful
have broken even on daily operations. Most have been open a
year or less, and executives say it takes up to three years
for a clinic to become profitable enough to recover start-up
costs.
Medical societies are inclined to be skeptical of
the clinics. The
American
Academy of Pediatrics opposes them, saying they add
to fragmentation in the healthcare system. Dr. Edward Zissman,
a pediatrician in central Florida, said he had qualms about
hospitals that hook up with the clinics. “Putting their name
on a product that I don’t think has the highest quality,” he
said, “is going to cost them dearly with physicians.”
The American Academy of Family Physicians and the
American
Medical Association have set forth principles for
clinics to observe, including sending patients’ medical record
to their doctors and finding doctors for patients who do not
already have them. Most states require varying degrees of
physician supervision of the clinic nurses. Clinic operators
say they are complying.
Wal-Mart, for its part, rents store space to clinics
operated by eight independent clinic companies and two
hospital systems:
Aurora Health in
Wisconsin and North Broward Hospital District in
Florida.
The company plans to convert all of them to the Clinic at
Wal-Mart brand as those leases expire, Galberth said. (The
New York Times)
See
THIS LINK
Over half all hospital patients are at risk
of venous thromboembolism and need prophylaxis
More than half of all hospital patients are at risk of venous
thromboembolism (VTE), and steps must be taken to ensure that
these patients are given appropriate preventive treatment to
reduce this risk (prophylaxis). These are the conclusions of
authors of an Article published in this week's edition of
The Lancet. VTE is a common complication during and after
hospitalization for acute medical illness or surgery. One type
of VTE, pulmonary embolism, accounts for 5-10% of deaths in
hospitalized patients, making VTE the most common preventable
cause of in-hospital death (VTE results in over 20 times more
hospital deaths than MRSA).
A
US government review comparing 79 hospital preventive
strategies (including hand-washing, antibiotic prophylaxis and
pressure care) has rated VTE prophylaxis as the single most
important strategy, based on efficacy, safety and cost. While
guidelines for VTE prophylaxis have been available for over 15
years, such treatment remains underused, and the proportion of
patients who should receive it globally remains unknown.
Appropriate treatments include anticoagulant drugs such as
heparins and warfarin and mechanical methods such as
intermittent pneumatic compression and graduated compression
stockings.
Dr. Ander Cohen, Vascular Medicine, King's College London, UK,
and Professor Ajay Kakkar, Barts and The London School of
Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK, and colleagues did the
ENDORSE study, which was designed to assess the prevalence of
VTE risk in the acute hospital care setting, and determine the
proportion of at-risk patients who receive effective
prophylaxis. The study analyzed all hospital inpatients aged
40 years or over admitted to a medical ward, or those aged 18
or over admitted to a surgical ward, in 358 hospitals across
32 countries, and assessed them for VTE risk on the basis of
hospital chart review. The 2004
American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) evidence-based
consensus guidelines were used to assess VTE risk and
determine whether patients were receiving recommended
prophylaxis.
The researchers found that of 68,183 patients enrolled, 30,827
(45%) were categorized as surgical, and 37,356 (55%) as
medical. Using ACCP criteria, 35,329 patients (51.8%) were
judged to be at risk for VTE, including 19,842 (64.4%) of
surgical patients and 15,487 (41.5%) of medical patients. Of
the surgical patients at risk, 11,613 (58.5%) received ACCP-recommended
VTE prophylaxis, compared with 6,119 (39.5%) of at-risk
medical patients.
The proportions of patients receiving ACCP recommended VTE
prophylaxis varied widely across the 32 countries, but did not
necessarily follow the high-middle-low income gradient. For
example, for at-risk medical patients the three countries with
the highest proportions receiving prophylaxis were
Germany (70%), Spain (64%), and Colombia (64%). Those with the
lowest were
Bangladesh
(3%), Thailand (4%), and Romania (18%). In this category, the
US
scored 48% and the UK just 37%. For at-risk surgical patients,
the best performing countries were again Germany (92%),
Hungary (87%) and again Spain (82%); and the worst were again
Bangladesh and Thailand (both 0.2%), and Pakistan (10%). The
UK scored 74% and the US 71%.
The authors say: "The data gathered show that, worldwide, more
than half of all hospitalized patients are at risk for VTE,
and that surgical patients seem to be at higher risk than
medical patients." And, most significantly, they add:
"Furthermore, only half of at risk patients received an ACCP-recommended
method of prophylaxis." They conclude: "Hospital-wide
strategies to assess patients' VTE risk should be implemented,
together with measures that ensure that at-risk patients
receive appropriate VTE prophylaxis."
FDA takes action to stop the marketing of
unapproved injectable drugs containing colchicine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced its intention
to take enforcement action against companies marketing
unapproved injectable colchicine, a drug used to treat gout.
Colchicine is a highly toxic drug that can easily be
administered in excessive doses, especially when given
intravenously. There is a narrow margin between an effective
dose of the drug and a toxic dose that can result in serious
health risks, including death. The FDA is aware of 50 reports
of adverse events associated with the use of intravenous
colchicine, including 23 deaths. Potentially fatal effects
include low blood cell counts, cardiac events, and organ
failure. Individuals and companies must stop making these
products within 30 days and stop shipping the product within
180 days or face regulatory action which could include
seizure, injunction or other legal action deemed appropriate
by the agency. After these dates, all injectable colchicine
drug products must have FDA approval to be manufactured or
shipped interstate.
"Until recently, there was one manufacturer of
unapproved injectable colchicine, and that firm has ceased
manufacturing the product," said Deborah Autor, director of
the FDA's Office of Compliance, CDER. "This serves as the
agency's warning that firms wishing to make injectable
colchicine in the future must not manufacture the product
until they apply for and are granted approval by the FDA to do
so."
In addition to being manufactured by pharmaceutical
companies, injectable colchicine products are sometimes
formulated on a smaller scale by compounding pharmacies, often
for use in the treatment of back pain. Three of the deaths
from intravenous colchicine occurred in March and April of
2007 and were associated with the use of compounded colchicine
that, due to an error in preparation, was eight times more
potent than the amount stated on the label. The FDA has not
approved colchicine in any dosage form for the treatment of
back pain. This action does not affect colchicine products
that are dispensed in tablet form and are frequently used to
prevent gout attacks. For more information, see
THIS LINK.
February 6, 2008 Download print version
Bill aims to protect patients from paying for
hospital errors
Hospital diarrhea germ costs $1.3 billion in
U.S.
Drug-coated stents better than bare-metal ones
in complex cases
TSO3 announces contract with Broadlane
MedAssets expands relationship with Valley
Medical Center
for cash flow and margin enhancement
initiatives
WHO60 photo exhibition: public health over the
past 60 years
Bill aims to protect patients from paying
for hospital errors
The Maine Hospital Association recently announced a voluntary
statewide initiative aimed at preventing patients and
insurance companies from getting billed for the expense of
medical errors such as a bedsore, a medication error or the
wrong surgery. But a state lawmaker says the voluntary policy
doesn’t go far enough and is pushing for an enforceable law
that would make it illegal to charge patients or other payers
for medical missteps that should never have happened in the
first place. "Everyone knows mistakes happen, but that’s no
reason to punish the people they happen to," said Rep. Patsy
Crockett, D-Augusta, sponsor of LD 2044. "The person who makes
the mistake should absorb that cost." By protecting patients
and insurance companies, the measure also would help hold down
spiraling healthcare costs in Maine, she said.
Crockett’s bill, originally submitted to the
Legislature last fall, includes a roster of 27 "never events",
as they’re referred to in the healthcare world, because they
"never" should occur, including surgery performed on the wrong
body part; disability related to the use of contaminated
drugs; injuries suffered by falling, serious burns or
electrical shocks; and reactions to transfusions of
incompatible blood products. The list is drawn from the
National Quality Forum, an organization that promotes accurate
reporting of health care quality data.
The Maine Hospital Association, which represents all
39 hospitals in Maine, announced last Friday that its board
has approved a voluntary measure encouraging hospitals to
protect patients from being billed for costly care related to
preventable errors. The MHA’s list of "adverse health events"
is essentially identical to that included in Crockett’s bill,
with the addition of No. 28, "Artificial insemination with the
wrong donor sperm or egg." The 28th item reflects the most
recent addition to the National Quality Forum list.
Neither Crockett’s proposal nor the MHA policy pertains to
potentially lethal infections such as staph or C. difficile.
Crockett and
Mary Mayhew, vice president of
government affairs and communications for the hospital
association,
concurred that it’s too hard to know whether a patient
contracted an infection during a hospital stay or already was
carrying the infective organism when admitted. (Bangor Daily
News) See
THIS LINK
Hospital diarrhea germ costs $1.3 billion in
U.S.
A bacterial infection
that's acquired in hospitals and causes severe diarrhea costs more than $1.3
billion a year to treat in the U.S., a study found. Each infection of the
bacteria, called clostridium difficile, costs more than $7,000 to treat,
according to the study by researchers at Washington University School of
Medicine and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was
published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Clostridium difficile causes about 3 million cases of diarrhea in the U.S.
each year, according to a 2005 report by the American Academy of Family
Physicians, a professional group based in Leawood, Kansas. The emergence of
antibiotic-resistant strains has led to more complications and longer
hospital stays, creating demand for new treatments.
Clostridium difficile
“poses a significant financial burden to our healthcare system and to
society in general,” said Erik Dubberke, an assistant professor at the
Washington University School of Medicine and author of the study. “The true
costs are likely higher than our estimates, as our methods were very
conservative.”
Researchers analyzed the records of more than 24,000 patients
admitted to a hospital in St. Louis, MO, in 2003. Of those,
439 developed clostridium difficile, which affects hospital
patients who have taken antibiotics. Treating the disease in
the hospital cost from $2,454 to $3,240, and follow-up
treatments cost $5,042 to $7,179, the study found.
The study only looked at
admitted hospital patients and didn't include other acute-care
facilities, nursing homes, outpatient visits to the doctor,
outpatient medication or costs related to loss of work.
Clostridium difficile costs as much as $1.3 billion a year in
the U.S., based on the cost per treatment at the St. Louis
hospital and the number of estimated hospital cases in the
U.S., the study said.
About 178,000 short-term hospitalizations were
complicated by clostridium difficile in 2003, according to a
2006 study in the Journal of Emerging Infectious Disease
cited in today's report. That increased to as many as 250,000
people in 2005, according to separate CDC data reported in the
new study. Genzyme Corp.'s experimental medicine to treat
clostridium difficile was less effective than standard
treatment with the antibiotic vancomycin, according to a study
released in July. Genzyme's tolevamer isn't an antibiotic. It
was designed to neutralize toxins released by clostridium
difficile that damage the intestines. The drug won't reach the
market by 2009 as earlier predicted, Genzyme said in July.
(Bloomberg News) See
THIS LINK
Three-parent embryo formed in lab
Scientists believe
they have made a potential breakthrough in the treatment of serious disease
by creating a human embryo with three separate parents. The Newcastle
University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class
of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy. The embryos have
been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests. It could
ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their
children. The technique is intended to help women with diseases of the
mitochondria. Faults in the mitochondrial DNA can cause around 50 known
diseases, some of which lead to disability and death. About one in every
6,500 people is affected by such conditions, which include fatal liver
failure, stroke-like episodes, blindness, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and
deafness. At present, no treatment for mitochondrial diseases exists.
The Newcastle team
have effectively given the embryos a mitochondria transplant. They
experimented on 10 severely abnormal embryos left over from traditional
fertility treatment. Within hours of their creation, the nucleus, containing
DNA from the mother and father, was removed from the embryo, and implanted
into a donor egg whose DNA had been largely removed. The only genetic
information remaining from the donor egg was the tiny bit that controls
production of mitochondria, around 16,000 of the 3 billion component parts
that make up the human genome. The embryos then began to develop normally,
but were destroyed within six days.
Experiments using mice
have shown that the offspring with the new mitochondria carry no information
that defines any human attributes. So while any baby born through this
method would have genetic elements from three people, the nuclear DNA that
influences appearance and other characteristics would not come from the
woman providing the donor egg. However, the team only have permission to
carry out the lab experiments and as yet this would not be allowed to be
offered as a treatment. Professor Patrick Chinnery, a member of the
Newcastle team, said: "We believe that from this work, and work we have done
on other animals that in principle we could develop this technique and offer
treatment in the forseeable future that will give families some hope of
avoiding passing these diseases to their children." Dr. Marita Pohlschmidt,
of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, which has funded the Newcastle research,
was confident it would lead to a badly needed breakthrough in treatment.
"Mitochondrial myopathies
are a group of complex and severe diseases," she said. "This
can make it very difficult for clinicians to provide genetic
counseling and give patients an accurate prognosis." However,
but the Newcastle work has attracted opposition. Josephine
Quintavalle, of the pro-life group Comment on Reproductive
Ethics, said it was "risky, dangerous" and a step towards
"designer babies". "It is human beings they are experimenting
with," she said. "We should not be messing around with the
building blocks of life." Quintavalle said embryo research in
the US using DNA from one man and two women was discontinued
because of the "huge abnormalities" in some cases. (BBC NEWS)
See
THIS LINK
Drug-coated stents better than bare-metal
ones in complex cases
Drug-coated stents are
better than the bare-metal kind for treating complex arterial blockages, new
research finds. "There are two messages I would take away from the study,"
said Dr. Robert J. Applegate, a professor of cardiology at Wake Forest
University and lead author of a report in the Feb. 12 issue of the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "The first is that
drug-eluting stents are very effective. They were effective in the kind of
patients in the initial trials, with simpler problems. Then their
effectiveness was broadened to all patients who underwent stent treatment,
even in off-label use. All the benefits present in the early trials are
showing in the patients that have these high-risk features." High-risk
factors include diabetes, kidney failure, a recent heart attack and longer
blockages, Applegate said. "All of these have been matters of concern about
the use of drug-eluting stents. We saw them to be effective in these
patients."
The study compared results of 1,285 people with such complications
who got drug-coated stents, flexible tubes implanted to keep blood vessels
open after the clot-removing procedure called angioplasty and 1,164 people
who had bare-metal stents. After two years, the incidence of nonfatal heart
attacks or deaths was 29 percent lower for those getting drug-coated stents.
The drug-coated stents were also safer, with the incidence of stent-caused
clotting roughly half that seen in the bare-metal stent recipients.
Another study reported in the same issue of the journal was more
cautious about the long-term effectiveness of drug-coated stents. The study
of 310 people who got stents after heart attacks found that those who got
drug-coated stents were better off after a year than those getting
bare-metal stents, but that there were worrying indications of a possible
higher risk of artery reblockage in the coated-stent group. Stents have been
very much in the news lately, with studies such as one that found equal
effectiveness of the two drug-coated stents now available in the American
market, one sold by Boston Scientific, the other by Cordis. That study was
funded by the two companies, as was the newly reported Wake Forest study.
Applegate said that financing of the study by industry did not affect the
results of the research. "They had absolutely no influence on the study
design, the acquisition of data, the interpretation of data or the scripting
of the manuscript," he said.
Its getting harder to
do meaningful medical research in the United States for a variety of
reasons, said an accompanying editorial by Dr. Cindy Grines, vice chief of
academic affairs at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. The
somewhat frightening "off-label" designation, which means the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration hasn't approved that use, is necessary because of the
difficulty of conducting trials in the United States, she explained. "Eighty
percent of the studies now are being done outside the United States," Grines
said.
Some of the blame goes to
the complex rules imposed by the FDA, she said, but the propensity for
people claiming damage to file suits also has a constraining effect. "There
are Web sites with legal advice," Grines said. "So, it is very defensive
medicine that people are practicing. A consent form might be 10 pages long
to do a simple study, which becomes financially undoable in most
institutions. It would be really nice if we could have more ability to do
these studies here." (HealthDay News) See
THIS LINK
UK hospital denies attempt to manipulate
MRSA figures
An National Health Service (NHS) trust was accused of ordering
a cut in blood tests to manipulate figures to reduce its
official MRSA rate. Kingston hospital, south-west London,
reported a 44% fall in cases of the superbug from 2005-06 to
2006-07. But a disgruntled staff member told the BBC that
while hygiene had improved, the fall was partly due to a drive
to encourage staff to reduce the number of patients tested.
"Certainly there will be a sort of significant reduction
simply by doing fewer blood tests. If you are not looking for
something you won't pick it up," he told the BBC. "I thought
we were all meant to be trying to reduce the risk of MRSA
genuinely, rather than simply massaging figures to reduce the
number of tests."
In a Kingston hospitals NHS trust email which was leaked to
the broadcaster, clinical staff were encouraged to cut the
number of tests for the superbug, and to question whether each
test was needed. One factor to consider, the email said, was
whether an MRSA test would help patients if they were
terminally ill. Staff were also warned of the negative impact
of finding MRSA cases on patients and were advised it could
affect the hospital's ambition to become a foundation trust.
The trust denied the email revealed an attempt to
manipulate the figures and reduce the number of MRSA cases
reported. It said the trust had been carrying out more blood
tests than many others, and aimed to cut test numbers to match
those at comparable hospitals. Helen Dirilen, the trust's
director of nursing and quality, said: "As part of good
practice, a memo was sent to all clinical staff last week
(originally circulated in September 2006) to remind them of
the correct procedures and indications for the collection of
blood culture samples from patients. "The aim is to ensure
patient safety and to try and prevent contamination of blood
culture samples. Reducing MRSA and all hospital acquired
infections is one of our key priorities. "We have received
recognition from the Department of Health for our work and
areas of excellent practice such as the receptionists in A&E
encouraging visitors and patients to use alcohol hand rub. We
will continue with this drive for improvement." (The Guardian)
See
THIS LINK
TSO3
announces contract with Broadlane
TSO3
Inc. (“TSO3”) announces the signing of an agreement with Broadlane, a supply
chain services company that provides technology-oriented business solutions
to improve the financial and operational performance of thousands of acute
care hospitals, ambulatory care facilities, physician practices and other
healthcare providers throughout the United States. This new multi-year
contract effective Feb. 1, 2008, offers exclusive pricing and price
protection to Broadlane clients on the 125L Ozone Sterilizer, and all
TSO3 Service and accessory products.
MedAssets expands relationship with Valley Medical Center for
cash flow and margin enhancement initiatives
MedAssets Inc.
announced that Valley Medical Center signed an agreement to expand their
relationship to include MedAssets’ entire range of supply chain solutions.
This expands the current relationship through which Valley Medical Center
utilizes certain MedAssets Revenue Management capabilities and supply cost
management services to help improve the health system’s cash flow and profit
margin.
Valley Medical Center
is one of the largest non-profit healthcare providers in the Washington
region. Valley Medical Center is located in Renton, WA, and the surrounding
area is served by a network of 12 community clinics. The relationship began
with medical device cost management through a successful consulting
relationship with Aspen Healthcare Metrics, a MedAssets Spend Management
segment company, which reduces costs in key service lines. It has now
expanded to include group purchasing services for all categories,
comprehensive supply chain technology and analytics.
In addition, Valley Medical Center utilizes solutions from MedAssets’
Revenue Management segment including compliance, billing and pricing tools
and decision support technology. The facility continuously links its supply
cost and charge data via CrossWalk, a MedAssets proprietary tool that
ensures that hospital charges provide defensible margins when compared with
supply acquisition costs.
WHO60 photo exhibition: public health over
the past 60 years
As part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of WHO, a photo collection,
spanning the 60 years of WHO, will be exhibited around the world in 2008.
The exhibit, based on the anniversary theme of "Our health, our future",
tells the story of WHO and public health over the last 60 years. It features
key public health milestones including, but not limited to: the development
of the first successful polio vaccine, the eradication of smallpox, primary
health care, tobacco control and the revision of the International Health
Regulations. The exhibit also looks to the future and covers themes such as
protecting health from climate change, the future of primary healthcare and
the use of information and communication technologies for better health
outcomes. The exhibit opened at the start of the WHO Executive Board's 122nd
session on January 21, 2008. It then travels to the United Nations
headquarters in New York to coincide with World Health Day on April 7. The
exhibit will then return to Geneva for the World Health Assembly in May and
travel to the regions during August and September.
To view the Photo exhibits
see
THIS LINK
February 5, 2008 Download print version
President's FY 2009 budget advances food and
medical product safety,
and the safety of FDA-regulated imports
FDA receives modest boost in budget plan
New hospital standards needed for pediatric flu
vaccines
Lifetime medical costs of obesity
may be cheaper than treating fit patients
Class 1 Recall: Medtronic Inc. SynchroMed EL
Implantable, Infusion Pump
Class 1 Recall: Cordis Corporation Dura Star RX
and Fire Star RX PTCA Balloon Catheters
Skytron, AIS RealTime, and Awarepoint announce
partnership
to improve hospital asset management
The Council of Supply Chain Executives
announces new supply chain member
President's FY 2009 budget advances food and
medical product safety,
and the safety of FDA-regulated imports
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, part of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, is requesting nearly
$2.4 billion to protect and promote public health as part of
the President's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget, a 5.7 percent
increase over the budget that the FDA received for the current
fiscal year. The FY 2009 request, which covers the period of
Oct. 1, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2009, includes $1.77 billion in
budget authority and $628 million in industry user fees. The
budget proposal includes strategic increases to strengthen
food protection, modernize drug safety, speed approval of
generic drugs, and improve the safety and review of medical
devices. The request also includes funds to cover cost of
living increases for FDA employees that perform the agency's
scientific and highly specialized public health mission. These
investments build on the increases that the FDA received for
FY 2008 and will help ensure the safety of the food supply and
accelerate the availability of new, safe, and innovative
medical products.
The FDA
primarily delivers its public health mission through its highly trained
professional workforce. During FY 2009, the FDA will experience a full-time
equivalent staff increase of 526. The FY 2009 budget supports additional
staff for priority areas such as food defense and food safety, and drug,
blood, and human tissue safety programs. The FDA will also work to assure
the safety of domestic and imported food and medical products by conducting
more domestic and foreign inspections and more inspections of high risk
foods.
The following are the FDA's key proposed budget increases:
Protecting America's
Food Supply ($42.2 million); Medical Product Safety and Development ($17.4
million, $79.0 million user fees); Management Efficiencies
- The FY 2009 budget also captures the productivity savings
(-$8.9 million) generated by recent FDA investments and reinvests the
savings in priority food safety and medical product programs.
For more
information on the President's FY 2009 budget for the FDA, see
THIS LINK
FDA
receives modest boost in budget plan
President Bush's proposed 2009 budget falls far short of what
many experts say is needed to safeguard the U.S. food supply.
The president on Monday proposed the Food and Drug
Administration get $2.4 billion for the 2009 fiscal year
starting Oct. 1. If approved by Congress, that would be a 5.7%
increase from the current budget.
The FDA's food-safety program would get a bigger
bump, up 6.8% to $662 million. But pay raises and inflation
would eat most of the increase, leaving the FDA with few new
resources despite increased concerns about the safety of
U.S.-produced food and imported food and drugs. "At least
there's not a substantial cut, but the agency won't be able to
do much with food or drug safety," said William Hubbard, a
former FDA associate commissioner who has joined other former
FDA officials in urging the agency's budget be doubled over
five years.
The FDA, which regulates $1.5 trillion of goods, has faced
intense scrutiny in the past 18 months after a spate of
recalls, including E. coli-contaminated spinach grown in
California, salmonella-tainted U.S.-made peanut butter and
contaminated pet-food ingredients from China that led to the
largest-ever pet-food recall. In November, an outside panel of
experts set up by the FDA to assess the agency concluded that
consumers' lives are at risk because the FDA is so underfunded.
At a congressional hearing last week, one panel member, former
FDA lawyer Peter Barton Hutt, said the agency needs its
funding doubled over two years and its employee count
increased by 50%.
Under Bush's proposed budget, the number of
full-time FDA employees would jump to 10,501, an increase of
932, or nearly 10%, from fiscal 2007. The number of full-time
positions in the FDA's foods program would also increase to
2,810 in fiscal 2009, but that would be down 133 from the 2005
fiscal year. The FDA says it plans to work with the industry
to improve food safety, do more domestic and foreign
food-plant inspections and open an office in China, the source
of numerous food-safety problems last year. The agency's goals
are modest, given the scope of the world food industry,
including 136,000 domestic and 189,000 foreign facilities.
Hubbard says there's a chance that Congress, which has held
numerous hearings on food safety in the past year, will
bolster the FDA's budget beyond what Bush has proposed, as it
did with the fiscal 2008 budget. If not, the FDA will be
"treading water," said Chris Waldrop of the Consumer
Federation of America. (USA TODAY) See
THIS LINK
New hospital standards needed for pediatric
flu vaccines
A new study published in the February 2008 issue of
Pediatrics finds that many children hospitalized for
influenza have had a recent, previous hospitalization that
would have provided an easy, convenient opportunity to receive
a hospital-based influenza vaccination. The authors suggest
that evaluating and establishing industry standards for flu
vaccines for hospitalized children could help prevent
additional hospitalizations and complications from influenza.
In the peer-reviewed article “Hospital-Based Influenza Vaccination of
Children: An Opportunity to Prevent Subsequent Hospitalization,” the
research team led by Danielle M. Zerr, MD, MPH, medical director of
infection control at Seattle Children’s Hospital and associate professor of
Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM),
evaluated the frequency of previous hospitalizations among children
hospitalized with influenza. Overall, they found that 23% of children
hospitalized with influenza and another complicating illness had a previous
hospitalization during the most recent flu-vaccine season. This suggests
that reaching those children at highest risk for influenza complications and
reducing rates of pediatric hospitalization for influenza may be aided by
providing in-hospital vaccinations when children are hospitalized during flu
vaccine season.
The study looked at five years of hospital discharge data from the
Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database from 2001 through 2006
to determine how many children hospitalized with influenza or respiratory
illness had a previous hospitalization during the most recent flu-vaccine
season. Subjects included newborns through age 18. Researchers found
approximately 16% of those hospitalized with influenza and 23% of those
hospitalized with influenza and another underlying condition had previous
hospital admissions during the vaccination season. “This information will
help pediatricians recognize hospitalization as an important opportunity to
vaccinate the highest-risk children, and may hopefully prompt the
development of hospital-based flu vaccine programs,” said Zerr.
Seattle
Children’s has had a long-standing aggressive flu prevention program,
offering free flu shots to inpatients, outpatients and staff. In 2007-2008
Seattle Children’s also offered free vaccines to those with close contact
with patients such as family members, teachers, day care staff, nannies and
more. For more information see
THIS LINK
Lifetime medical costs of obesity
may be cheaper than treating fit
patients
A new research paper published in PLoS Medicine suggests that
preventing obesity might result in increased public spending on medical
care. Many countries are currently developing policies aimed at reducing
obesity in the population. However, it is not currently clear whether
successfully reducing obesity will also reduce national healthcare spending
or not. Pieter van Baal and colleagues, from the National Institute for
Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, created a mathematical
model to try to answer this question.
In their study, van Baal and his co-workers created three hypothetical
populations of 1000 men and women, all aged 20 years at the start: a group
of obese, never-smoking individuals; a group of healthy-never smoking
individuals of normal weight; and a group of smokers of normal weight. The
model produced an estimate of the likely proportion of each group who would
encounter certain long term (chronic) diseases, and then estimated what the
approximate cost of medical care associated with each disease was likely to
be. The researchers found that the group of healthy, never-smoking
individuals had the highest lifetime healthcare costs, because they lived
the longest and developed diseases associated with aging; healthcare costs
were lowest for the smokers, and intermediate for the group of obese
never-smokers.
However, the authors argue that although obesity prevention may not be a
cure for increasing expenditures, it may well be a cost-effective cure for
much morbidity and mortality and importantly contribute to the health of
nations. A Perspective by Klim McPherson, from Oxford University in the UK,
who was not involved in the study, discusses the implications of these
findings and comments that “it would be wrong to interpret the findings as
meaning that public-health prevention (e.g., to prevent obesity) has no
benefits”; the quality of life experienced by individuals, and other
factors, must also be taken into account when planning interventions aimed
at improving public health. See
THIS LINK
Class 1 Recall: Medtronic Inc. SynchroMed EL Implantable,
Infusion Pump
Product:
Medtronic Inc. SynchroMed El Implantable, Infusion Pump Models
8626-10, 8626L-10, 8626-18, 8626L-18, 8627-10, 8627L-10,
8627-18, and 8627L-18. The programmable pump is part of the
SynchroMed EL Infusion System. The implantable components of
the SynchroMed EL Infusion System include the pump with or
without a side catheter access port, catheters, and catheter
accessories.
Reason for Recall: There is a potential pump motor stall issue that affects
SynchroMed EL infusion pumps with motors that were manufactured before
September 1999. These pumps can stall at a higher rate due to gear shaft
wear. If a pump motor stalls, drug delivery will stop suddenly and without
warning. This stoppage will result in loss of therapy, return of the
patient’s symptoms, and/or symptoms of drug underinfusion or withdrawal.
Drug withdrawal from Intrathecal Baclofen (ITB) therapy (in the patient’s
spine) can cause death if not treated immediately and effectively.
Consumers with questions may contact Medtronic Neuromodulation Patient
Services at 1-800-510-6735. Customers with technical questions may contact
Medtronic Neuromodulation Technical Services at 1-800-707-0933.
For more information see
THIS LINK
Class 1 Recall: Cordis Corporation Dura Star
RX and Fire Star RX PTCA Balloon Catheters
Product: Fire Star RX and Dura Star RX PTCA Balloon Catheters. Products
manufactured in Mexico from February, 2007 through December, 2007 and
distributed worldwide from March 26, 2007 through January 8, 2008. Dura Star
RX was distributed in the U.S. on August 29, 2007 and Fire Star RX was
distributed in the U.S. on August 31, 2007. All Fire Star and Dura Star lots
13173912 through 13315455, plus 52 additional lots above 13315455 are
affected. (No lots above 13329055 are affected).
Reason for Recall: The product has a potential for slow deflation or no
deflation of the angioplasty balloon when inserted into the artery or other
blood vessels. This may potentially result in a total blockage of the artery
or blood vessels, resulting in a change in the heart rate or heart rhythm,
injury to the heart artery, a heart attack, need for a surgical procedure or
death.
Consumers with questions may contact Cordis Inc. at 1-786-313-2000.
For more information see
THIS LINK
Skytron, AIS RealTime, and Awarepoint
announce partnership to improve hospital asset management
Skytron, AIS RealTime, and Awarepoint Corporation announced
Skytron Asset Manager,
an integrated active RFID asset management and information
resource solution designed to improve hospital patient care,
enhance staff productivity and better manage equipment capital
and rental expense. While standard real-time location services
(RTLS) provide location tracking and reporting of mobile
assets via a web-based search application, Skytron Asset
Manager adds another critical dimension to information
on-demand, incorporating operators’ instructions, maintenance
manuals and parts catalogs into the asset tracking RFID
platform.
“Not
only does the system provide real-time location information of
mobile assets, it further integrates the myriad operators’
instructions for all types of healthcare equipment. Skytron
Asset Manager creates a wireless hospital asset management
solution which can consolidate medical equipment information
and location needs for both mobile and fixed assets,” said
Randy Tomaszewski, Skytron’s vice president of marketing.
The Skytron Asset Manager
solution further integrates with Skytron’s
SkyVision
operating room video and data system to provide total
equipment information at the point of care. With it, users can
track the location and status of equipment and people, plus
have operation, maintenance and technical manuals at their
immediate fingertips, without leaving the operating room.
“In
addition to tracking the location of mobile equipment and
obtaining quick access to product information, the system can
be installed within a matter of days with no disruption to
patient and staff. The software user interface is fully
customizable and easy to use so that hospital staff can be
trained in just a matter of a few minutes,” said Tim Bayer,
President of AIS RealTime.
Under the new partnership,
Skytron’s extensive North American network of independent
distributors will sell, install and support the patented
active RFID-RTLS technology, powered by Awarepoint’s exclusive
ZigBee
sensor network. Sensors
simply plug into electrical outlets to form the Awarenet mesh
network. Once the sensors are plugged in, the mesh network
forms automatically to track small battery-powered tags that
are attached to equipment or people. Users track location and
detailed product information from any accessible
hospital-based computer.
For more information
see
THIS LINK
The Council of Supply Chain Executives
announces new supply chain member
The
Council of Supply Chain Executives (The Council) announces the
addition of Steve Pitzer, System Director, Supply Chain
Management for CHRISTUS Health, to its roster of nationally
acclaimed supply chain executives. Pitzer is responsible for
all aspects of supply chain management activities for more
than 40 hospitals and facilities in six American states and
Mexico, with assets of more than $3.4 billion.
The Council is an organization that allows supply chain executives from
across the country to assemble together to offer their best practices and
experiences to their peers and to healthcare suppliers in small focus group
panels. The Council offers various healthcare suppliers a collaborative
forum to ask for feedback and advice from the country’s leading supply chain
executives in a neutral and constructive environment.
The Council of Supply Chain
Executives will convene next on November 6-7, 2008 in
Franklin, TN. Due to the unique nature and format of The
Council of Supply Chain Executives, only a limited number of
healthcare suppliers can attend. For more information see
THIS LINK.
February 4, 2008 Download print version
Indonesian chickens, and people, hard hit by
bird flu
Inhaling pig brains may be cause of new illness
World Cancer Day: February 4
Hot liquids release potentially harmful
chemicals in polycarbonate plastic bottles
AACN and AONE announce plans for nurse manager
certification exam
FDA issues public health advisory on Chantix
6 simple steps to protect against and stop the
spread of noroviruses
Megadyne extends its electrosurgery products with
new line of suction coagulators
Indonesian chickens, and people, hard hit by
bird flu
KONCANG,
Indonesia
—All around Indonesia, since late 2003, chickens have been dying of bird
flu. And more than in any other country, people are dying too, infected by
chickens or other sources. Three people died of bird flu this week, pushing
the total number of deaths in Indonesia to 101, nearly half of all the human
deaths in the world from bird flu. The other countries with the highest
reported deaths are Vietnam, with 48; Egypt, with 19; and China and
Thailand, each with 17, according to the
World Health
Organization. The mortality rate in Indonesia is also the
highest in the world. Only 24 people reported to have been infected have
survived. The virus is known to have infected at least 357 people around the
world in 14 countries, killing 224 of them, according to the World Health
Organization. Experts say that because of poor reporting of infections and
deaths, the true number could be much higher. The concern among health
workers is that the virus could mutate to allow easy transmission from human
to human, raising the possibility of a worldwide epidemic.
No one is sure why so many people are dying in Indonesia or why the survival
rate is so low. Public health experts say that there could be a lag in
response and treatment here or that the strain of the virus could be harder
to treat than elsewhere. The disease is particularly hard to contain in
Indonesia because most chickens run loose around people’s homes in villages
and even cities, rather than being cooped in chicken farms, said Trisatya
Putri Naipospos, the former director of animal health in the Ministry of
Agriculture. Eighty percent of the chicken population of 1.4 billion is
scattered in 395 million backyards, where people raise poultry to eat or to
sell, she said. The Indonesian authorities have tried to stem the spread of
the disease by vaccinating chickens, but Naipospos said this was almost
impossible. “You can imagine how difficult it is to catch and vaccinate
these chickens,” she said. “How many chickens can you vaccinate in a day?”
Some countries have had effective vaccination programs, however. China, for
example, has vaccinated billions of chickens.
The government broadcasts television warnings
that Naipospos said contained instructions to guard against infection: Wash
your hands, don’t touch sick chickens, cook your chickens well and keep your
chickens in cages. But if the origins and transmission of bird flu remain
unclear to health experts, the disease is more of a mystery to the people
here who are at risk. Naipospos said it could be hard to get people’s
attention when they lived under constant threat of more immediate disasters.
Pummeled by earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, ferry sinkings, aviation
crashes, floods and deadly mudslides, Indonesia almost seems to have been
fated to become the world’s epicenter of bird flu deaths. “A lot more people
die of tuberculosis,
malaria
and
dengue
fever,”
Naipospos said. “If you tell them 100 people have died within two years, do
you think it’s enough to explain to people that this is a real threat just
in front of them?” (The
New York Times)
See
THIS LINK
Inhaling pig brains may be cause of new illness
Fittingly, the first person to detect a faint signal in all the noise was
the interpreter. The 33-year-old woman who worked for eight years working
with Spanish-speaking patients at a medical clinic in southern Minnesota
noticed something familiar as she translated the story of a young meatpacker
last September.
Earlier last summer, she had heard a version of it from two other workers at
the same slaughterhouse, and had told it to their doctors, who were
different from her current patient's. When the consultation was over, she
pointed this out. The interpreter's insight set in motion a story, still
unfolding: A new disease has surfaced in 12 people among the 1,300 employees
at the factory run by Quality Pork Processors about 100 miles south of
Minneapolis. The ailment is characterized by sensations of burning, numbness
and weakness in the arms and legs. For most, this is unpleasant but not
disabling. For a few, however, the ailment has made walking difficult and
work impossible. The symptoms have slowly lessened in severity, but in none
of the sufferers has it disappeared completely. While the illness is similar
to some known conditions, it does not match any exactly. Nor is the leading
theory of its cause something medical researchers have studied. That is
because the illness appears to be caused by inhaling microscopic flecks of
pig brain. "This appears to be something new," Minnesota's state
epidemiologist, Ruth Lynfield, said last week.
The packing house, in Austin, MN, (pop. 23,000), slaughters 1,900 pigs a
day, working two meat-cutting shifts and one clean-up shift. Virtually
everything is used, including ears, entrails and bone. The 12 sufferers of
the neurological illness, most are Hispanic immigrants, all work at or near
the "head table" where the animals' severed heads are processed. One of the
steps in that part of the operation involves removing the pigs' brains with
compressed air forced into the skull through the hole where the spinal cord
enters. The brains are then packed and sent to markets in Korea and China as
food.
Investigators say there is no reason to suspect that either the brains or
the pork cuts were contaminated. Their working hypothesis is that the
harvesting technique, known as "blowing brains" on the floor, produces
aerosols of brain matter. Once inhaled, the material prompts the immune
system to produce antibodies that attack the pig brain compounds, but
apparently also attack the body's own nerve tissue because it is so similar.
If this theory is correct, the ailment, for
the moment called "progressive inflammatory neuropathy", resembles
Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune condition that sometimes follows
fairly benign infections, particularly those caused by an intestinal
bacterium called Campylobacter. In the Minnesota cases, however, there
appears to be no germ involved. Although far from proved, the theory makes
enough sense that the Centers for Disease Control and Infection, in Atlanta,
has cast a net to about 25 other large-scale pig slaughterhouses in 13
states, seeking other cases. CDC investigators believe they have found a few
at a slaughterhouse in Indiana. Significantly, it is one of only two places
other than the Minnesota packing plant that uses compressed air to empty pig
skulls. All three have ceased that activity. (Washington Post) See
THIS LINK
World Cancer Day: February 4
Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world. WHO estimates that 84
million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without
intervention. Each year on 4 February, the World Health Organization (WHO)
joins with the sponsoring International Union Against Cancer to promote ways
to ease the global burden of cancer. Preventing cancer and raising quality
of life for cancer patients are recurring themes. This year's theme is
"children and second-hand smoke exposure". Around 700 million children,
almost half of the world's children, breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke,
particularly at home. In 2008, World Cancer Day aims to send a simple
message to parents: "Second-hand smoke is a health hazard for you and your
family. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Give your
child a smoke-free childhood." For more information see
THIS LINK
Hot
liquids release potentially harmful chemicals in polycarbonate plastic
bottles
When it
comes to Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure from polycarbonate plastic bottles, it’s
not whether the container is new or old but the liquid’s temperature that
has the most impact on how much BPA is released, according to University of
Cincinnati (UC) scientists. Scott Belcher, PhD, and his team found when the
same new and used polycarbonate drinking bottles were exposed to boiling hot
water, BPA, an environmental estrogen, was released 55 times more rapidly
than before exposure to hot water.
“Previous studies have shown that if you repeatedly scrub,
dish-wash and boil polycarbonate baby bottles, they release BPA. That tells
us that BPA can migrate from various polycarbonate plastics,” explained
Belcher, UC associate professor of pharmacology and cell biophysics and
corresponding study author. “But we wanted to know if ‘normal’ use caused
increased release from something that we all use, and to identify what was
the most important factor that impacts release.” “Inspired by questions from
the climbing community, we went directly to tests based on how consumers use
these plastic water bottles and showed that the only big difference in
exposure levels revolved around liquid temperature: Bottles used for up to
nine years released the same amount of BPA as new bottles.”
The UC team reports its findings in the Jan. 30, 2008 issue of the
journal Toxicology Letters. BPA is one of many man-made chemicals
classified as endocrine disruptors, which alter the function of the
endocrine system by mimicking the role of the body’s natural hormones.
Hormones are secreted through endocrine glands and serve different functions
throughout the body. The chemical, which is widely used in products such as
reusable water bottles, food can linings, water pipes and dental sealants,
has been shown to affect reproduction and brain development in animal
studies. “There is a large body of scientific evidence demonstrating the
harmful effects of very small amounts of BPA in laboratory and animal
studies, but little clinical evidence related to humans,” explained Belcher.
“There is a very strong suspicion in the scientific community, however, that
this chemical has harmful effects on humans.”
Belcher’s team analyzed used polycarbonate water bottles from a
local climbing gym and purchased new bottles of the same brand from an
outdoor retail supplier. All bottles were subjected to seven days of testing
designed to simulate normal usage during backpacking, mountaineering and
other outdoor adventure activities. The UC researchers found that the amount
of BPA released from new and used polycarbonate drinking bottles was the
same, both in quantity and speed of release, into cool or temperate water.
However, drastically higher levels of BPA were released once the bottles
were briefly exposed to boiling water.
AACN and AONE announce plans for nurse manager
certification exam
The
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and the American
Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) announced that they have expanded
their partnership to develop the first certification exam designed
exclusively for nurse managers. This latest partnership effort is rooted in
AACN’s and AONE’s 6-year collaboration to provide education and development
resources for nurse managers. Development of a nurse manager certification
program is a logical next step following the highly successful release last
year of the Essentials of Nurse Manager Orientation (ENMO), a comprehensive
e-learning program on which the two organizations collaborated. Providing
tools to support and validate the knowledge, skills and abilities of nurse
managers is of vital importance given the high influence they have on the
quality of patient care and the work environment in which nurses deliver
that care.
AACN Certification Corporation completed a study of nurse manager
practices which found that frontline nurse managers are generally prepared
for their leadership roles through on-the-job training. This certification
will provide a way for nurse managers to validate that they have acquired
the essential knowledge and skills necessary to be effective in their role.
The relationship between AACN and AONE began
in 2002 when the two organizations, in collaboration with the
Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), developed the
Leadership Learning Domain Framework for nurse managers and the resulting
Nurse Manager Inventory Tool. The Inventory Tool and ENMO fill a previously
unaddressed need organizations and individuals had for assessing and
developing nurse manager leadership skills.
More
information on the Leadership Learning Domain Framework, Nurse Manager
Inventory Tool, and the Essentials of Nurse Manager Orientation is available
on both organizations’ web sites at
www.aacn.org and at
www.aone.org.
FDA issues public health advisory on Chantix
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Public Health Advisory
to alert healthcare providers, patients, and caregivers to new safety
warnings
concerning Chantix (varenicline), a prescription medication used to help
patients stop smoking. On
Nov. 20, 2007, FDA issued an Early Communication to the public and
healthcare providers that the agency was evaluating postmarketing adverse
event reports on Chantix related to changes in behavior, agitation,
depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and actual suicidal behavior.
As
the agency's review of the adverse event reports proceeds, it appears
increasingly likely that there may be an association between Chantix and
serious neuropsychiatric symptoms. As a result, FDA has requested that
Pfizer, the manufacturer of Chantix, elevate the prominence of this safety
information to the warnings and precautions section of the Chantix
prescribing information, or labeling. In addition, FDA is working with
Pfizer to finalize a Medication Guide for patients.
"Chantix
has proven to be effective in smokers motivated to quit, but patients and
healthcare professionals need the latest safety information to make an
informed decision regarding whether or not to use this product," said Bob
Rappaport, M.D., director of the FDA's Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and
Rheumatology Products. Chantix was approved by FDA in May 2006 as a smoking
cessation drug. Chantix acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine and
may help those who wish to stop smoking by providing some nicotine effects
to ease the withdrawal symptoms and by blocking the effects of nicotine from
cigarettes if users resume smoking.
In the Public Health Advisory and a Health Care Professional Sheet that was
also issued today, FDA emphasized the following safety information for
patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals: Patients
should tell their health care provider about any history of psychiatric
illness prior to starting Chantix.
Chantix may cause worsening of current psychiatric illness
even if it is currently under control.
Health care
professionals, patients, patients' families, and caregivers should be alert
to and monitor for changes in mood and behavior in patients treated with
Chantix. Symptoms
may include anxiety, nervousness, tension, depressed mood, unusual behaviors
and thinking about or attempting suicide.
Patients
should immediately report changes in mood and behavior to their doctor.
Vivid,
unusual, or strange dreams may occur while taking Chantix. Patients taking
Chantix may experience impairment of the ability to drive or operate heavy
machinery. For more information see
THIS LINK
6 simple steps to protect against and stop the spread of
noroviruses
Recent outbreaks of norovirus, also known as stomach flu, indicate the
highly contagious, fast-moving virus is again a public health concern. The
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
has six simple steps to protect families against noroviruses. Norovirus is
the second most frequent cause of illness after the common cold. Symptoms
include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and occur between 24
and 48 hours after exposure. Norovirus can be life-threatening for the
elderly and immunocompromised.
APIC’s six simple steps to protect against
norovirus are available here
www.apic.org
Megadyne extends its electrosurgery products with new line of suction
coagulators
To help further ease the hand fatigue
experienced by many surgeons during electrosurgery procedures, MEGADYNE
announces today the availability of its new line of reusable suction
coagulators with a larger, ergonomic handle to maximize comfort, efficiency,
safety and ease of use. “We designed this product with the surgeon’s comfort
and ease of use in mind, said Michael Hintze, vice president of marketing at
MEGADYNE. “We listened to our customers and designed a larger handle to
increase comfort, making the product more proportionately sized as well as
more ergonomically shaped to help reduce hand fatigue.”
Ideal for ear, nose and throat procedures, MEGADYNE’s suction coagulators
are available in French sizes, 8, 10 & 12 to better enable the surgeon to
correctly match the coagulator to the size of the patient’s anatomy and
surgical procedure being performed. Available in both hand switching and
foot controlled options, the coagulator is fully insulated to reduce the
likelihood of injury to surrounding structures and tissues and its
integrated guard prevents user shocks. The hand-controlled versions have a
tactile switch so the surgeon is assured when the pencil has been activated.
For more information see
THIS LINK
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