ICU Medical Inc., the San Clemente-based medical device maker, has been making news in regard to a possible buyout.
It keeps on with its work, however.
The maker of needleless intravenous connectors and other medical devices said late last month that it received two separate six-year purchasing deals from Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier Inc.
Premier is a hospital-supply buying group that serves 100,000 alternate sites—such as clinics—across the country, and several hundred hospitals. The ICU-Premier contract takes effect next year; financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Device makers usually compete to get buying group contracts as a way to broaden their audiences.
ICU said the contracts with Premier cover its complete line of needleless intravenous connectors, sets and accessories. One contract is for the connectors, while the other covers the company’s complete line of medical infusion sets and accessories.
“Premier’s decision to provide a separate contract for needle-free connectors acknowledges that this technology can make a real clinical difference,” said Mark Jorgensen, ICU’s general manager of national accounts.
ICU said the new deal marked the first time its complete line of needleless IV connectors would be available to Premier members under one contract.
The line includes Neutron, a device that reduces all types of refluxes into catheters; the MicroClave and MicroClave Clear neutral displacement needleless IV connectors; and the NanoClave, a low-profile neutral displacement connector designed to keep neonatal and pediatric patients safe by minimizing flush volumes needed to clear IVs while also providing a microbial barrier.
Reverse Medical’s Devices Cleared
Irvine-based device maker Reverse Medical Corp. said the Food and Drug Administration cleared its Micro Vascular Plug devices for embolizing peripheral arteries.
Reverse Medical also said in a news release that its first domestic clinical uses have taken place at the Miami Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute.
Micro Vascular Plug “tracked easily through tortuous anatomy and was successfully retracted and recaptured prior to final deployment, allowing for more precise control than conventional coils,” said Dr. Ripal Gandhi, who practices at the institute.
“I’m very enthusiastic about our timing with this technology, as the embolization market is poised for dramatic growth,” said Jeffrey Valko, Reverse’s chief executive. “We forecast more than 75,000 annual procedures in the U.S. alone.”
Valko added that Reverse Medical has started commercializing the Micro Vascular Plug in Europe after receiving European Union regulatory clearance in May.
InstaMed Partners Up
InstaMed Inc., a healthcare technology company with offices in Newport Beach and Philadelphia, said it designed a new online bill-payment service in collaboration with Minneapolis-based insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc.
UnitedHealth’s new service is called myClaims Manager. The insurer, which has some 3,900 workers in Orange County, said the service enables members to pay their medical bills and manage their healthcare claims and related expenses from one location.
MyClaims Manager “represents an important evolution” in simplifying healthcare payments, Bill Marvin, InstaMed’s chief executive and cofounder, said in a news release.
Chris Seib, InstaMed’s chief technology officer and cofounder, works out of Newport Beach.
InstaMed processes payments for healthcare services through a network that connects providers, insurers and patients. The privately held company was established in 2005 and doesn’t disclose its sales or earnings.
Hospital Opens Urgent Care Facility
Placentia-Linda Hospital opened a new urgent care facility late last month in Brea.
The building is at 2415 E. Imperial Highway. It offers care ranging from “sore throats to sutures to X-rays for broken bones,” according to a news release.
Placentia-Linda, a 114-bed facility, is one of three Orange County hospitals owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. It ranked No. 15 on the Business Journal’s most recent annual list of the top hospitals in OC.
The hospital posted pretax net income of $14 million on net patient revenue of $81.2 million for the 12 months ended last September.
Bits and Pieces
Irvine-based Masimo Corp. said Douglasville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Douglasville, Ga., is now using its Patient SafetyNet monitoring system. The maker of patient monitors said installation of Patient SafetyNet is part of the facility’s organizationwide conversion to Masimo’s SET Pulse Oximetry devices. … Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach said it performed a procedure using a newly approved alternative to cervical spinal fusion surgery. The device, Secure-C, is made by Pennsylvania-based company Globus Medical Inc. … Irvine-based healthcare software maker Kareo Inc. said its Kareo E.H.R. electronic medical record is a finalist in the Orange County Technology Alliance’s High-Tech Innovation Award competition. Kareo’s electronic medical record is competing in the “most innovative cloud solution” category. … Santa Ana-based Neuropathy Action Foundation and Pennsylvania-based GBS/CIDP Foundation International started a joint nationwide campaign to raise awareness of multifocal motor neuropathy, a news release said. The incurable condition occurs when a patient’s immune system attacks motor nerves. Educational materials and public service announcements are part of the campaign.
