Novation - news briefs on contracts and acquisitions of suppliers and - manufacturers of medical and surgical equipment

Health Industry Today, July, 1999

Novation, Irving, Texas, has signed multi-year contracts with seven capital equipment suppliers and three-year pacts for interventional specialty urology products. The CE agreements, says Novation, represent nearly $5 million in annual savings for VHA and University HealthSystem Consortium members and $60 million in total annual sales for participating manufacturers. CE contracts have been signed with: - Hill-Rom, Batesville, Ind. - infant care equipment; - InterMetro Industries, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. - adjustable shelving systems, workcenters, procedure carts, emergency carts, case carts, utility carts; - Medela Inc., McHenry, Ill. - breast feeding pumps and accessories; - MEDIQ/PRN Inc., Pennsauken, N.J. - critical care rental equipment; - Nihon Kohan, Irvine, Calif. - neurodiagnostic equipment; - Universal Hospital Services, Inc., Bloomington, Minn. - critical care rental equipment; - Waterloo Industries, Waterloo, Iowa - procedure and medication carts, mobile storage carts. Novation signed urology contracts with C.R. Bard, Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., and Cook Urological, Spencer, Ind., for stents, catheters, stone extractors, balloon dilators, filiforms, guide wires, prostate therapy equipment and devices, and percutaneous renal surgery equipment. The contracts are said to be worth $30 million annually.

Bergen Brunswick Medical Corp., Orange, Calif., has signed a three-year primary source agreement to provide med-surg products to Norton Healthcare's eight hospitals and more than 20 medical facilities in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. The contract includes a pair of two-year extension options. It is worth approximately $75 million over the three-year term, half of which is incremental new business to Bergen. Norton's Linda Bottorff, director of materials/management support services, said that in addition to med-surg products the contract will provide information and systems packaging. The contract builds on the relationship established between Norton and Ransdell Surgical in Louisville, Ky., which Bergen acquired in 1998. Bergen Brunswick Medical is a subsidiary of Bergen Brunswig Corp.

AmeriNet, Inc. St. Louis, and Beckman Coulter, Inc., Fullerton, Calif., have renewed their immunochemistry agreement and added Beckman Coulter's automation systems and SYNCHRON[umlaut] clinical analyzer. The agreement, worth more than $120 million, extends to 2003. The agreement allows AmeriNet to offer the Beckman Coulter product line and The Power of Process[ordinal indicator, feminine] laboratory process analysis to more than 9,200 members. Ken Rosemann, vice president, program development for AmeriNet, said the GPO's members can expect increased productivity and lower total costs with the Beckman Coulter laboratory process analysis. Beckman Coulter senior vice president Albert Ziegler said his company's system addresses the most labor-intensive steps in laboratory procedures, and that labor accounts for 50% - 60% of a lab's total costs. Beckman Coulter offers instruments that provide 100% of routine testing and 75% of all laboratory testing.

Smith & Nephew, Inc., San Diego, has sold its bracing and support systems division to Chase Capital Partners, Fairfield Chase Medical Partners, and senior management. The agreement, expected to be completed in mid-July, is contingent upon receipt of governmental and other agency approvals. The sale includes S&N's Donjoy and ProCare[umlaut]

orthopedic brands. The new company will be known as DonJoy, LLC. Chase Capital Partners is a private equity capital provider. Fairfield Chase Medical is a joint venture between Chase Capital Partners and Chuck Orsatti, managing partner of Fairfield Chase. r

Correction

The June, 1999 issue of Health Industry Today contains an article (Contract Notes, p. 6) which incorrectly states that BGF Industries, Northridge, Calif., is a supplier of pressure-reduction mattresses, pressure-relief mattresses, and wheelchair cushions for Novation, Irving, Texas. The company is also misidentified in the Company Index, p. 20. The correct name of the supplier is BG Industries. Health Industry Today apologizes for the inaccuracy.