DUBLIN, Ohio and BELLEVUE, Wash., March 11, 2009 — Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, today announced an agreement to distribute the RF Surgical Detection System.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cardinal Health will distribute the RF Surgical Detection System to hospitals, surgery centers and other health care distributors in the United States as part of its Presource® surgical kits and as a stand alone offering.
The patented and FDA-approved RF Surgical Detection System scans for and signals an alert if any radio frequency-tagged sponges, gauze or towels remain in a patient prior to surgical closing procedures.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and an increasing number of private insurers have indicated that they will no longer reimburse for procedures associated with “never” events such as left-behind surgical sponges. Published studies today indicate that one in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries results in a sponge left behind in a patient. A retained sponge incident can lead to serious complications, including sepsis, unnecessary X-rays, need for repeat surgeries and even death.
“We are pleased to be working with Cardinal Health to offer hospitals and surgery centers across the country enhanced patient safety through the advanced technology of our sponge detection system,” said Gary Blackbourn, vice president sales and marketing for RF Surgical. “Cardinal Health's focus on retained foreign object solutions and significant market reach will provide RF Surgical the opportunity to expand its implementation base of over 100 hospitals nationwide.”
Cardinal Health, which also offers computer-assisted, bar code-enabled sponge counting and documentation systems and RFID-enabled sponge counting and detection systems, is now the only company to offer hospital and surgery center customers access to a comprehensive suite of retained foreign object technologies.
“This agreement with RF Surgical now provides Cardinal Health the opportunity to support our customers’ diverse patient safety needs, regardless of the retained foreign object technology they may decide to utilize,” commented Steve Inacker, president of Cardinal Health’s Medical segment.
About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $91 billion, global company serving the health care industry with products and services that help hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies reduce costs, improve safety, productivity and profitability, and deliver better care to patients. With a focus on making supply chains more efficient, reducing hospital-acquired infections and breaking the cycle of harmful medication errors, Cardinal Health develops market-leading technologies, including Alaris® IV pumps, Pyxis® automated dispensing systems, MedMined™ electronic infection surveillance service, VIASYS® respiratory care products and the CareFusion™ patient identification system. The company also manufactures medical and surgical products and is one of the largest distributors of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies worldwide. Ranked No. 19 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 40,000 people on five continents. More information about the company may be found at cardinalhealth.com.
About RF Surgical Systems, Inc.
RF Surgical Systems is a privately held medical device company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and maintains engineering R & D facilities in San Diego, California. The concept for the RF Surgical Detection System was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Port, a Thoracic Surgeon, and Mr. William Blair, an Electrical Engineer. The system was the first FDA-approved surgical sponge detection system on the market. For more information, please visit www.rfsurg.com.
