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Infectious disease surveillance
Hospira acquires software developer
TheraDoc
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Hospira, Inc.,
a leading provider of clinical information and medication delivery
technologies, announced that it has acquired Salt Lake City-based
TheraDoc, a clinical informatics company that develops hospital
surveillance systems.
TheraDoc’s two leading products, Infection Control Assistant and
Antibiotic Assistant, join Hospira’s expanding portfolio of medication
safety and infection management products.
“The acquisition of TheraDoc aligns well with Hospira’s focus on
improving the clinical outcomes, caregiver productivity and safety of
patient care,” said Philip Settimi, M.D., vice president, Global
Marketing, Devices, Hospira. “TheraDoc is the gold-standard in
enterprise-wide clinical surveillance and decision support. Hospira now
offers a truly comprehensive solution for medication safety and
infection management, which are two of providers’ most pressing
healthcare challenges.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are 99,000 deaths
due to hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and 1.7 million HAIs annually.
Careful monitoring of infections is critical with the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services’ emphasis on avoiding “Never Events,” and
hospitals facing reduced funding and coverage based on infection rates.
With HAIs costing between $28.4 billion and $33 billion each year, Johns
Hopkins used TheraDoc to help reduce HAI confirmation time by 50 percent
while achieving 98 percent accuracy of infection identification.
TheraDoc’s Infection Control Assistant provides continuous infection
monitoring, intelligent alerts and timely analysis of hospital
infections. The product joins Hospira’s portfolio of infection
management tools, including the LifeShield TKO and Antimicrobial CLAVE,
devices that are designed to help address potential infection-related
contamination.
In the early stages of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, several hospitals
employed TheraDoc’s surveillance platform to more effectively manage
their responses. Computerized surveillance helps hospitals manage and
coordinate infectious disease care – especially important during
fast-moving situations.
“During the recent H1N1 outbreak, TheraDoc was particularly helpful with
tracking patient information and monitoring which patients were being
admitted with influenza-like symptoms,” said Lori Goffinet, R.N., B.S.N.,
Infection Prevention & Control, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in
Peoria, Ill.
A key advantage of the TheraDoc technology for OSF and other
multi-hospital systems is the ability to access information about
infections across all facilities from one central location. As a result,
TheraDoc provides a system-wide picture of what is happening with
infections.
TheraDoc’s Antibiotic Assistant provides real-time point-of-care
screening to arm clinicians with timely and relevant information about
antimicrobial resistance trends. This allows clinicians to effectively
monitor and analyze the spread of infectious diseases so that the right
antibiotic treatment can be prescribed. Antibiotic Assistant complements
Hospira’s medication safety products like Symbiq and Plum A+ smart
infusion pumps and Hospira MedNet safety software, which were also
designed to support safe and effective drug delivery.
“Hospira and TheraDoc share a dedication to advancing the quality and
safety of care through advanced medical technology,” said Stanley L.
Pestotnik, M.S., R.Ph., co-founder, president and CEO, TheraDoc.
“TheraDoc’s leadership in providing real-time clinical decision support,
combined with Hospira’s market-leading position driving medication
safety and infection management, will result in expanded access to
technologies that are integral to patient care.”
TheraDoc has approximately 85 employees and prominent customers across
the United States, including Johns Hopkins, University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center (UPMC), the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Northwestern
Memorial Hospital, National Institutes of Health Clinical Centers,
Yale-New Haven Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical System and many more. The
company’s products are also under evaluation by hospitals in Canada, the
United Kingdom and Australia.
As part of the agreement, Hospira acquired additional assets related to
the TheraDoc business, including the headquarters in Salt Lake City, and
the TheraDoc employees are now a part of Hospira. Financial details of
the agreement were not disclosed.
About Hospira
Hospira, Inc. is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication
delivery company dedicated to Advancing Wellness. As the world leader in
specialty generic injectable pharmaceuticals, Hospira offers one of the
broadest portfolios of generic acute-care and oncology injectables, as
well as integrated infusion therapy and medication management solutions.
Through its products, Hospira helps improve the safety, cost and
productivity of patient care. The company is headquartered in Lake
Forest, Ill., and has approximately 14,000 employees. Learn more at
www.hospira.com.
About TheraDoc
TheraDoc is a clinical informatics leader dedicated to improving the
quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care through enhanced
clinical decision making. With TheraDoc’s Expert System Platform as the
“engine,” the company offers a suite of Knowledge Modules that includes
the Infection Control Assistant and Antibiotic Assistant. TheraDoc’s
founders and core medical informatics team are internationally
recognized for their pioneering and continuing work in clinical decision
support design and development, which spans more than two decades. For
more information, visit
www.theradoc.com.
Posted Dec.10, 2009
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