A Medical Device Daily Staff Report
Jericho Systems (Dallas) said it is one of only eight civilian companies selected to provide key components of the new Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) that facilitates the exchange of clinical data between the Department of Defense (DoD), Veterans Administration (VA), and private healthcare providers.
In April 2009, President Obama tasked the DoD and VA with creating a fully interoperable Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) system and announced that the VLER 'will ultimately contain administrative and medical information from the day an individual enters military service throughout their military career and after they leave the military.'
The VLER is being implemented using NHIN standards and functionality. Jericho's Policy Decision Point (PDP), part of Jericho's EnterSpace Decisioning Service, is a key component of the NHIN architecture.
'Basing the VLER on NHIN technologies and standards will allow the VA and DoD to partner with private healthcare providers and other Federal agencies to promote faster, better and safer care,' said Brynn Mow, CEO of Jericho Systems. 'Patients will benefit from the improved quality and efficiency of electronic health records, while enjoying the added peace-of-mind of knowing and approving exactly who has access to which portions of their personal medical information.'
In other agreements/contracts news:
* Eurotech (Columbia, Maryland), a supplier of embedded technologies, products, and systems, reported multiple contracts with DynaVox (Pittsburgh) to deliver the Catalyst LP and Catalyst Module embedded computers for the DynaVox V, Vmax and Xpress alternative augmentative communication (AAC) devices. The combined value of these contracts is nearly $4.2 million.
DynaVox's speech-generating devices help those living with conditions such as autism, ALS, cerebral palsy, stroke, traumatic brain injury or Down syndrome communicate with their loved ones and participate in the educational classroom and in work settings.
* Roche (Basel, Switzerland) and Exiqon (Penzberg, Germany) reported joining marketing forces for Roche Applied Science's RealTime ready assays and Exiqon's miRCURY LNA Universal RT microRNA qPCR system. A bundle of measures like webinars and seminars and linked internet appearances are planned to promote the joint offer. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Exiqon says its miRCURY LNA Universal RT microRNA PCR system offers a combination of performance and ease-of-use on the microRNA real-time PCR market.
* deCODE genetics (Reykjavik, Iceland) and ARUP Laboratories (Salt Lake City) reported a partnership through which ARUP will offer deCODE's DNA-based prostate cancer risk assessment test to its clients.
Under the terms of the nonexclusive agreement, ARUP will integrate deCODE ProstateCancer into the portfolio of tests it offers to academic medical centers, public and private healthcare providers, and major hospitals across the U.S. ARUP's clients will order the test, submit samples and receive results through ARUP, with deCODE conducting the genetic analysis in its CAP and CLIA-certified laboratory.
deCODE ProstateCancer measures 25 common single-letter variations, or SNPs, in the sequence of the human genome that are associated with the risk of prostate cancer. The risk conferred by these common SNPs is independent of family history, and does not correlate with benign prostatic hyperplasia (a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate). The test can identify approximately 15% of men in the general population who are at double the average risk of prostate cancer, as well as 5% who have triple the average risk.
* The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UT Medical Center; Knoxville) will use the Premier (Charlotte, North Carolina) healthcare alliance's SafetyConnect patient safety program complete with the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network's (DICON) online educational modules. DICON, a collaboration of the Duke University School of Medicine and 39 community hospitals, provides physician and nurse educational tools designed to engage and empower hospital personnel to take an active role in reducing healthcare-associated infections. SafetyConnect includes a comprehensive offering of data analytics and software, performance improvement support services and collaborative knowledge sharing opportunities to improve ongoing infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship efforts.
* Medical Device Consultants (MDC; North Attleboro, Massachusetts), a regulatory consulting and contract research organization (CRO) serving the medical device and diagnostics industry, reported a strategic partnership with Clinical Development & Support Services (CDSS; Cheshire, UK).
Leslie Rose, Director of Clinical Services at MDCI said, 'Our primary aim is to fully support clients as they design and conduct medical device and IVD clinical trials both in the U.S. and Europe. The CDSS network of employee and contract clinical research professionals in the UK and across Europe complements MDCI's full service CRO activities. This collaboration of two former competitors combines our strengths to provide broader and deeper clinical and regulatory solutions for all of our medical device clients.' CDSS specializes in phase I to phase IV clinical trials and in the provision of monitoring and contract research nursing services.
