A Medical Device Daily

Premier (Charlotte, North Carolina) has awarded new 36-month agreements for spinal implants and related products to Medtronic Sofamor Danek (Memphis, Tennessee), EBI Spine (Parsippany, New Jersey), Aesculap (Center Valley, Pennsylvania) and Osteotech (Eatontown, New Jersey). The contracts become effective July 1 and will include spinal hardware, stimulation and biologic products for both pediatric and adult patients.

It said that these products are available for minimally invasive procedures, as well as standard open spine procedures and are used to treat symptoms due to degenerative diseases, osteophyte formation, deformities, tumors and herniated discs. Symptoms include vertebral fractures, back pain and weakness or instability of the spine and numbing sensations in the extremities. Surgical treatments to alleviate these symptoms include discectomy with and without fusion, vertebroplasties, corpectomy, kyphoplasty and motion preservation procedures.

"These agreements are the result of a collaborative effort between our member Spine Task Force and Surgical Services and Strategic Advisory Committees who have worked hard to provide the most cost-effective, innovative, and quality-driven spine surgery service line solutions in this complex physician preference area," said Susan DeVore, president, Premier Purchasing Partners.

This expanded portfolio features competitive pricing on a complete range of high quality products, and a breadth of value-added offerings for Premier members. One such value-added offering is the integrated program, SpineAdvisor.

Launching June 1, SpineAdvisor includes analytics to measure cost and quality performance, support and resources for product conversion, physician engagement and process improvement.

In other contract news:

• Affiliated Computer Services (ACS; Dallas), a provider of business process outsourcing and information technology solutions, said that it has been awarded a healthcare solutions contract with OhioHealth, a not-for-profit organization providing healthcare services in 46 Ohio counties. Under the three-year contract, ACS will implement its MIDAS+ DataVision technology across the OhioHealth system.

MIDAS+ DataVision provides a set of analytic tools and services that enable robust data analysis across more than 3,500 metrics and is designed to be used by chief medical officers and other clinical and administrative professionals. The system includes web-based access to one of the nation's largest concurrent comparative databases and a unique application, SmartReport, which identifies and prioritizes measures outside of an expected range as opportunities for improvement.

• AirCell (Geneva) and MedAire (Tempe, Arizona) unveiled MedLink Powered by AirCell, a new program that gives business aircraft operators access to in-flight, on-demand medical assistance worldwide. The program is available exclusively to AirCell satcom customers.

Using one-touch dialing from their AirCell satcom system, passengers and flight crews can talk to emergency room physicians at MedAire's 24/7 MedLink Global Response Center. With special training in remote airborne diagnosis and treatment, the physicians provide medical advice to manage medical concerns occurring aboard the aircraft.

AirCell said it is the first telecommunications company in the world to make such a service available as a part of a total communications solution.

• Jacobs Engineering Group (Pasadena, California) reported that a subsidiary company received a contract from the Clarian Health Partners/Arnett Health System (Indianapolis) partnership to serve as program/project manager for a new 150-bed hospital in Lafayette, Indiana. Officials did not disclose the contract value.

The program includes a 413,000-square-foot, seven-story patient tower; a central plant; a 125,000-square-foot medical office building; and related sitework.