A Medical Device Daily

GE Healthcare (Little Chalfont, UK), a unit of General Electric (Fairfield, Connecticut) and a provider of automated analysis systems, reported two partnerships: with Process Analysis and Automation (PAA; Hampshire, UK) and MatriCal (Spokane, Washington). The company said that these partnerships will enable it to extend its offering of cellular analysis and automation solutions for the IN Cell Analyzer platform.

PAA is a specialist in the automation field, and GE Healthcare said this partnership would allow it to provide customers with a range of automation solutions for its IN Cell Analyzer and LEADseeker platforms. Components are matched, installations are co-ordinated and customers no longer have to work with multiple vendors to build an automation platform for high content analysis (HCA) and high throughput screening (HTS), the company said.

With the strategic supplier agreement with MatriCal, GE Healthcare said it could now offer 96- and 384-well, flat glass bottom microwell plates at “a competitive rate.” The flat glass bottom MatriPlates provide low auto-fluorescence, evenness of the plate surface, and optimum optical viewing surface for cell-based assays, the company noted. Combined with the IN Cell Analyzer imaging platform, optimal imaging performance can be achieved, according to GE Healthcare.

PAA’s flagship software product is Overlord2, allowing integration of more than 230 laboratory instruments with a range of robots, robotic handlers and stackers. With full data handling, data reduction and databasing capabilities, Overlord2 provides the tools to cautomate laboratory processes, PAA said.

MatriCal is a worldwide supplier of lab instrumentation and consumables for life sciences research. The company makes specialized consumables including microwell plates for high throughput screening and cell based imaging; industrial automation platforms for sample management and automated cell culture; a plate washer for ELISA and cell-based assays; and a bench top sonicator.

In other agreements:

• Standard Register (Dayton, Ohio), a provider of document and print management services for healthcare, said it has signed an agreement with MedAssets Supply Chain Systems (Bridgeton, Missouri), the group purchasing division of MedAssets (Alpharetta, Georgia), to help acute care facilities streamline their document workflow and transition to electronic medical records (EMR).

“EMR offers healthcare providers the means to improve the quality of care while significantly reducing costs and shortening the revenue cycle,” said Terrilynn Cunningham, VP of executive services for MedAssets Supply Chain Systems. “By collaborating with Standard Register, we can help clients build a solid foundation for EMR and realize the full benefits from their technology investments more quickly.”

The agreement will give MedAssets’ clients assistance in auditing, standardizing and streamlining their documents and processes, addressing all document requirements including content, access and control, the company said. The EMR readiness team develops a roadmap for migrating documents to EMR, in addition to providing guidance in managing workflow in an environment where paper and digital documents co-exist, according to Standard Register.

Standard Register says it has had a 33-year relationship with MedAssets Supply Chain Systems, providing document management services and supplies.

MedAssets partners with healthcare providers to improve their financial strength by implementing integrated spend management and revenue cycle solutions intended to help control cost, improve margins and cash flow, increase regulatory compliance, and optimize operational efficiency. MedAssets serves more than 125 health systems, including 2,500 hospitals and 30,000 non-acute care healthcare providers.

• SRI/Surgical Express (Tampa, Florida), a provider of reusable surgical device reprocessing services, said it has signed a three-year national agreement with Premier Purchasing Partners (Charlotte, North Carolina). The agreement allows SRI to offer its line of reprocessing services to members of Premier’s alliance, which includes 1,500 member hospitals and 47,000 other healthcare sites.

SRI said its services “eliminate excess inventory requirements, improve the hospital supply chain, and reduce biohazardous waste generation and its impact on the environment.”