Hospira Acquires TheraDoc, Enhances Medication Safety and Infection Management Offerings

Hospira, Inc., a leading provider of clinical information and medication delivery technologies, announced today 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(TM) and Antibiotic Assistant(TM), 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, MD, vice president of global marketing for devices at 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.(1) 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, (2) Johns Hopkins used TheraDoc to help reduce HAI confirmation time by 50 percent while achieving 98 percent accuracy of infection identification.(3)

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(TM) TKO(TM) and Antimicrobial CLAVE(TM), 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, RN, BSN, infection prevention and control at 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(TM) and Plum A+(TM) smart infusion pumps and Hospira MedNet(TM) 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, MS, RPh, co-founder, president and CEO of 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.

References:

(1) Klevens RM, Edwards JR, et. al. Estimating health care-associated infections and deaths in U.S. hospitals. Public Health Reports: Volume 122, March-April 2007. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/Scott_CostPaper.pdf Accessed Nov. 4, 2009

(2) Scott RD. Healthcare-associated infections in U.S. hospitals and the benefits of prevention. Economist Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/hicpac/infections_deaths.pdf. March 2009. Accessed Nov. 4, 2009

(3) Xiaoyan S, Mackie K, et. al. Benefits of using TheraDoc to assist in surveillance for central line associated nomsocomial bloodstream Infections (CA-BSIs). 17th Annual Scientific Session. SHEA, 2006