Only 405 hospitals across the nation achieved this consummate level of performance including LewisGale Hospital Allegheny, LewisGale Medical Center, LewisGale Hospital Pulaski, and LewisGale Hospital Montgomery.

The Joint Commission’s official announcement can be viewed here.

About LewisGale Regional Health System

LewisGale Regional Health System includes 4 hospitals, 2 regional cancer centers, 6 outpatient centers and affiliations with nearly 700 physicians, including 135 employed providers and 550 independent physicians. With more than 3,300 employees, its annual payroll is $219.5 million. The system also paid $28.4 million in taxes and provided more than $73.5 million in uncompensated care to those most in need in 2009 alone. LewisGale is also part of HCA Virginia, the largest and most comprehensive healthcare provider in the Commonwealth with more than 13,000 employees. For more information see www.lewisgale.com.

About the Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 10,300 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,500 other health care organizations that provide long term care, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also provides certification of more than 2,000 disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

• Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
• Terre Haute Regional Hospital
• Frankfort Regional Medical Center
• St. Mary’s Health Center
• Portsmouth Regional Hospital
• Saint Barnabas Medical Center
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
• Holy Name Medical Center
• Summit Medical Center
• Texas Orthopedic Hospital Ltd.
• LewisGale Hospital Montgomery
• Doctors Hospital of Augusta
• Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
• North Florida Regional Medical Center
• Memorial Hospital Jacksonville
• Ocala Regional Medical Center
• John Randolph Medical Center
• Pulaski Community Hospital
• CJW Medical Center
• LewisGale Medical Center, LLC

The entire 2011 Joint Commission Annual Report can be viewed here.

About the Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 10,300 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,500 other health care organizations that provide long term care, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also provides certification of more than 2,000 disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

CMT prides itself on regular software updates every couple of months. These new version releases are applied automatically with no additional software or updates to install.

For Champion, feedback from current customers is invaluable. “They talk, we listen, and we implement.” said Peter Casady, president and CEO. ”Our customers are always our best guide; anything we can do to improve their efficiency and user experience is our primary goal.”

2011 has already been an exciting year for CMT with the launch of MedicAlert® Implant Connect℠, a new service which aims to improve patient safety with medical device implants by linking the patient to their own implant data, as well as new RFID partnership with Solstice Medical. These recent partnerships allow Champion to continue to be the most fully integrated tissue and implant tracking solution in the current marketplace.

Integration of Solstice’s RFID cabinet technology with Champion’s tracking software creates most comprehensive, secure solution; speeds up recall process, improves patient safety

CHICAGO, IL (September 28, 2011) –Champion Medical Technologies (CMT) launched today with Solstice Medical a combination of CMT’s industry-leading tracking software with Solstice’s secure storage solutions.

This innovative combination, announced by CMT at the Managing Today’s OR Suite Conference (Booth #530), will integrate CMT’s GraftTracker® or UDITracker® tissue and implant tracking software with Solstice’s innovative MED.IC® secure storage solutions that use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to automatically monitor inventory transactions. This powerful, comprehensive solution reduces manual data entry and duplicate processes, identifies expiring inventory and improves charge capture to save hospitals time and money, while allowing medical staff to increase focus more on patients.

Through this new combined offering, hospitals will enjoy secure, automated inventory control for their tissue grafts and implantable devices from loading dock to patient implantation. Product information such as lot number, serial number and expiration date will be automatically tracked and stored without manual data entry by clinical staff, as a result of this automation. Hospital staff can have peace of mind knowing they are meeting the regulatory requirements of The Joint Commission and U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) unique device identification (UDI) rules for medical devices, soon to be released.

“One example of how CMT’s software platform is benefiting hospitals is that tissue or implantable device recall investigations can be completed in seconds rather than days or weeks,” said Peter I. Casady, president and CEO of Champion Medical Technologies. “Offering Solstice Medical’s RFID cabinet technology is the perfect fit to help us further automate the implantable device tracking process used by our customers.”

“Reducing healthcare cost and improving patient care are paramount in each of our company’s mission,” adds, Daniel Sands, president and CEO of Solstice Medical. “The combination of CMT and Solstice Medical products creates an unrivaled traceability solution for hospitals.”

About Champion Medical Technologies

Champion Medical Technologies is an applied information technology company dedicated to revolutionizing how the medical industry tracks valuable inventory. Champion Medical Technologies has more than 25 years of software design and development experience in healthcare and more than 20 years of experience in tissue graft and medical device storage, distribution, and tracking. Their programs include GraftTracker® (tissue tracking software) and UDITracker® (implant tracking software). Learn more at www.championmt.com.

About Solstice Medical

Solstice Medical engineers, manufactures and installs radio frequency identification technology and software systems globally for medical device manufacturers, distributors and hospitals to reduce cost and improve the quality and safety of healthcare delivery. Solstice Medical’s commitment is to provide advanced technology solutions that exceed customer expectations enabling effective asset utilization and operational excellence. For more information regarding Solstice Medical’s pioneering DOCK to DOC® system, MD3® autoclavable medical grade RFID tags and MEDIC® auto-inventory cabinet solutions, visit the company’s website at www.solsticemedical.com.

For more information:

Lisa Sipe
Champion Medical Technologies
lsipe@championmt.com
866.803.3720 (office)
480.326.2109 (mobile)
www.ChamptionMT.com

Daniel Sands
Solstice Medical
dan.sands@solsticemedical.com
(260) 399-1625 (office)
(574) 527-1525 (mobile)
www.SolsticeMedical.com

Chicago, IL—

The Chicago Innovation Awards, celebrating its 10^th year, is the Chicago region’s foremost recognition of the most innovative new products or services brought to market or to public service each year.  There were more than 400 nominees for the 2011 Chicago Innovation Awards, representing an increase of more than 60 percent over the past two years.

The innovation nominated by Champion Medical Technologies is UDITracker® tissue and medical device implant tracking and management software. UDITracker® helps to save lives and increase efficiency in the operating room while ensuring Joint Commission compliance in hospitals across the country.

“The most important message of the Chicago Innovation Awards is one of confidence and courage,” said Thomas D. Kuczmarski, co-founder with Chicago journalist Dan Miller of the awards.  “The economy is challenging but each nominee believes the simple truth that a powerful new product will find a rewarding market and has the courage to pursue their vision.”

Each year ten winners are chosen from among the 75 finalists by a panel of judges reflecting a cross section of Chicago’s business community.  In addition, each of the 75 finalists is automatically in the running for the annual “People’s Choice Award,” selected through online balloting at www.chicagoinnovationawards.com.

The finalists are also each awarded a scholarship to attend a day-long executive education program titled “The Practical Innovator”, taught at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Contact:
Champion Medical Technologies
Lisa Sipe
Director of Marketing
lsipe@championmt.com
www.ChampionMT.com
866.803.3720

Chicago Innovation Awards
Bryan Brochu
bryan@chicagoinnovattionawards.com.

The Chicago Innovation Awards recognize Chicago-area companies that offer unique products or services which address an unmet need, generate a competitive response in the marketplace, exceed market expectations and achieve financial success. By focusing it’s efforts on continually improving hospital medical device inventory and recall management, in addition to holding market-exclusive partnerships with trusted companies like MedicAlert® Foundation, Champion Medical Technologies has secured its position as the #1 implant tracking solution in the U.S.

About the Chicago Innovation Awards

Kuczmarski & Associates and prominent local journalist Dan Miller established the Chicago Innovation Awards in 2002 as an annual program to honor significant innovations introduced by Chicago-area companies. Each year, the Chicago Innovation Awards honor 10 winners who have introduced products or services that uniquely fill unmet needs, generate a competitive response in the marketplace, exceed market expectations and achieve financial success. For more information, visit www.chicagoinnovationawards.com.

In her position as Manager of Implementation and Training, Donna will be responsible for coordinating and conducting GraftTracker® tissue tracking software and UDITracker® implant tracking software on-site implementations.

Preisler brings nearly 25 years of perioperative nursing experience, having provided nursing care for surgical patients, ensuring a safe environment in which the desired outcomes of surgical intervention were achieved.

“We are pleased to welcome Donna to the Champion Medical Technologies team. Her extensive knowledge of surgical procedures, coupled with her leadership experience, will help Donna to easily relate to our clients. These attributes will assist in producing a seamless implementation for our clients.” states Peter Casady, CEO of Champion Medical Technologies.

Donna’s past roles have included OR staff nursing and leadership roles such as charge nurse, anesthesia coordinator, and most recently as the supervisor of sterile processing. Donna is active in AORN and had the exciting experience of being the Volunteer Coordinator for the 2009 Congress, held in Chicago.

“Patient safety has been the priority in every role that I have performed in my career,” Donna remarked. “Even though I am no longer providing direct patient care, implementing GraftTracker® and UDITracker® along with training staff in its use will continue to allow me to put patient safety to the forefront of my practice!”

About MedStar

MedStar Health is a $4 billion not-for-profit, regional healthcare system with a network of nine hospitals and 20 other health-related businesses across Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region. As the area’s largest health system, it is one of the region’s largest employers with more than 26,000 associates and 5,300 affiliated physicians, all of whom support MedStar Health’s patient-first philosophy that combines care, compassion and clinical excellence with an emphasis on customer service. They prove this with more than 160,000 inpatient admissions and nearly 1.5 million outpatient visits each year.

MedStar Health associates proudly serve a half-million patients annually, and our employee satisfaction exceeds the national average for healthcare and Fortune 500 high-performing companies, which translates into a workforce dedicated to providing the highest quality care to the communities they serve. They contribute approximately $111 million in payroll tax to the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia each year, and believe in re-investing in our associates through professional development programs, such as the Executive Development Institute and the John L. Green Generation of Leadership Scholarship Program. Additionally, MedStar Health provides more than $260 million in charity care and community benefit on an annual basis.

MedStar Health’s areas of clinical excellence include cardiology, cardiac surgery, oncology services, rehabilitation, neurosciences, orthopedic surgery, women’s services, and emergency and trauma services. We have comprehensive services including primary, urgent and subacute care, medical education and research. Our other health-related services include assisted living, home health and long-term care. We also operate nursing homes, senior housing, adult day care, rehabilitation and ambulatory centers, as well as maintain MedStar Physician Partners, a comprehensive physician network in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region.

About HCA
Hospital Corporation of America is the nation’s leading provider of healthcare services, composed of locally managed facil- ities that include 163 hospitals and 105 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and England. At its founding in 1968, Nashville-based HCA was one of the nation’s first hospital companies.

WASHINGTON, DC (May 26, 2011) – MedicAlert® Implant Connect℠, a new service which aims to improve the safety of patients with medical device implants by linking the patient to their own implant data, launched today at the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Patient Safety Congress. Implant Connect℠ is a combined effort of MedicAlert Foundation and Champion Medical Technologies. The service empowers patients and improves patient safety while complementing the FDA’s Unique Device Identification (UDI) initiative.

MedicAlert Implant Connect℠ enables patients to enroll in the registry service so that their medical device information is always available when needed most. Combined with MedicAlert Foundation’s live 24/7 emergency response service, which provides real-time access to patient medical information, Implant Connect℠ will help to improve patient care in multiple scenarios, including medical emergencies and revision surgery. Equally important, it will provide peace of mind to patients and their families by ensuring key information on their implanted device(s) is readily available. In addition, this solution is designed to solve a continuing problem for patients, providers, and device manufacturers on how to effectively track patients and their devices when there is a medical device product recall or some other critical issue related to an implanted device. In medical emergencies, Implant Connect℠ will improve patient safety by ensuring timely information on the nature and type of device is readily available to first responders and emergency department staff for use in treatment decisions.

The corporate mission of Champion Medical Technologies (CMT), which provides UDITracker® software, is to help hospitals manage and track all implantable devices. “CMT had been searching for a partner to assist in fulfilling our mission of improving visibility of medical devices from manufacturer to patient. MedicAlert Foundation was the perfect fit to close the gap between the hospital and patient with their history of addressing patient safety,” said Peter I. Casady, President and CEO of Champion Medical Technologies.

“We continually seek innovative ways to empower patients to help improve their care and our joint effort with Champion Medical Technologies brings a new level of safety to patients with implanted devices” said Andrew B. Wigglesworth, President & CEO of MedicAlert Foundation.

About MedicAlert Foundation
Established in 1956, MedicAlert Foundation pioneered the use of medical IDs and systems to relay vital medical information to emergency responders on behalf of its members so they receive faster and safer treatment. Today, MedicAlert provides the functionality of an e-health information exchange through an innovative combination of a unique patient identifier linked to an emergency medical information record and a live 24/7 emergency response service. MedicAlert medical IDs alert emergency personnel to a member’s primary health conditions, medications, and/or implanted medical devices. In addition to its live 24/7 emergency response service, MedicAlert Foundation also provides family and caregiver notification so that members can be reunited with their loved ones. MedicAlert services are available around the world through a network of international nonprofit affiliated organizations licensed by the Foundation. Learn more at www.medicalert.org.

About Champion Medical Technologies
Champion Medical Technologies is an applied information technology company dedicated to revolutionizing how the medical industry tracks valuable inventory. Champion Medical Technologies has over 25 years of software design and development experience in healthcare and 20 years of experience in tissue graft and medical device storage, distribution, and tracking. Their programs, including GraftTracker® (tissue tracking software) and UDITracker® (implant tracking software), were specifically designed to help hospitals manage their growing inventory of expensive medical devices while improving patient safety and ensuring Joint Commission and FDA compliance. For example, medical device recall investigations now take seconds rather than days or weeks. These programs allow hospitals to convert from hand-written implant log books to an automated system. Revolutionizing How The Medical Industry Tracks Valuable Inventory. Learn more at www.championmt.com.

Contacts:

MedicAlert Foundation
Ramesh Srinivasan
SVP of Marketing and Business Development
rsrinivasan@medicalert.org
www.medicalert.org
209.669.2407 (office)
209.480.2300 (mobile)

Champion Medical Technologies
Lisa Sipe
Director of Marketing
lsipe@championmt.com
www.ChampionMT.com
866.803.3720 (office)
480.326.2109 (mobile)

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