Here’s the one that started it all!

LewisGale Hospital Montgomery along with the Virginia Tech Marching Virginians danced to Pink’s “Raise Your Glass,” and received 19,670 votes, the FOURTH highest in the competition! WOW!

Advocate Good Shepard Hospital received an impressive 6840 votes by dancing to Katy Perry’s “Firework”.

Congratulations to all of you and thank you for your commitment to breast cancer awareness. To you we raise our glass-salud!

Lest you think I was finished…as you know, Champion Medical Technologies participated in this year’s AORN Congress in New Orleans. As a long time (reeeaaaalllly long time) member, I attended the annual Medline breakfast with about 1000 of my friends and colleagues as we enjoyed a great meal and were inspired by a wonderful speaker. When our speaker finished, we got the inside skinny on how the Pink Glove videos are made. A choreographer showed us some of the dance moves, and weren’t we surprised to learn that we and those dance moves were going to be the headliners in this year’s Pink Glove Dance competition! What a blast it was! I got my split second of fame at about 55 seconds, and if you look real close, you’ll see a blur at 10 o’clock looks just like me! I was happy to do my very small part to spread hope and support for breast cancer patients!

Everyone who works in an OR knows all about The Joint Commission and the FDA. They are the ones that make up the rules about how we handle implantable tissue and medical devices in our facilities. Perioperative nurses are the primary advocates for their patient’s safety. We all know that the rules are evidence-based and exist for the safety and protection of our patients—however, that is not to say that sometimes following and interpreting the rules is always easy, and can contribute to a few grey hairs. Until recently, the tracking of implantable tissue and medical devices was, at best, inconsistent and incomplete.  A report  for the first half of 2010 issued by The Joint Commission showed that only 28% of hospitals surveyed were compliant in using standardized procedures for managing tissue!  Champion Medical addressed the tracking challenge and offers two products that help hospitals meet regulatory compliance. Here are five reasons for you upgrade your old tissue logbook to GraftTracker® or UDITracker®.

1. Ensure Joint Commission Compliance

UDITracker® and GraftTracker® were designed from the ground up to meet The Joint Commission Hospital & Laboratory Accreditation Standards for simplified compliance. Since their implementation in hospitals around the country, our customers have not only been compliant, but honored for their peak level of performance. With UDITracker® and GraftTracker®, specifically requested reports and logs can be accessed and produced in seconds during your next site visit from The Joint Commission. Compliance has never been easier!

2. Save Time & Money

Checking out-dates is time consuming and potentially costly in terms of very expensive implantable device products lost and staff productivity. No more worrying about assigning staff to the task–UDITracker® / GraftTracker® automatically notifies you up to 90 days prior to the expiration date of your implantable devices. You’ll never again lose money due to items that expire on the shelf!

3. Speed Up Recall Investigations

Untimely manufacturer recalls coupled with the arduous task of investigating can be futile. Even using multiple staff members; the task can take weeks or months to complete, if the information is found at all. When you log into your UDITracker® / GraftTracker® program, you will find the most up-to-date recall notices from the FDA right on your desktop. In seconds, RecallConnect™ will locate all recalled items, not only in your available inventory, but will notify you of inventory that has been implanted or discarded as well.

4. Focus on Patients

Are your circulating nurses spending time out of the OR and away from their patient when searching for a particular tissue product that may not even exist in your inventory? UDITracker® / GraftTracker®‘s search capabilities allow them to search available inventory by multiple means, including product type, product code or ID/Serial/Lot number. Search results will provide the available inventory level and location in seconds.

5. Reduce Files & Paper

Hand-written forms, ledgers, spiral notebooks, temperature logs, Excel spreadsheets and supplier provided forms produce VOLUMES of paper and electronic files. UDITracker® /GraftTracker® traces every step of your implantable device inventory; from receipt to final use or disposition in one safe, easy to access format.

Don’t just take our word for it, click here to read what our customers have to say.

We’ll have a free gift for you too. See you in New Orleans!

AORN Exhibit Hall Dates & Times:

Monday, March 26 – 5:00 – 7:30 pm – Exhibit hall reception, open to all attendees
Tuesday, March 27 – 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – All attendees
Wednesday, March 28 – 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – All attendees

About AORN 59th Congress:

Congress is the opportunity of the year to get energized and connected with 5,000 others in the perioperative field. It is the largest surgical products tradeshow in North America and offers over 100 education sessions, networking, and career building opportunities in six days.

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!”