IT absorbs sponges at HealthTrust

PITTSBURGH, USA:ClearCount Medical Solutions, a player in patient safety solutions, announced an agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group, L.P., (HealthTrust), a group purchasing organization in the U.S., to make its SmartSponge System platform available to HealthTrust members.

Under the terms of the agreement, HealthTrust not-for-profit and for-profit acute care facilities, as well as ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, and alternate care sites, will have access to the latest and most complete technology to avoid retained sponges, a press release added.

“ClearCount is very pleased to have been chosen for this contract award based on our shared values of providing great patient care while reducing overall healthcare costs,” said David Palmer, chief executive officer of ClearCount. “Our innovative and unique ‘count and detect’ technology provides HealthTrust members with an effective way to improve both patient safety and operating room efficiency. ClearCount’s Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) based platform is the only technology available that provides a true closed-loop reconciliation of the surgical sponge count. All equipment and RFID tags are validated before use in each case. During surgery, sponges are individually tracked from the initial check-in through the out count. When called upon, the detection wand assists to quickly locate missing sponges. To date, this counting and detection approach has made retained sponges a true “Never Event” in every operating room where ClearCount’s technology has been implemented.