Beckman Coulter and St. Joseph Health System Sign New Agreement for Diagnostic Lab Products
Beckman Coulter, Inc. has signed a new agreement with St. Joseph Health System to provide the integrated health care delivery network with a wide range of diagnostic laboratory instrument systems, software and test kits.
Under the terms of the $25 million, five-year agreement, Beckman Coulter is the sole-source provider of automation, immunoassay, data management and general chemistry products.
“Beckman Coulter has been a valued business partner with us for many years, so we know the company will continue to provide us with innovative laboratory products backed by quality, reliable service,” said Jim McManus, vice president of finance for St. Joseph Health System. “This contract will enable our large, diverse integrated delivery network to standardize on Beckman Coulter instrument systems and tests for improved patient care and cost savings.”
The new agreement includes Beckman Coulter’s full range of automation equipment, including the Power Processor sample-processing system and related automation modules and connections. It also includes the Access® 2 immunoassay system, UniCel® DxI 800 Access immunoassay system, DL 2000 data manager, SYNCHRON LX® PRO clinical system and the SYNCHRON LX®i 725 clinical system, which performs more than 140 chemistry and immunoassay tests.
“Our newest agreement with St. Joseph Health System complements our existing hematology contract and enables us to provide members of the health network with 100 percent of their routine laboratory testing requirements,” said Robert Kleinert, vice president of the Americas, Clinical Diagnostics Division of Beckman Coulter.
St. Joseph Health System is a member of MedAssets, the third largest and fastest growing group purchasing organization and supply chain management company in the country. MedAssets and St. Joseph Health System have been working together to decrease supply costs up to 25 percent. A focused effort on reducing physician preference item supply costs has also resulted in immediate, significant cost savings for St. Joseph Health System.
“This agreement reflects our goal to find hidden revenue opportunities and improve the cash flow of our members,” said Rand Ballard, president of MedAssets Supply Chain and Business Services Group. “We are confident that St. Joseph Health System will realize significant costs savings and productivity improvements as a result of this agreement with Beckman Coulter.”
About MedAssets
MedAssets, headquartered in Atlanta, improves healthcare providers’ margin and cash flow through revenue cycle and supply chain initiatives. As a strategic business partner, MedAssets can replace multiple vendors and decrease supply costs by 3 to 10 percent and increase net patient revenue by 1 to 3 percent. Proprietary information technology is used to work with and improve existing IT assets and work processes.
MedAssets, through its revenue cycle subsidiary MedAssets Net Revenue Systems, provides best-of-breed revenue solutions including strategic pricing, pre-bill charge capturing, and ongoing chargemaster management tools. MedAssets, through its supply chain subsidiary, operates the fastest growing group purchasing organization and supply chain services company in the U.S. and builds customized solutions encompassing procurement of common medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, physician preference supplies, and capital equipment.
MedAssets serves more than 22,000 healthcare providers nationwide through its revenue cycle and supply chain operations including Atlantic Health System (New Jersey), Banner Health (Arizona), Bon Secours Health System (Maryland), Charleston Area Medical Center (West Virginia), Christiana Care Health System (Delaware), Inova Health System (Virginia), Main Line Health (Pennsylvania), Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (Texas), North Mississippi Health Services, Rush System for Health (Illinois), St. Joseph Health System (California), Saint Barnabas Health Care System (New Jersey), The University of North Carolina Health Care System, University Hospitals Health System (Ohio), University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (Pennsylvania), and many others. For more information about MedAssets go to www.medassets.com or contact Gary Johnson, vice president of Marketing and Marketing Services, 100 North Point Center East, Suite 200, Alpharetta, GA 30022.
About St. Joseph Health System
St. Joseph Health System provides a broad range of medical services. The system is organized into three regions—Northern California, Southern California and West Texas/Eastern New Mexico—and consists of 15 acute care hospitals, as well as home health agencies, hospice care, outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, community clinics, and physician organizations. The facilities that comprise the Health System offer a wide variety of services within each of the three regions. From well-established acute care hospitals to clinics in non-traditional settings like school rooms and shopping malls, SJHS is establishing a “continuum of care,” that is, a system that links and coordinates an entire spectrum of health services. For more information, visit www.stjhs.org .
About Beckman Coulter, Inc.
Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of biomedical testing instrument systems, tests and supplies that simplify and automate laboratory processes. Spanning the biomedical testing continuum—from systems biology and clinical research to laboratory diagnostics and point-of-care testing—Beckman Coulter’s 200,000 installed systems provide essential biomedical information to enhance health care around the world. The company, based in Fullerton, Calif., reported 2003 annual sales of $2.2 billion with 64 percent of this amount generated by recurring revenue from supplies, test kits and services. For more information, visit www.beckmancoulter.com .
# # #
