LOS ANGELES, CA (BUSINESS WIRE) August 7, 2006 -- SurgiCount Medical, a wholly owned subsidiary of Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (AMEX:PST), announced today that it has entered into a three-year agreement to provide its patented Safety-SpongeTM System for the
prevention of retained sponges after surgery to the entire network of INTEGRIS Health System, Oklahoma's largest not-for-profit health care organization. This new contract will take the Safety-Sponge System from two hospitals currently to the entire network which includes eleven hospitals. Financial terms were not disclosed. “We’re very happy that INTEGRIS has become our first health care system to incorporate SurgiCount’s Safety-Sponge System network-wide,” said Bill Adams, Chief Executive Officer of SurgiCount, “and we’re extremely pleased with the rate of adaptation of the System.” SurgiCount Medical received FDA 510(k) clearance to market and sell its Safety-Sponge System in March 2006, and is the only computer-assisted system for counting sponges cleared by the FDA. The Safety-Sponge System is an integrated turn-key program of thermally affixed, data matrix tagged surgical sponges, line-of-sight scanning technology, and documentation that offers surgeons and hospitals a solution to gossypiboma -- the term for surgical sponges accidentally left inside a human body after surgery. Based on estimates and assumptions made by Patient Safety Technologies management, gossypiboma occurs in an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 surgical procedures each year in the United States alone, and liability settlements and other costs related to retained sponges amount to an estimated $500 million to $750 million annually.
About INTEGRIS HealthINTEGRIS Health owns, manages or leases hospitals, primary care clinics, mental health facilities, rehabilitation centers, fitness centers, hospice services, home health agencies and independent living centers throughout the state of Oklahoma. INTEGRIS Health is an Oklahoma-owned, not-for-profit corporation. Our mission is to improve the health of the people and the communities we serve. More information about INTEGRIS Health facilities and services is available on our home page at www.integrisOK.com or by calling the INTEGRIS HealthLine at (405) 951-2277 or toll free at (800) 951-2277.
About SurgiCount and the Safety-Sponge™ SystemSurgiCount Medical's Safety-Sponge System works much like a grocery store check-out system. Every surgical sponge and towel is pre-labeled by the manufacturer with an individual and unique bar coded label, and a scanning counter is used to read and record the labels. No change is required in a hospital's established counting procedures: sponges are counted and recorded by the system at the beginning of the procedure and again as they are removed from the patient. For more information, visit www.surgicountmedical.com. About Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (AMEX:PST)Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (PST) is a holding company that owns assets in various businesses. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, SurgiCount Medical, Inc., is a developer and manufacturer of patient safety products and services. For more information on Patient Safety Technologies, Inc., please contact the company directly at 310-895-7750, or by email at info@patientsafetytechnologies.com or www.patientsafetytechnologies.com.
