ReMedPar announces new president; Brady/TISCOR purchases Fluke equipment management software; CTI partners with Texas State Technical College; and more.

ReMedPar Gets New Leader Mark Graham has joined replacement parts and support services company ReMedPar Inc (Goodlettsville, Tenn) as president. Graham said he was excited to lead the ReMedPar team in providing strategy formulation, directing the day-to-day attention of streamlining the company, and further accelerating its growth. “We are pleased to have Mr. Graham join the ReMedPar team,” said Ed Sloan, Sr, CEO of ReMedPar. “His expertise, which has been proven by his track record of producing positive results in both private and public companies, will provide ReMedPar with resources to ensure its continued growth and market leadership.”

Brady/TISCOR Acquires Fluke Software
Brady/TISCOR (Poway, Calif) has acquired the rights to Fluke Biomedical’s Sentinel Infinity biomedical equipment management software. Brady/TISCOR will develop, market, and provide technical support for the Sentinel software product and absorb Fluke Biomedical’s customer base of approximately 300. With more than 30 years of experience serving biomedical test customers and 55 years of defining electronic test products, Fluke Biomedical (Everett, Wash) intends to concentrate its development and sales efforts on its core market of medical testing equipment to best serve the needs of its client base.

Brady/TISCOR’s Medi-Mizer biomedical equipment inspection automates and streamlines regulatory inspections on biomedical equipment by providing a handheld solution that eliminates paper documentation.

“Brady/TISCOR is very excited about the opportunity to bring handheld computing capabilities to the Sentinel Infinity biomedical equipment management software to further enhance the use of the product,” said Gus Sakis, director of medical products at Brady/TISCOR.

Major Health Care Institutions Back Radianse Active-RFID

Radianse Inc (Lawrence, Mass), a provider of indoor positioning solutions (IPS) for health care using active radio frequency identification (active-RFID), announced the final close on its $11 million series A financing round with a $2 million investment. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Inc, the Permanente Federation LLC-Series D, Partners Healthcare System, and Pooled Investments Account, also a Partners entity, have invested more than half of the $2 million needed to complete the financing round. In July, Radianse Inc received $9 million in financing led by HLM Venture Partners and Partech International with participation from Ascension Health Ventures. “Kaiser Permanente has been researching the potential for active-RFID to make a positive impact on health care. We find the Radianse approach and its founders to be distinguished on several fronts,” said Chris Stenzel, senior vice president of Kaiser Permanente’s venture capital and corporate development group. “Radianse knows health care, understands its complexities, and has designed a solution that we see as important to advancing cost-effective patient care and increasing safety while reducing asset losses. We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in Radianse and look forward to building on the successes they have already achieved.” An IPS provides the indoor corollary to the global positioning system (GPS). A Radianse IPS identifies where people and objects are located. Radianse has installed its solution in several leading institutions, including the founding Partners Healthcare hospitals, Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Boston), and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH of Boston). Some other installations include Hannibal Regional Hospital (Hannibal, Mo) and St. Vincent’s Hospital (Birmingham, Ala).

AAMI Calls for Award Nominations
Each year, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) recognizes career achievement and superior work in medical instrumentation development, research, and applications, including engineering and related services, at its annual conference and exposition. The deadline to nominate an outstanding individual for one of the 2005 awards is March 1, 2005. The AAMI Foundation Awards include:

Theresa Gorski (right) accepts the BMET of the Year Award at last year’s conference.

AAMI Foundation Laufman-Greatbatch Prize—honors an individual or group that has made a unique and significant contribution to the advancement of medical instrumentation.

AAMI Clinical/Biomedical Engineering Achievement Award—recognizes individual excellence and achievement in the fields of clinical engineering and biomedical engineering.

AAMI Becton Dickinson Career Achievement Award—identifies and encourages outstanding achievement(s) by a promising health care professional in the development or improvement of medical devices, instruments, or systems that will help people live healthy lives.

AAMI Foundation/TISCOR (Herb Gardner Foundation) Award—recognizes a mid-career biomedical professional who seeks to advance his or her career by pursuing an undergraduate or advanced degree or completing training at an appropriate technical school.

AAMI/GE Medical Systems BMET of the Year Award—given to a biomedical equipment technician to recognize excellence in the field of biomedical equipment technology.

AAMI Foundation/ACCE Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award—honors individuals who have worked to improve global health conditions through the application of health technology.

AAMI Foundation/Institute for Technology and Healthcare Award—awarded to a clinical engineer in recognition of an innovative solution that has been developed to address a clinical patient care problem and that demonstrates clinical application and efficacy.

Winners will receive a monetary award, a plaque, and up to $500 in travel expenses to accept the award during the AAMI Annual Conference and Exposition, May 14-17, 2005 in Tampa, Fla. For more information and to download a nomination form, visit www.aami.org/awards/index.html or contact Lori Freeman by email at lfreeman@aami.org. 

CTI Offers Online Biomed Courses
Online training institute CTI (Lewisville, Tex) and Texas State Technical College (Waco, Tex) have partnered to provide biomedical training for both experienced biomedical technicians currently working in the field and individuals currently working in other technical fields who want cross-training into the biomedical field. Texas State Technical College will provide assistance with the development and implementation of biomedical-related courses and will award continuing education units (CEUs) and college credits to those completing the courses.

“The problem with training and education, for the most part, is the time involved,” said Brian Montgomery, president and CEO of CTI. “Once a technician has graduated from school and enters the workforce, their education drops off considerably. They can’t afford to be away from their jobs or families for the time it takes to attend classes or seminars. That’s why CTI wants to bring the training to them.”

In addition to providing CEUs and college credits, CTI and Texas State Technical College can convert college course credits based on a person’s prior education and current work experience into credits toward a degree in biomedical instrumentation. According to CTI, future plans for the program involve course development so that an individual working in other technical fields, such as IT or consumer electronics, can obtain a fully recognized degree in biomedical instrumentation.

“Our goal isn’t to reduce the requirements necessary to obtain a degree,” Montgomery said. “It’s to reduce the stress associated with it. Many people want a quality education but can’t afford to quit their jobs to attend college for 2 years. Or, they want to gain knowledge in an aspect of their career, such as diagnostic imaging, but can’t take time away from their job to do it.”