Hospira acquires point-of-care technology company Sculptor
9 May 2008
Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP), a global specialty pharmaceutical and
medication delivery company, has acquired Sculptor Developmental
Technologies, a subsidiary of St Clair Health Corporation.
Sculptor's product VeriScan Rx is a software application that
supports barcode medication administration at the point of care. It is
designed to streamline the medicines administration process to enhance
patient safety and clinician workflow.
Sculptor was formed by St Clair Hospital in 1993 to advance the use
of technology to improve patient care. As part of a related arrangement,
St Clair Hospital will serve as a development and test site for Hospira
medication management products.
"Acquiring Sculptor expands Hospira's ability to offer device and
software solutions that enhance safety and productivity," said Chris
Kolber, president, Global Devices, Hospira. "Their approach to
developing products designed by clinicians, for clinicians, results in
high adoption rates and an immediate impact to patient safety and
clinician efficiency."
According to the US Institute of Medicine (IOM), medication errors
impact 1.5 million people in the United States per year. Barcode enabled
systems are becoming increasingly important to addressing medication
errors by verifying the 'five rights' of medication administration:
right medication, right dose, right patient, right time and right route
of administration.
"This acquisition brings together two leaders in healthcare IT —
Hospira has led the industry in barcoding medications and infusion
technology; and St Clair, through Sculptor, was the first hospital in
the country to combine barcoding and RFID in a single mobile device for
the real-time workflow needs of clinical staff," said Richard Schaeffer,
vice president and chief information officer, St. Clair Hospital.
The acquisition of Sculptor supports Hospira's approach of
interfacing its products with other technologies to meet the evolving
needs of hospitals. Hospira currently partners with several leading
hospital information system providers to establish communications
between their applications and its own. These companies include Cerner
Corp., McKesson Corporation and Siemens Medical Solutions.