Stryker Completes Acquisition of Patient Safety Technologies

Stryker Corporation has completed the acquisition of Patient Safety Technologies Inc.

Patient Safety conducts its business through its wholly owned subsidiary, SurgiCount Medical Inc. Patient Safety’s proprietary Safety-Sponge System and SurgiCount 360 compliance software help prevent Retained Foreign Objects (RFOs) in the operating room.

Stryker bought Irvine, Calif.-based PatientSafety for $2.22 per share, or $120 million. The company’s safety sponge system includes bar-coded surgical sponges and towels, an integrated barcode scanner, and compliance tracking software.

RFOs are the most common operating room “Never Event” in the United States. Sponges are the most common retained object, with approximately 2,300 incidents reported annually at an average cost per incident of over $400,000. The SurgiCount Safety Sponge System offers a way to eliminate unnecessary costs from the healthcare system while improving quality of care, Patient Safety claims.

Since its launch in 2006, SurgiCount has established a customer base of more than 300 hospitals. The Safety-Sponge System will become part of Stryker’s Instruments division’s offerings and will augment Stryker Instruments’ portfolio of products designed to optimize the perioperative experience by reducing hazards, streamlining operations, and improving outcomes for patients and caregivers.

“We are committed to providing solutions that result in a higher quality of care and level of safety for both patients and healthcare professionals,” Timothy J. Scannell, Group President of Stryker’s MedSurg and Neurotechnology division, said when the deal was announced in late December. “This acquisition aligns with Stryker’s focus on offering products and services that have demonstrated cost effectiveness and clinical outcomes.”