CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
At the AACC show 2016
October 2016—Beckman Coulter, an operating company of Danaher, and Augusta University (Ga.) Medical Center signed a 15-year master service agreement. The alliance aims to create innovative models of care using technology and process improvement methodologies in the laboratory setting, ultimately providing enhanced patient care and significant long-term cost savings for the medical center.
Through this alliance, the medical center will have access to Danaher’s diagnostic solutions, including Beckman Coulter’s laboratory automation, instruments, software, assays, and services as well as to Leica Biosystems, Radiometer, and Danaher’s other diagnostic offerings. The agreement provides the medical center with the benefit of implementing Danaher’s proprietary business improvement processes, known as the Danaher Business System. DBS has been proven to increase productivity and improve financial performance in numerous business settings, according to a company statement.
In addition to its display of products and services at the meeting, the company sponsored a number of clinically focused workshops, a short course, roundtables, and poster presentations that included best practices and advancements in laboratory technology from industry experts. The Beckman Coulter Diagnostics Difference was introduced; it is a synergistic, scalable combination of tools, insights, management systems, and process improvements designed to enable health care enterprises to manage a range of testing volumes and achieve fast, consistent turnaround times at peak workloads. These comprehensive solutions target a number of diagnostic disciplines, including laboratory automation, chemistry, immunoassay, hematology, urinalysis, and microbiology.
Beckman Coulter and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics have formed a strategic relationship regarding sales of Ortho’s Vitros 3600 Immunodiagnostic System and infectious disease menu in the U.S. Under this strategic relationship, Beckman Coulter will place the Ortho Vitros 3600 System running HIV and hepatitis assays in laboratories that currently run Beckman’s Power Processor Sample Handling Systems and in certain other high-volume laboratories. Beckman Coulter and Ortho will also collaborate to obtain clearance or approval from the FDA to connect the Vitros 3600 System to the Power Processor to run infectious disease tests.
The company also released its Sentinel Pancreatic Amylase reagent and calibrator, a barcoded, ready-to-use liquid reagent manufactured by Milan-based Sentinel Diagnostics. The pancreas-specific amylase assay is an in vitro diagnostic test used for the quantitative determination of the pancreatic amylase in serum and plasma by the enzymatic colorimetric method. The assay offers laboratories good precision and low-end sensitivity (limit of detection = 0.5 U/L), a broad assay range of 4.7–2,000 U/L, 30-day reagent onboard stability, and 14-day calibration frequency. It is available for use on the company’s AU clinical chemistry analyzers.
Beckman Coulter, 714-993-5321