Survey indicates most Nationwide members believed false alarms from patient motion were a significant distraction to care, emphasizing the need for more advanced pulse oximetry technologyIRVINE, Calif., Dec 13, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Nationwide Respiratory
and Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI), the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Read-Through
Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, announced that they have entered into
a preferred provider agreement making Masimo SET pulse oximetry technology
available to Nationwide's network of over 150 independent respiratory homecare
providers. Masimo SET is the most accurate and reliable pulse oximetry
technology, clinically proven in more than 100 independent and objective
studies to provide the most trustworthy SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even
under the most difficult clinical conditions, including patient motion and low
peripheral perfusion.
Nationwide Respiratory, part of the VGM Group -- the nation's largest
member service organization for Home Medical Equipment (HME) -- is a national
network of over 150 independent respiratory homecare providers in the U.S.
with more than 400 locations. These homecare providers use the pulse oximeter
to assess the oxygen saturation of a patient during overnight sleep tests in
order to determine whether or not the patient meets established Medicare or
private insurance guidelines for home oxygen therapy.
Tom Pontzius, President, Nationwide Respiratory, stated "The ability to
detect and capture true hypoxic events, in real-time, are essential in the
administration of overnight oxygen saturation sleep tests; however, inaccurate
readings and false data due to motion have hindered the effectiveness of these
tests for our members. The accuracy and reliability of the pulse oximeter,
even through patient motion, is crucial to effectively qualifying a patient
for home oxygen therapy. Medicare guidelines cover home oxygen therapy if a
patient's SpO2 drops below 89% for at least 5 minutes with a mean of 85% or
less in an overnight sleep test. Getting this data correct is absolutely vital
to ensuring a patient receives adequate respiratory homecare. Based on third
party clinical literature and our surveys, we concluded that Masimo is by far
the best choice for detecting hypoxemias and hypopneas and reducing false
alarms."
Joe E. Kiani, Chairman and CEO of Masimo, said, "Nationwide Respiratory is
one of the nation's leading independent home respiratory provider networks.
Dedicated to providing selection, service and support during the entire sleep
apnea diagnosis and treatment process, Nationwide Respiratory has taken the
proactive steps necessary to help its members advance the level of care they
deliver. They recognized that their members have significant challenges with
their current pulse oximetry solutions and were willing to invest in advanced
technology, like Masimo SET, to resolve them. We are excited to partner with
Nationwide Respiratory and look forward to meeting the pulse oximetry needs of
their members."
As part of the contracting process, Nationwide Respiratory surveyed all
its members to better understand their needs in the care of their patients
with pulse oximetry. The results revealed the need for more advanced pulse
oximetry technology as members overwhelmingly cited reduction in false alarms
and more accurate/reliable data as reasons for their need to switch to a
better pulse oximetry technology.
Reduction in False Alarms
The majority of members surveyed said that SpO2 false alarms due to
patient motion are the most common type of alarms, generating the greatest
number of phone calls from patients in the home. As a result, most Nationwide
members surveyed said they would invest in technology if it could reduce false
alarms due to motion.
Masimo SET is a breakthrough Read-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse
oximetry technology that uses advanced breakthrough signal processing
algorithms to deliver accurate and reliable SpO2 and pulse rate measurements.
By delivering meaningful alarms and alerts that can be trusted to reflect a
patient's true oxygenation status, clinicians can maximize their efficiency by
concentrating on caring for their patients, rather than chasing false alarms.
More Accurate and Reliable Oxygen Saturation Data
Nationwide Respiratory members also confirmed that as many as 40% of
overnight oximetry tests do not capture enough "real" hypoxic events and most
survey respondents said they would invest in a more powerful oximetry
technology if it was proven to capture more 'real' hypoxic events and improve
the effectiveness of their overnight oximetry program.
Unlike conventional pulse oximeters, Masimo SET provides the greatest
sensitivity (ability to detect true positives), at 98%, with the greatest
specificity (the ability to reject false positives), at 97%, based on
independent and objective evaluations and studies that have examined oximeter
performance in real clinical environments. In fact, in a pediatric sleep
laboratory setting, Masimo SET technology was found to accurately detect
hypopneas 98.6% of the time, while Nellcor detected only 45.3% -- missing
greater than 50% of pediatric hypopneas.(1)
"As a result of this survey, we heard our members loud and clear and have
chosen to partner with Masimo because they are the leader in oximetry
technology," said Tom Pontzius, President Nationwide Respiratory.
About Masimo
Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) develops innovative monitoring technologies that
significantly improve patient care-helping solve "unsolvable" problems. In
1995, the company debuted Read-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse
oximetry, known as Masimo SET, and with it virtually eliminated false alarms
and increased pulse oximetry's ability to detect life-threatening events.
Masimo SET is the most accurate and reliable pulse oximetry technology,
clinically proven in more than 100 independent and objective studies to
provide the most trustworthy SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the
most difficult clinical conditions, including patient motion and low
peripheral perfusion. In 2005, Masimo introduced Masimo Rainbow SET, a
breakthrough noninvasive blood constituent monitoring platform that can
measure many blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures.
Rainbow SET continuously and noninvasively measures carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO)
and methemoglobin (SpMet), pleth variability index (PVI), in addition to
oxyhemoglobin (SpO2), perfusion index (PI) and pulse rate, allowing early
detection and treatment of potentially life-threatening conditions. Founded in
1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcomes and Reducing Cost
of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications."
Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at
http://www.masimo.com.
(1) Differences in Pulse Oximetry Technology can Affect Detection of
Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Children. Robert Brouillette, Jacinthe
Lavergne, Andra Leimanis, Gillian Nixon, Sylvia Ladan, Christine
McGregor. Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children's Hospital,
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Masimo, SET, Signal Extraction Technology, Improving Outcomes and Reducing
Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications,
Rainbow, SpCO, SpMet, PVI and Pulse CO-Oximeter are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Masimo Corporation.
Contact: Tom McCall
Masimo Corporation
949-297-7075
SOURCE Masimo Corporation