Conversion helps U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, named one of America's best
hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, make clinical practice changes to improve patient safety
IRVINE, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI),
the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion
pulse oximetry, announced the completion of the University of Michigan (U-M)
Hospitals and Health Centers system-wide implementation of Masimo SET pulse
oximetry. Leaders at the institution cited superior clinical performance as
the chief reason for conversion to Masimo SET as their standard of care for
precise, continuous SpO2 monitoring.
Kevin K. Tremper, MD, Chairman of Anesthesiology at the U-M Hospitals and
Health Centers, said, "Our evaluations of Masimo SET alongside other pulse
oximetry technologies provided clinical staff with the opportunity to
objectively appraise the performance of each of these pulse oximetry devices
and we found the Masimo device to be superior."
Nationally recognized as one of the top healthcare organizations in the
country and one of only 18 hospitals included in the U.S. News & World Report
Best Hospitals Honor Roll, the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers is a 913-bed
healthcare system encompassing three hospitals -- University Hospital, C.S.
Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital -- in addition to more than
30 health centers and 120 outpatient clinics.
Unlike conventional pulse oximeters, Masimo SET Measure-Through Motion and
Low Perfusion pulse oximetry is new-generation technology that uses
sophisticated signal processing technologies, including parallel engines and
adaptive filters, to deliver accurate and reliable SpO2 and pulse rate
measurements when conventional pulse oximetry technologies don't. As a result,
Masimo SET provides the greatest sensitivity (ability to detect true
positives) with the greatest specificity (ability to reject false positives).
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.
The sensitivity and reliability of Masimo SET pulse oximetry technology
can also provide an effective solution to address the clinical concerns
associated with properly monitoring at-risk post-operative patients. Rising
acuity levels -- due predominately to aggressive postoperative pain management
with patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps and increased co-morbidities at
admission -- have dramatically increased incidents of avoidable adverse and
sentinel events (events resulting in death or serious physical injury). In
addition, undiagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) can place patients at
considerable respiratory risk as pain medications typically suppress the
natural breathing reflex during apneic episodes. These clinical realities
have significantly impacted the way in which clinicians deliver care.
"As a result of our new Masimo SET pulse oximetry capabilities, we have
implemented a policy in which all patients receiving intravenous opioids for
post-operative pain are monitored with Masimo SET oximeters networked to our
nurse paging system," said Dr. Tremper. "We have found that this clinical
practice change provides a workable solution to a challenging national
clinical problem and, in addition to being well-received by our nursing staff,
we feel it has improved patient safety within the U-M Health System. We are
hoping to document and share our efforts in academic publications throughout
the next year."
By making the conversion to Masimo, U-M Hospitals and Health Centers joins
other top hospitals in the United States -- including four of the top five, as
listed on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll -- that have all adopted
Masimo SET as their primary pulse oximetry platform. More than 100 independent
and objective studies demonstrate that Masimo SET provides the most
trustworthy SpO2 readings even under the most difficult clinical conditions,
including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion. These studies have
shown that Masimo SET delivers improvements in outcomes, safety and efficiency.
Joe E. Kiani, CEO of Masimo, stated, "University of Michigan Hospitals and
Health Centers provides numerous local and statewide community health programs
and services that enable healthcare access for all. This system-wide
conversion and standardization to Masimo SET pulse oximetry is an example of
U-M's commitment to advancing patient care and safety for all of its patients
system-wide. We are delighted to be the pulse oximetry standard for U-M and
their patients and are proud to provide a solution that supported their
clinical practice change to help keep their post-operative patients monitored
and safe."
About Masimo
Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI) develops innovative monitoring technologies that
significantly improve patient care -- helping solve "unsolvable" problems. In
1995, the company debuted Measure-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. More
than 100 independent and objective studies demonstrate Masimo SET provides 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 total hemoglobin (SpHb(TM)) and oxygen
content (SpOC(TM)) (pending FDA clearance), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO(R)),
methemoglobin (SpMet(R)), and pleth variability index (PVI(TM)), 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.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may include forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future
events affecting us and are subject to uncertainties and factors, all of which
are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control, including:
risks related to our assumption that U-M's standardization to Masimo
technologies will serve to provide substantially increased revenues for the
company, risks related to our assumption that Masimo SET and Masimo Rainbow
SET will deliver a sufficient level of clinical improvement over alternative
pulse oximetry and patient monitoring systems to allow for rapid adoption of
the technology, risks related to our assumption that Masimo SET pulse oximetry
technology provides an effective solution to address the clinical concerns
associated with properly monitoring at-risk post-operative patients and that
this solution will lead to increased adoption of Masimo SET technology for
monitoring such patients, and risks related to our assumptions regarding the
timing or commercial availability of SpHb and SpOC, and will be timely cleared,
if ever, by appropriate regulatory bodies, as well as other factors discussed
in the "Risk Factors" section of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 29, 2007, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
March 4, 2008. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our
expectations will prove correct. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.
We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-
looking statements or the risk factors contained in our annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 29, 2007, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the
federal securities laws.
Masimo, SET, Signal Extraction Technology, Improving Outcomes and Reducing
Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications,
Rainbow, SpHb, SpOC, SpCO, SpMet, PVI, and Pulse CO-Oximeters are trademarks
or registered trademarks of Masimo Corporation.
SOURCE Masimo
CONTACT: Dana Banks of Masimo Corporation, +1-949-297-7348
Web site: http://www.masimo.com