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Two Fire Rescue Departments Honored for Excellence in Emergency Medical Services

April 11, 2017

Fire Service-Based EMS Awards Presented at 29th Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner

WASHINGTON & IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 11, 2017-- Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) announced today that the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) has honored the Orange County (Florida) Fire Rescue Department and the Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire & Rescue Service with the Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award for best practices and innovative solutions in the delivery of emergency medical services. The awards presentation took place on April 6th in Washington, DC. Masimo is proud to be a co-sponsor of this award.

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Orange County (Florida) Fire Rescue Department

The Orange County Fire Rescue Department was awarded the Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award in recognition of the development of two best practices. The first is the Sepsis Alert Program, which educates EMS providers to better identify potential cases of severe sepsis among patients in pre-hospital settings, as early recognition and treatment may improve patient outcomes and lessen the financial impact of prolonged hospital stays. The program is modeled after similar “alert” programs that trigger EMS responders to initiate certain procedures, such as programs designed to recognize signs of stroke and cardiac arrest. Preliminary results since establishing the Sepsis Alert Program have included reductions in time to blood culture, time to administer antibiotics, time to administer fluids, length of hospital stay, and percentage admitted to the ICU.

The other best practice, the Paramedic Preceptor Academy, was developed to increase pass rates for Orange County’s new paramedics, as well as to improve training and continuing education opportunities identified through the department’s quality assurance process. As a result of the improved and standardized training, in the first year of the program first-time pass rates on written and practical assessments have increased dramatically. Several other central Florida fire departments are now also participating in the Paramedic Preceptor Academy, in the hopes of seeing similar results.

Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire & Rescue Service

The Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service was awarded the Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award in recognition of the creation of an outreach initiative called Montgomery County Non-Emergency Invention and Community Care Coordination (MCNIC3). Montgomery County developed MCNIC3 to address the disparity between the volume of emergency 911 calls, which continues to grow, and EMS resources, which have stayed relatively flat. Much of the growth in 911 calls is a result of low-priority calls from frequent 911 users. MCNIC3 targets these frequent 911 users and attempts to connect them with a variety of community-based medical and social programs, in an effort to better meet their ongoing healthcare needs without taking emergency care away from those with true emergency needs. Firefighters and EMS providers are able to refer any patient they encounter to the MCNIC3 program. By partnering with local hospitals, the health department, and various community groups, MCNIC3 can arrange periodic in-person visits to ensure that the patients’ healthcare needs are being met without straining county resources. To date, MCNIC3 has reduced calls for emergency service from those patients enrolled in the program by 55%. There are plans to expand the scope of the program and develop additional community partnerships.

“CFSI takes great pride in co-sponsoring the Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Awards with Masimo,” said Dr. William F. Jenaway, Ph.D., President of CFSI. “Through this awards program, we are able to recognize innovations in the delivery of emergency medical services throughout the nation. The recipients of the 2017 award, Orange and Montgomery Counties, certainly demonstrated themselves worthy of this recognition by developing outstanding new programs that improve training, distribute resources more wisely, and ultimately improve patient outcomes. We hope other departments around the country will be inspired to introduce similar innovations.”

“Firefighters and emergency services personnel are our heroes. In saving lives, they put their own on the line for us every day. It’s crucial they have the training and resources they need to provide the best care for those they protect. Recognizing the possibility of and intervening to address sepsis as soon as possible, for example, can significantly improve patient outcomes,” said Joe Kiani, Founder and CEO of Masimo. “Masimo is honored to co-sponsor this awards program with CFSI and to recognize Orange and Montgomery Counties for their innovative achievements.”

Approximately 1,600 fire and emergency services leaders attended the 29th Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner to pay tribute to the dedication and commitment of the nation's fire and emergency services providers. Hosted by CFSI, the annual dinner benefits the mission of the non-profit policy organization, which is designed to educate members of Congress about fire and life safety issues. This year’s honored speakers were four co-chairs of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus: Senator Susan Collins (ME), Senator Tom Carper (DE), Congressman Steny Hoyer (MD05) and Congressman Bill Pascrell (NJ09).

The Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Awards Program was established in 2010 to recognize volunteer, career, and combination fire departments for excellence in and enhancements to the delivery of emergency medical services. By showcasing their best practices, the awards program provides ideas for other fire departments to consider implementing as they seek to improve their fire service-based EMS systems.

@MasimoInnovates | #Masimo

About Masimo
Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) is a global leader in innovative noninvasive monitoring technologies. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of care by taking noninvasive monitoring to new sites and applications. In 1995, the company debuted Masimo SET® Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion™ pulse oximetry, which has been shown in multiple studies to significantly reduce false alarms and accurately monitor for true alarms. Masimo SET® has also been shown to help clinicians reduce severe retinopathy of prematurity in neonates,1 improve CCHD screening in newborns,2 and, when used for continuous monitoring with Masimo Patient SafetyNet™* in post-surgical wards, reduce rapid response activations and costs.3,4,5 Masimo SET® is estimated to be used on more than 100 million patients in leading hospitals and other healthcare settings around the world,6 including 9 of the top 10 hospitals listed in the 2016-17 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll.7 In 2005, Masimo introduced rainbow® Pulse CO-Oximetry technology, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously could only be measured invasively, including total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), and more recently, Pleth Variability Index (PVi®) and Oxygen Reserve Index (ORi™), in addition to SpO2, pulse rate, and perfusion index (PI). In studies with SpHb, reductions in blood transfusion** were observed8,9 and when used with PVi, a reduction in 30-day mortality was observed.10 In 2014, Masimo introduced Root®, an intuitive patient monitoring and connectivity platform with the Masimo Open Connect™ (MOC-9™) interface, enabling other companies to augment Root with new features and measurement capabilities. Masimo is also taking an active leadership role in mHealth with products such as the Radius-7™ wearable patient monitor, iSpO2® pulse oximeter for smartphones, and the MightySat™ fingertip pulse oximeter. Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at www.masimo.com. All published clinical studies on Masimo products can be found at http://www.masimo.com/cpub/clinical-evidence.htm.

*The use of the trademark Patient SafetyNet is under license from University HealthSystem Consortium.

**Clinical decisions regarding red blood cell transfusions should be based on the clinician’s judgment considering, among other factors: patient condition, continuous SpHb monitoring, and laboratory diagnostic tests using blood samples.

References

  1. Castillo A et al. Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Preterm Infants through Changes in Clinical Practice and SpO2 Technology. Acta Paediatr. 2011 Feb;100(2):188-92.
  2. de-Wahl Granelli A et al. Impact of pulse oximetry screening on the detection of duct dependent congenital heart disease: a Swedish prospective screening study in 39,821 newborns. BMJ. 2009;338.
  3. Taenzer AH et al. Impact of Pulse Oximetry Surveillance on Rescue Events and Intensive Care Unit Transfers: A Before-And-After Concurrence Study. Anesthesiology. 2010; 112(2):282-287.
  4. Taenzer AH et al. Postoperative Monitoring – The Dartmouth Experience. Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Newsletter. Spring-Summer 2012.
  5. McGrath SP et al. Surveillance Monitoring Management for General Care Units: Strategy, Design, and Implementation. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 2016 Jul;42(7):293-302.
  6. Estimate: Masimo data on file.
  7. http://health.usnews.com/health-care/best-hospitals/articles/best-hospitals-honor-roll-and-overview.
  8. Ehrenfeld JM et al. Continuous Non-invasive Hemoglobin Monitoring during Orthopedic Surgery: A Randomized Trial. J Blood Disorders Transf. 2014. 5:9. 2.
  9. Awada WN et al. Continuous and noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring reduces red blood cell transfusion during neurosurgery: a prospective cohort study. J Clin Monit Comput. 2015 Feb 4.
  10. Nathan N et al. Impact of Continuous Perioperative SpHb Monitoring. Proceedings from the 2016 ASA Annual Meeting, Chicago. Abstract #A1103.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in connection with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future events affecting us and are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control and could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors, including, but not limited to: risks related to our assumptions regarding the repeatability of clinical results; risks related to our belief that Masimo's unique noninvasive measurement technologies contribute to positive clinical outcomes and patient safety; as well as other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which may be obtained for free at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today's date. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these statements or the "Risk Factors" contained in our most recent reports filed with the SEC, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the applicable securities laws.

Source: Masimo

CFSI
Bill Webb, Executive Director
202-371-1277
bwebb@cfsi.org
or
Masimo
Evan Lamb
949-396-3376
elamb@masimo.com

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