Stryker has launched a risk-sharing program for hospitals that invest in the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System. The program, called the SurgiCount Promise, includes up to considerable product-liability indemnification and a rebate of the cost of implementing the system.
The SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System is designed to help reduce the risk of leaving a surgical sponge inside of a patient, an issue with an estimated average cost of $2.4 billion a year. Unlike the traditional manual sponge count procedure, the SurgiCount-verified count is maintained in the hospital's SurgiCount 360 software, which gives surgeons, nurses and hospital administrators a permanent record of the verified count.
Under the new risk-sharing program, Stryker agrees to give hospitals that report a retained surgical sponge up to $5 million to cover legal costs, as well as refund the money the hospital spent implementing the SurgiCount system for up to three years.
"The SurgiCount Promise illustrates Stryker's confidence in the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System," said Dylan Crotty, vice president and general manager of Stryker Surgical. "We know that SurgiCount can help protect a hospital's patients, staff and bottom line by significantly reducing the risk of retained sponges. The SurgiCount Promise gives participating hospitals complete confidence to invest in patient safety by shifting product-cost risk to us."
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