Search Underway for Ideas to Improve Patient Infection Rates

Hill-Rom and Edison Nation Medical, a medical invention developer and online resource for health care innovation, have teamed up to address patient infections within healthcare environments.

The two entities are looking for ideas that lead to new products – or improve those already in existence – to combat infection rates in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Ideas can be submitted through Edison Nation Medical’s online portal through Nov. 18. The best ideas will be designed, developed and licensed by Edison Nation Medical, which will split royalties with the successful inventor(s). Hill-Rom will work with Edison Nation Medical to commercialize relevant concepts and will review the remaining ideas as options to potentially supplement the company’s internal product and technology development efforts.

“Minimizing point-of-care infections is critical to improving the quality of care patients receive and also reducing strain on the health care system overall in terms of cost and human resources,” said Brian Lawrence, chief technology officer for Hill-Rom. “Hill-Rom has made great strides in these areas and we’re pursuing other technologies to further improve infection control.  We are excited to partner with Edison Nation Medical to bring critical, relevant technologies into our portfolio so that we can continue to provide the best solutions for our customers.”

In order to address and control point-of-care (POC) infections, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued procedural recommendations for health care facilities, including restricting POC devices to a single patient when possible, adhering to strict hand washing protocols and thoroughly disinfecting and cleaning any POC device or instrument. Despite these and other control methods, it is estimated that one in every 20 hospitalized patients contracts a hospital-acquired infection.

CDC estimates that roughly 1.7 million patients contract health care-associated infections, resulting in 99,000 deaths annually. While there is considerable variability in the costs of health care-associated infections (HAIs),  the annual direct cost to U.S. hospitals to treat HAIs ranges from $28 billion to $45 billion, according to a 2009 study.

“Our mission at Edison Nation Medical is to make a difference in health care, whether we improve the quality of care, increase the effectiveness of care or reduce cost; achieving all three is certainly the trifecta,” CEO Louis Foreman said. “Through our search with Hill-Rom, absolutely anyone—not just health care professionals—has the chance to come up with an idea, submit it to us, have it reviewed by our product development and medical experts and, quite possibly, have it become a game-changing innovation in patient care.”

While medical invention ideas may focus on specific areas, such as reducing the spread of infection or instrument sterilization and monitoring, inventors should think as broadly as possible, executives with the two companies suggest.

“As health care providers, we face numerous challenges, with risk of infections among patients being one of them,” said Dr. Jean Wright, Carolinas HealthCare System’s vice president of innovation. “We eagerly seek new ideas and innovations that result in decreased infection rates and improved patient outcomes.”

Hill-Rom is a global manufacturer and provider of medical technologies, including patient support systems, safe mobility and handling solutions, non-invasive therapeutic products for a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions, medical equipment rentals, surgical products and information technology solutions. The company is based in Batesville, Ind.

Edison Nation Medical is a collaboration between Carolinas HealthCare System and Edison Nation, a product developer and online social community for inventors, created to stimulate innovations in health care delivery and improvements in patient care. Leaders from both organizations formed Edison National Medical in July 2012 to focus solely on medical-related product ideas. The incubator  is based in Charlotte, N.C.