Cook Medical and Cardinal Health Ink Distribution Deal

Cardinal Health Inc. and Cook Medical Inc. have agreed to a two-year, exclusive arrangement for the North American distribution of Cook Medical central venous catheter (CVC) sets with Cardinal Health Presource customizable procedural kits.

Under the agreement, Cardinal Health and family-owned Cook Medical customers are now able to customize components of their CVC procedural kits. The kits can include either uncoated or Cook Spectrum CVC sets, which include power-injectable catheters. The partnership enables acute care providers to maximize value and minimize waste by providing a cost-effective means to decrease the number of supplies they need to supplement standard CVC procedural kits, according to a release issued by both companies.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Cardinal Health, an industry leader in custom kitting, to expand access to Cook Medical’s CVC sets for vascular access professionals,” said Dan Sirota, vice president and business unit leader of Cook Medical’s Critical Care and Interventional Radiology divisions. “Improving patient care and lowering health care costs are of utmost importance to hospitals. We remain committed to offering solutions that streamline processes for clinicians and empower them to provide top-quality patient care.”

Bloomington, Ind.-based Cook Medical’s Spectrum catheters include the antibiotics minocycline and rifampin and meet the newly released 1A recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for reducing catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) if maximal sterile barrier precautions haven’t helped a facility reach its [infection prevention] goal. An estimated 78,000 patients are infected with potentially fatal CRBSIs in the United States every year, with an average cost estimated at $16,550 per infection, according to the CDC. Spectrum catheters have been shown to be five times less likely to produce infection than process alone, according to the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“Cardinal Health focuses on developing partnerships that deliver innovative solutions that help make it easier for our customers to deliver high quality care,” said Lisa Ashby, president of category management at Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health. “Our relationship with Cook Medical is a great example of the kinds of partnerships our customers value—those that promote best practice standardization with superior quality products.”