Aspect Medical Reports Sole-Source Supplier Contract

With Novation / Bispectral Index Available for Member Hospitals, Which Perform 33 Percent of All U.S. Surgeries Natick, Mass. (PROTEXT) - Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. has signed a three-year exclusive contract to supply Bispectral Index(R) (BIS(R)) monitors and disposable sensors to Novation, the supply company of VHA Inc., and the University Hospital Consortium, announced Aspect President and CEO Nassib Chamoun. During the term of the agreement, member hospitals of VHA and UHC will have the opportunity to purchase BIS monitors and disposable sensors on the terms set forth in the agreement. BIS monitoring is the only FDA-cleared, commercially available measure of the effects of anesthetics on the brain. This gives anesthesia providers a powerful tool that aids in the administration of anesthesia, which enables reduced drug use, faster and more predictable patient wake-up times after surgery, and improved patient recovery from anesthesia. Novation serves more than 1,900 healthcare organizations, representing 30 percent of the nation's teaching and community hospitals and 33 percent of total surgeries performed in the United States. "Novation's field force will be working with Aspect's sales and clinical team to facilitate adoption of the technology throughout their membership, which includes many of the nation's leading healthcare facilities," Chamoun said. "Novation's decision to make BIS monitors more accessible to members of VHA and UHC will facilitate penetration of BIS monitoring into member community hospitals and university medical centers that perform one-third of all surgeries in the United States." To that end, BIS monitoring is a featured technology in this Fall's N.E.A.T. (Novation's Education in Anesthesia Techniques) program. The CME/CEU accredited sessions, which will visit thirty Novation facilities nationwide, introduce anesthesia departments to and train them on the latest pharmaceuticals, medical technology and anesthetic techniques. "Our members consider the BIS monitor a revolutionary technology in the anesthesia discipline," stated Jim Beyer, Anesthesia Product Manager for Novation. "The Novation agreement with Aspect and the integration of the BIS technology into the N.E.A.T. program are a response to member requests for more access to and training about this, and other, innovative devices. Both these actions are designed to streamline the learning and purchase process for members and support their efforts to provide patients with the most advanced, highest quality care." Aspect's contract with Novation takes effect September 1, 1999, runs through July 30, 2002 and includes options to extend the contract for two additional years. The agreement covers BIS monitors and disposable sensors and includes Novation-specific value-added programs such as the N.E.A.T. program and other customer support programs, local education lectures, and patient education initiatives. In addition, special incentive pricing is available to Novation members through September 30, 1999. About BIS Monitoring Developed in collaboration with leading anesthesiologists, BIS technology uses patented signal processing to provide a noninvasive, direct means of measuring the effects of anesthetics on the brain. BIS monitors use a sensor placed on the forehead to capture the EEG signals, which are translated into a single number ranging from 100 (for wide awake) to zero (indicating the absence of brain electrical activity). To date, more than 300 scientific publications from trials involving over 5,000 patients document the efficacy and clinical outcome benefits of BIS monitoring. BIS technology is available in Aspect's A-200O(TM) BIS monitor and has been licensed for integration into other manufacturers' monitoring systems. About Aspect Medical Systems Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. is a privately held medical technology company that develops noninvasive, monitoring systems to improve the cost effectiveness and quality of patient care. The company's systems utilize innovative, patented, digital signal processing software linked to proprietary sensors. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.aspectms.com. About Novation Based in Irving, Texas, Novation was established January 1, 1998, through the combination of the supply programs of VHA and UHC, two national healthcare alliances. Novation serves the purchasing needs of 5,500 healthcare organizations, alliance members, associate members and affiliates of VHA and UHC. The foremost supply cost management company in healthcare, Novation manages more than $12 billion in annual purchases for VHA, UHC and HPPI members. For more information on Novation, go to http://www.novationco.com. VHA, also based in Irving, Texas, is a nationwide network of more than 1,800 leading community-owned healthcare organizations and their physicians. It comprises 24 percent of the nation's community hospitals. For more information on VHA, go to http://www.vha.com. UHC, based in Oak Brook, Ill., is an alliance of 78 academic medical centers and 65 associate members. For more information on UHC, go to http://www.uhc.edu. In addition to serving VHA and UHC members, Novation makes its agreements accessible to more than 3,600 organizations that purchase supplies through HPPI, a sister company to Novation that is also owned by VHA and UHC. Bispectral Index and BIS are registered trademarks of Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. A-2000 is a trademark of Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. ots Original Text Service: Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Lorie Fiber, ext. 109, lfiber@fischerpr.com, or Joni Morford, ext. 153, jmorford@fischerpr.com., both of Fischer & Partners, Inc., (USA) 310-577-7870, for Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. Web site: http://www.vha.com Web site: http://www.uhc.edu Web site: http://www.novationco.com Web site: http://http://www.aspectms.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT