MUNDELEIN, Ill., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Consorta, Inc., a leading health care resource management and group purchasing organization, and Medline Industries, Inc., the largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of health care supplies, have signed a two-year agreement in which Medline will provide surgical procedure trays at significant savings to Consorta's membership. The two-year contract is valued at approximately $40 million and is available to the more than 2,000 facilities in Consorta's membership.
A surgical procedure tray (SPT) is comprised of disposable medical components for a single surgical procedure all contained in one convenient kit. The agreement features Medline's surgical specialty packs for use in general surgery, cardiovascular surgery, orthopedic procedures, and numerous other procedures.
To assist facilities in the conversion to its SPTs, Medline provides on-staff clinical specialists and registered nurses, who also consult on and implement standardization and utilization programs. Medline is also offering facilities continuing education programs free of charge to their medical staff.
Medline is the second leading provider of SPTs in the United States. In addition to operating its manufacturing and assembly facility in Waukegan, IL, Medline significantly increased its SPT production capacity in the past year when it opened a new state-of-the art facility in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and acquired Maxxim Medical, Inc.'s SPT business in 2003, including its facility in Clearwater, FL.
About Consorta
Consorta, Inc., based in suburban Chicago, is a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization whose shareholders are faith-based or non-profit health systems. As a cooperative, Consorta's shareholders and participants share fully in the organization's bottom-line performance and receive significant discounts through scale purchasing economies. Consorta's Shareholders are among the leading integrators of non-profit health care in America, sponsoring significant care providers in many parts of the country. Consorta's Shareholder health care systems operate more than half of all Catholic hospitals in the United States, own many extended and alternate care sites and have extensive affiliate relationships with other non-profit hospitals and alternate care facilities. For more information, visit the Consorta Web site at http://www.consorta.com/ or contact Sheila Reed, Director of Corporate Communications, at 847-255-6990.
About Medline
Medline was founded in 1966 but the company's roots in health care date back to 1910 when it was a garment manufacturer. Headquartered in Mundelein, IL, Medline is the leading direct supplier of medical products and equipment to the health care industry. Based on sales of $1.6 billion in 2003, Medline is the largest privately held national manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies in the United States. The company has more than 700 dedicated sales representatives nationwide to support its broad product line and cost management services. Medline distributes over 100,000 products to hospitals, extended care facilities, surgery centers, hospital laundries, home care dealers and agencies and other alternate site markets from its 28 distribution centers in the U.S. With seven manufacturing facilities in North America, Medline manufactures many of the products it sells. More information about Medline can be found at http://www.medline.com/ .
Medline Industries, Inc.CONTACT: John Marks of Medline Industries, Inc., +1-847-949-3011,jmarks@medline.com
