NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Cepheid said yesterday that the Connecticut Hospital Association Shared Services Program for molecular surveillance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has selected Cepheid as its vendor of choice for the tests.
The CHA, which has 164 acute-care member hospitals, will exclusively market Cepheid’s GeneXpert Systems and Xpert MRSA test to its hospitals at pre-negotiated prices.
The program extends beyond Connecticut with member hospitals in eight other states including Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois, Wyoming, and Iowa. Among these states, Illinois mandates surveillance of MRSA in hospitals, and legislation has been introduced in four of the other states for measures to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections, Cepheid said.
The CHA program includes hospitals with as few as 50 beds and as many as 800 beds, noted Rob Koska, Cepheid’s senior VP of worldwide commercial operations, in a statement.