LHP Hospital Group to Implement the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge® System

IRVINE, Calif., June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SurgiCount Medical, Inc. and LHP Hospital Group, Inc. ("LHP") today announced the system wide implementation of the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge^® System at LHP facilities.  LHP is a privately held healthcare leader established to provide essential capital and expertise to not-for-profit hospitals and hospital systems headquartered in Plano, Texas.  The SurgiCount Safety-Sponge^® System is the market leading solution to the most common surgical error, retained surgical sponges.

"We applaud LHP for taking this proactive step toward continuing to offer their patients the very best standards of care available.  They join a growing list of government, community and teaching facilities successfully utilizing the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge^® System to improve their patient outcomes, reduce their preventable costs and protect their reimbursement revenues," stated Brian E. Stewart, President and CEO of Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. 

"After thorough diligence on available retained sponge prevention solutions, we concluded the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge^® System is the safest, easiest and most complete retained sponge solution available.  We are excited to get the system implemented in our hospitals and offer our patients and staff the benefits of its use," stated Andrew Montgomery, the VP of Supply Chain at LHP.

Maureen Connors Potter, RN, BSN, MSN, Vice President of Quality and Clinical Outcomes added, "SurgiCount is an innovative patient safety tool that supports our focus on quality and best clinical outcomes."

About LHP Hospital Group, Inc.
LHP Hospital Group, Inc. (LHP) is a privately held company established to provide essential capital and expertise to not-for-profit hospitals and hospital systems. In cooperation with local hospitals, LHP forms joint ventures to acquire, own, operate and manage acute care facilities in small cities and select urban markets throughout the United States. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, LHP is owned by affiliates of the private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC and the CPP Investment Board as well as certain members of management and the board of directors. For more information, please visit www.lhphospitalgroup.com.

Surgical Adverse Events and Retained Surgical Sponges
Surgical never events are costly to the health care system and are associated with serious harm to patients[1].  Retained foreign bodies are estimated to represent up to 49.8% of all reported surgical never events[1] with surgical sponges representing the vast majority of items unintentionally retained[2].  Estimated to occur as often as 1 in every 1,000 to 1,500 abdominal operations to 1 in every 8,000 in patient operations[2], with an estimated 32 million surgical procedures annually in the U.S. this implies approximately 4,000 retained sponge incidents each year, 11 every day.  The negative impact to patient outcomes from retained foreign objects varies and can be significant, with permanent injuries in an estimated 16% of incidents and patient mortality in 5%[1].  Cost ramifications can be considerable and include legal expenses and awards, non-reimbursable healthcare services, loss of time, loss of reputation for involved individuals and facilities and the negative impact on pay for performance metrics. 

About Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. and SurgiCount Medical
Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:PSTX, OTCQB:PSTX) through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary SurgiCount Medical, Inc., provides the Safety-Sponge^® System, a solution clinically proven to improve patient safety and reduce healthcare costs by helping eliminate retained surgical sponges.  The market leading retained sponge prevention solution, the Safety-Sponge^® System is used in more than 300 government, teaching and community hospitals across the U.S.  For more information, contact SurgiCount Medical, Inc. at (949) 387-2277 or visit www.surgicountmedical.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this press release regarding our business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements reflect our management's current views with respect to future events and financial performance; however, you should not put undue reliance on these statements.  When used, the words "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "future," and other similar expressions, without limitation, identify forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These factors and uncertainties include but are not limited to: our ability to implement in all hospitals within the larger hospitals organizations with which we have agreements, our ability to implement in those hospitals with which we have scheduled implementations, the early stage of adoption of our Safety-Sponge® System and the need to expand adoption of our Safety-Sponge® System; the impact on our future revenue and cash flows from the ordering patterns of our exclusive distributor Cardinal Health; our need for additional financing to support our business; our reliance on third-party manufacturers, some of whom are sole-source suppliers, and on our exclusive distributor; and any inability to successfully protect our intellectual property portfolio.  In light of the risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement will in fact prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements can be affected by many other factors, including, those described in the "Business", "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Factors Affecting Future Results" sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2012, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other public filings. These documents are available online through the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.  Forward-looking statements are based on information presently available to senior management, and we have not assumed any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

[1] Mehtsun, et al. Surgical never events in the United States, J Surg 2012;10.005

[2] Cima RR, Kollengode A, Garnatz J, et al. Incidence and characteristics of potential and actual retained foreign object events in surgical patients. J Am Coll Surg 2008;207:80-87

SOURCE Patient Safety Technologies, Inc.