Prime Healthcare Converts System-Wide to Masimo rainbow SET Technology

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 18, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Prime Healthcare and Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI) today jointly announce the system-wide conversion of Prime Healthcare's hospitals to Masimo rainbow® SET technology.  The system-wide conversion ensures that patients visiting any Prime Healthcare hospital in California will be cared for using the most technologically and clinically-advanced oximetry and noninvasive patient monitoring solutions available.  

"We're pleased and quite amazed with our conversion to Masimo," stated George Garcia, Regional Director of Cardiopulmonary Services at Prime Healthcare.  "Not only is the technology impressive in that it has improved the quality of our diagnostic testing capabilities, which makes our overall operations more efficient and effective, but it was the smoothest system-wide technology transition that I've ever been involved with."

Converting Prime Healthcare's entire hospital system to the Masimo rainbow SET technology platform will standardize multiparameter patient monitors, oximeters, and sensors at 13 hospitals and sites of care throughout California.  The oximetry standard-of-care at leading hospitals worldwide, Masimo rainbow SET enables innovative noninvasive measurements and patient monitoring capabilities that provide real-time results for critical blood constituents and physiological parameters that help clinicians to more rapidly assess, diagnose, and treat patients.  

As the only upgradable oximetry technology platform allowing hospitals to add breakthrough noninvasive blood constituent measurement capabilities that previously required invasive procedures, Masimo rainbow SET noninvasively and continuously measures total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), Pleth Variability Index (PVI®), and acoustic respiration rate (RRa™), in addition to the 'gold-standard' Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion performance of Masimo SET® oxyhemoglobin (SpO2), perfusion index (PI), and pulse rate (PR)—facilitating earlier detection and treatment of life-threatening conditions.  

The conversion also facilitates the installation of Masimo SpHb-enabled monitors.  With SpHb, clinicians have the ability to quickly measure hemoglobin levels noninvasively and continuously track them in real-time to detect low or falling hemoglobin levels that could be the result of internal bleeding.  Numerous clinical studies have shown that detecting hemoglobin changes earlier with SpHb allows clinicians to intervene sooner to help protect patients from the potentially disastrous consequences of occult bleeding and post-surgical hemorrhage.(1-7)  

Masimo Founder and CEO, Joe Kiani, stated, "Prime Healthcare is a great example of a growing trend where healthcare systems and hospital networks are leveraging advanced noninvasive medical technologies like Masimo rainbow SET to help improve patient care, outcomes, and safety."

About Prime Healthcare Services

Prime Healthcare Services, Victorville, CA, is a progressive, innovative and rapidly expanding hospital management company in Southern California. The mission of PHS is to provide comprehensive quality healthcare in a compassionate, convenient and cost-effective manner.  With more than 8,000 employees, PHS, by and through its subsidiaries, currently owns and operates twelve acute care hospitals: Centinela Hospital Medical in Inglewood (369-beds), Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino (126- beds), Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville (83-beds), Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center in Garden Grove (167-beds), Huntington Beach Hospital in Huntington Beach (131-beds), La Palma Intercommunity Hospital in La Palma (141-beds), Montclair Hospital Medical Center in Montclair (102-beds), Paradise Valley Hospital in National City (301-beds), San Dimas Community Hospital in San Dimas (93-beds), Shasta Regional Medical Center (246-beds) in Redding, Sherman Oaks Hospital in Sherman Oaks (153-beds), and West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim (219-beds) in California. Prime HealthCare Services Foundation owns and operates Encino Hospital Medical Center (151-beds) in Encino, California. For more information, please visit www.primehealthcare.com

About Masimo

Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) develops innovative monitoring technologies that significantly improve patient care—helping solve "unsolvable" problems.  In 1995, the company debuted Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, known as Masimo SET®, which virtually eliminated false alarms and increased pulse oximetry's ability to detect life-threatening events.  More than 100 independent and objective studies demonstrate Masimo SET provides the most reliable SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the most challenging clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion.  In 2005, Masimo introduced rainbow® Pulse CO-Oximetry™, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures, including total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), and Pleth Variability Index (PVI®), in addition to SpO2, pulse rate, and perfusion index (PI).  In 2009, Masimo introduced rainbow Acoustic Monitoring™, the first-ever noninvasive and continuous monitoring of acoustic respiration rate (RRa™).  Masimo's rainbow SET platform offers a breakthrough in patient safety by helping clinicians detect life-threatening conditions and helping guide treatment options.  Founded in 1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcome and Reducing Cost of Care … by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications®." Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at www.masimo.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in connection with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future events affecting us and are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control and could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors, including, but not limited to: risks related to our assumptions that the system-wide conversion ensures that patients visiting any Prime Healthcare facility will be cared for using the most technologically and clinically-advanced noninvasive patient monitoring solutions available, risks related to our belief that Masimo rainbow SET enables innovative noninvasive measurements and patient monitoring capabilities providing real-time results for critical blood constituents and physiological parameters that help clinicians to more rapidly assess, diagnose, and treat all patients, risks related to our belief that SpHb detects low or falling hemoglobin levels that could be the result of internal bleeding, risks related to the repeatability of clinical results, as well as other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which may be obtained for free at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today's date. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-looking statements or the "Risk Factors" contained in our most recent reports filed with the SEC, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the applicable securities laws.

Masimo, SET, Signal Extraction Technology, Improving Patient Outcome and Reducing Cost of Care... by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications, rainbow, SpHb, SpOC, SpCO, SpMet, PVI, rainbow Acoustic Monitoring, RRa, Radical-7, Rad-87, Rad-57,Rad-8, Rad-5,Pulse CO-Oximetry, Pulse CO-Oximeter, and SEDLine  are trademarks or registered trademarks of Masimo Corporation.

SOURCE Masimo; Prime Healthcare Services