News & Events

Program Meets or Exceeds Requirements of Groundbreaking California Legislation and Anticipates National Legislation Pending in Congress

Franklin Lakes, NJ (June 16, 1999) -- Becton Dickinson and Company (BD) (NYSE: BDX) have announced a unique national program with Kaiser Permanente to expand the use of safety-engineered "sharps" devices in Kaiser Permanente facilities to protect health care workers against accidental injury and infection. The agreement also establishes a joint clinical study and new product development program to provide continuing advances in the protection of health care workers and their patients.

Safety-engineered devices are designed to help prevent accidental skin puncture and infection with bloodborne diseases like HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. BD pioneered their development over ten years ago, and today provides the most extensive line of safety-engineered products and services. Kaiser Permanente, the largest non-profit HMO in the US, serving nine million members in 17 states, was early to adopt the use of safety-engineered devices in its health care facilities. In the first agreement of its kind, these two leaders in the industry are joining forces to improve the health care environment for medical professionals, other workers and the patients who will benefit from lower risk of infection.

Under the terms of the $30 million, three-year agreement, Kaiser Permanente facilities nationwide will be able to purchase BD safety-engineered medical devices, including I.V. catheters, blood collection devices, lancets and syringes. BD will provide Kaiser Permanente with extensive product education and training to support the conversion from conventional, needle-based devices to the new products.

BD and Kaiser Permanente will also conduct what is believed to be the largest clinical study of safety-engineered device effectiveness ever undertaken and will establish a joint technology development program to improve existing products and develop new devices. The geographic and clinical scope of Kaiser Permanente’s operations and the breadth of BD’s safety-engineered product offering will provide a "real time laboratory" where clinicians and product developers can work together in a variety of clinical settings to design sensible new solutions to needle safety.

"The agreement also establishes a joint clinical study and new product development program to provide continuing advances in the protection of health care workers and patients," said Enid Eck, RN, MPH, Senior Consultant HIV and Infectious Disease, Kaiser Permanente. "Following extensive product evaluations, several BD products, designed to protect health care workers against accidental injury and infection, were selected for inclusion in Kaiser's extensive Sharps Safety Program."

"This agreement between Kaiser Permanente and BD sets a standard for health care worker protection and patient care that we hope to see repeated around the country," said Melanie O'Neill, VP/GM of BD Advanced Protection Technologies. "This kind of high-level, broad-based agreement that emphasizes collaboration–not just products–will serve as a model for how our nation can convert health care facilities rapidly and cost-effectively while maintaining superior patient care. Awareness of the problem is growing and this is a solution that works for the industry, for health care workers and for patients."

Last year, California passed groundbreaking legislation that requires all California health care facilities to provide their health care workers with safety-engineered devices by July 1, 1999. With this agreement in place, Kaiser Permanente facilities in California will meet or exceed the requirements of this new legislation well before the stipulated deadline. This year, Tennessee and Maryland passed their own needlestick prevention laws, and similar legislation is being considered in 20 other states.

The Kaiser Permanente-BD contract also anticipates national legislation pending in Washington. Congressional Representatives Peter Stark (D, California) and Marge Roukema (R, New Jersey) have co-sponsored the "Health Care Worker Needlestick Prevention Act of 1999," and similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate. OSHA also has announced its intention to amend its bloodborne pathogens standard by placing needlestick and sharps injuries on its regulatory agenda this fall.

Kaiser Permanente is America's leading non-profit health care organization. Founded in 1945, it is a group-practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 8.6 million members in 17 states and the District of Columbia. It encompasses Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and subsidiaries, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and the Permanente Medical Groups, as well as an affiliation with Group Health Cooperative, based in Seattle. Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes about 90,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and about 10,000 physicians representing all specialties.

BD established the Advanced Protection Technologies group to coordinate the development, production and marketing of all the Company's products with safety-engineered features. BD manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies, devices and diagnostic systems for use by health care professionals, medical research institutions and the general public.