IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- President Bill Clinton, leading healthcare professionals and industry executives will convene at the first-ever Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, January 13-14, 2013, at the Ritz-Carlton, in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Each year, more than 200,000 patients die preventable deaths in U.S. hospitals.^1,2 At the inaugural Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, leading physicians, hospital administrators, medical technology manufacturers and patient advocates will collaborate, commit, and pledge to improve patient safety by taking action on three key areas in 2013:

1. Failure to Rescue – Too many deaths and permanent disabilities are a result of complications that were not recognized and properly treated in a timely manner. These tragedies could be avoided if hospitals improved processes and implemented systems that facilitate patient safety.
2. Medical Errors – A leading cause of death in the United States, medical errors are preventable adverse events or effects of care, the vast majority being due to faulty systems and poorly designed processes versus poor practices or incompetent practitioners.
3. Overuse of Red Blood Cell (RBC) Transfusions – The most frequent procedure performed in U.S. hospitals – with one in 10 inpatients receiving one or more units – RBC transfusion rates and practices are highly variable by institution, procedure, and physician. Yet studies show transfusions can increase mortality by 69% and morbidity by 88%, while restrictive transfusion practices have been proven safe in multiple randomized controlled trials.^3,4

"Far too many patients suffer preventable harm including receiving care that is disrespectful and undignified," said Dr. Peter Pronovost, MD, Sr. Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. "Too often the safety of patients relies on the heroism of clinicians rather than the design of systems. We need to design a healthcare system that eliminates all types of preventable harm; and to do so, clinicians must partner with patients, their families, and technology companies."       

In any given hospital room, up to 15 medical devices, including monitors, ventilators and infusion pumps, are connected to a patient, but they don't communicate with each other. For example, patient controlled analgesic pumps that deliver powerful narcotic painkillers – where a known side effect is respiratory depression – aren't linked to other devices that monitor breathing, leaving patients at potential risk.

This Summit is not just about information, it is about action.

The Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit will confront large problems with actionable ideas and innovations that can transform the process of care for dramatic improvements in patient safety and cost of care. Some of the best minds in healthcare will engage and collaborate on high-impact patient safety challenges through monitoring and feedback, predicting risk, therapeutic advances, decision support, interoperability, automating and integrating quality measures.

Joe Kiani, Chairman of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation & Competition in Healthcare, stated: "We are excited to help gather some of the most passionate advocates of humanity to focus on tangible, actionable recipes for advancing patient safety. The goal is to have zero preventable deaths in hospitals. Attendees will leave with action plans to tackle and eliminate the three challenges discussed above. In addition, we hope through President Clinton's challenge, and encouragement of the world-renowned speakers from Dr. Joshua Adler to World Health Organization special envoy Thomas Zeltner, the health care industry will begin a new level of cooperation to help every patient go home safely after their hospital procedure is over."

In addition to President Clinton, other luminaries participating in the Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit include:

Joshua Adler, MD, Chief Medical Officer of UCSF Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, and Medical Director of UCSF Ambulatory Care;

Richard Afable, MD, President and CEO of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian;

Richard Boothman, JD, Chief Risk Officer, University of Michigan Health System;

David Classen, CMIO, Pascal Metrics, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Utah, Active Consultant in Infectious Diseases, University of Utah School of Medicine;

Michael Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD (hon.), DPS (hon.), President of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices;

Nancy Conrad, founder of the Conrad Foundation and Spirit of Innovation Challenge;

Peter Cox, MB, ChB, FRCPC(C) DCH (SA) FFARCS(UK) RCPS(C), Clinical Director Critical Care Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children;

Charles Denham, MD, Chairman, Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT) Chairman, Global Patient Safety Forum;

Michael Henderson, MD, Chief Quality Officer, Cleveland Clinic Health System;

Andreas Hoeft, Director of Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Bonn Medical Center;

Joe Kiani, Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Masimo Corporation;

Narender Kini, MD, President and CEO of Miami Children's Hospital;

Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, FCCM, Sr. Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Director, the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality;

Michael Ramsay, MD, Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor University Medical Center President, Baylor Research Institute;

Keith Ruskin, MD, Professor of Anesthesiology and Neurosurgery, Yale University School of Medicine;

Howard M. Schapiro, MD, MS Chairman and Health Care Service Leader, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care;

Aryeh Shander, MD, Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology, Medicine & Surgery, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine;

Nathaniel Sims, Cardiac Anesthesiologist & Physician Advisor to Biomedical Engineering at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School;

Bob Stoelting, MD, President of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation;

Andreas H. Taenzer, MD, MS Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics, Director of Pediatric Acute Pain Service, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center;

AkkeNeel Talsma, PhD, RN, FAAN, Assistant Professor School of Nursing, Research Investigator School of Medicine, RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Alumni, Director of Perioperative Outcomes Initiative at the University of Michigan;

John Ulatowski, MD, PhD, MBA, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology/Critical Care Medicine, Vice President and Executive Medical Director of Johns Hopkins Medicine International at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine;

Thomas Zeltner, Special Envoy of the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Financing, Former Secretary of State for Health and Director-General of the Federal Office of Public Health, Switzerland

About the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare

Committed to advancing positive change for the benefit of patients, clinicians, hospitals and payers everywhere. the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare is a U.S.-based, private charitable foundation that is focused on improving patient care, preserving patient dignity and reducing cost of care, through philanthropic programs and research initiatives that foster an environment of aligned incentives, highest level of ethics for those who take part in the care of patients, and healthy and honest competition. The Masimo Foundation also helps create pathways for new lifesaving discoveries and inventions, and improve access to cost-effective, innovative healthcare solutions. The Foundation's emphasis is on transformative projects that seek to truly enhance patient safety and outcomes; helping to forge a world free of sickness, disease and inhumanity. Masimo Foundation supports third-party research, development initiatives, and clinical studies designed to expand the healthcare industry's ability to provide better and more cost-effective solutions and protocols for healthcare delivery. The Foundation also gives special attention to causes whose goals are ethical - focused on doing the right things for the right reasons - and designed to foster innovation and create healthy competition, which the Foundation believes is the ultimate answer to improving care, improving access to care, and lowering healthcare costs in the United States and around the world. To learn more about the Masimo Foundation, visit www.masimofoundation.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 regarding 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 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.

Media Contacts:
Mike Drummond
Masimo Corporation
Phone: (949) 297-7434
Email: mdrummond@masimo.com

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SOURCE Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare