Memphis-based Restore Medical Solutions has finalized a purchase contract with Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center that will put the company’s surgical instrument sterilization trays in one of the top hospitals in Virginia.
VCU Medical Center will integrate Restore’s Restore IQ sterilization tray after Restore completed a cost-benefit analysis that showed hospital officials how Restore IQ, which can fit into existing sterilization trays, can save time for sterile processing employees. Restore’s trays organize surgical instruments and ensure they’re properly cleaned after surgery.
With VCU on board, along with Duke University Hospital, Steven King, Restore’s CEO, said the company now has its products in the top hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina. Through a partnership with Grace Medical Inc., Restore also has trays in Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville. The company is in negotiations with hospitals in Georgia, Florida and Texas as well.
“If you’re building a house, there are certain blocks you need to have, and we’ve got VCU and Duke,” King said. “We wanted to be involved with key opinion leader hospitals within our reach.”
In addition to the VCU contract, Restore has also received a patent for its product, which received 510(k) approval in 2013. The company was founded in 2012, part of the first group of startups to participate in the Memphis Bioworks Foundation’s ZeroTo510(k) accelerator.
Shawn Flynn, Restore’s co-founder and senior vice president of operations, said VCU was one of the first hospitals the company did a full cost-benefit analysis and trial run with, and their purchase order validates the company is heading in the right direction with its approach.
“You ask any [hospital] what it costs to produce one surgical instrument, and they don’t know,” Flynn said. “When you put it in front of them, they’ve never thought about it like that. We’re talking about economical and clinical value. It’s hard for them to say they don’t want to save money.”