Xenex Congratulates Its Customer University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics on “Environmental Services Department of the Year” Award from Health Facilities Management Magazine

Hospital Sees Dramatic Reduction in C. diff after Using Xenex Room Disinfection System

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xenex Healthcare Services, the world leader in UV room disinfection systems for healthcare facilities, today congratulated its customer, University of Wisconsin (Madison) Hospital and Clinics, on its “2012 ES Department of the Year” award from Health Facilities Management magazine.

“UW has set a new bar for patient safety in Wisconsin”

According to the magazine, Tom Peck, University of Wisconsin (UW) Hospital's Environmental Services (ES) director, and his supervisors have developed numerous programs to drive the ES department to peak performance and continuous improvement. The award, sponsored by Health Facilities Management, the Association for the Healthcare Environment and Cintas, Cincinnati, recognizes outstanding ES performance in 13 critical areas. Award coverage appears in the magazine’s September 2012 issue and online at www.hfmmagazine.com

Peck said UW’s ES team strives to be the best in the country at providing a clean and safe environment for patient care. Among the several high-tech measures UW’s ES team utilizes to boost efficiency and effectiveness is Xenex’s portable, pulsed xenon UV room disinfection system. Since implementing Xenex’s technology in its cardiothoracic surgery unit in December 2011, the unit has had no incidents of hospital-associated Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

“We closely monitored the Xenex device’s usage and we were so thrilled with the C. diff reduction we experienced in the cardiothoracic surgery and pulmonary units that we invested in another device which we are now using in areas where patients have had organ and bone marrow transplants,” said Peck. “And because the device works so quickly, only adding 10-15 minutes in room turnover time, we are using it on every discharge in those units.”

Xenex’s portable room disinfection system uses pulsed xenon ultraviolet light to destroy viruses, bacteria and bacterial spores in the patient environment without contact or chemicals. Uniquely designed for ease of use and portability, a hospital’s environmental services staff can operate the Xenex device without disrupting hospital operations or requiring the use of expensive chemicals. The Xenex system will disinfect over thirty (30) rooms per day, so hospitals use the system continuously to reduce contamination levels throughout their facilities.

“UW has set a new bar for patient safety in Wisconsin," said Dr. Mark Stibich, Chief Scientific Officer of Xenex. "Tom Peck and the UW ES team have embraced our room disinfection technology as part of their infection control solution to provide their patients with the safest experience possible. Their infection reduction results are consistent with what we have seen with other Xenex customers around the U.S., which also report fewer hospital-acquired infections after using our technology in their facilities."

Xenex systems have proven to be effective against a variety of the most dangerous superbugs, including Clostridium difficile endospores (C. diff), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and Acinetobacter. Studies show the Xenex room disinfection system is consistently 20 times more effective than standard chemical cleaning practices. Xenex customer Cooley Dickinson Hospital recently reported 67 percent lower C. diff rates and 100 percent lower C. diff deaths and colectomy rates since adoption of Xenex’s room disinfection system in January 2011. Other customers reporting positive results from their usage of Xenex’s room disinfection system include Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center and Cone Health System in North Carolina, which reduced its number of MRSA infections 58 percent in 2011.

About Xenex Healthcare Services

Xenex's patented pulsed xenon UV room disinfection systems are utilized for the advanced cleaning of the patient environment in healthcare facilities. The Xenex system is the fastest, safest, most cost-effective, and easy- to-use system available today among room disinfection technologies. The Xenex mission is to significantly reduce the number of HAIs that impact the health and lives of millions of patients and their families and become the new standard method for disinfection in healthcare facilities worldwide. For more information, visit www.xenex.com.