Natus Medical Incorporated (Nasdaq:BABY) today announced that it was awarded a contract to provide its Newborn Hearing Screening Data Management Service to the California Department of Health Care Services. Natus will provide web-based software designed by its Neometrics division to all birthing hospitals in California and the state’s Hearing Coordination Centers. The contracted service will assist users in managing hearing screening data and provide training, tracking, and monitoring capabilities to ensure infants with hearing loss are linked with appropriate treatment and services.
Hearing impairment is the most common treatable chronic disorder in newborns, affecting as many as four babies out of every 1,000 newborns. With the Neometrics web-based data management service, California is ensuring that virtually every infant born in the state will be directed to appropriate hearing-screening and evaluation services. With approximately 550,000 births per year, California leads all other states in live births.
The Company’s Neometrics software applications are used by sixteen other states to collect, track, manage, and report newborn screening data to regional government health laboratories and national disease control centers. Neometrics software customers include newborn screening metabolic laboratories, newborn hearing screening programs, and maternal and child health services agencies.
Jim Hawkins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Natus commented, “For many years, the vast majority of infants born in California have had their hearing screened with our proprietary ALGO hearing screening devices and disposable supplies. We are very pleased that now for the first time the State of California will also use our data management software to assure that every child screened for hearing is also tracked and directed to receive appropriate follow up evaluation.”
About Natus Medical
Natus is a leading provider of healthcare products used for the screening, detection, treatment, monitoring and tracking of common medical ailments such as hearing impairment, neurological dysfunction, epilepsy, sleep disorders, and newborn care. Product offerings include computerized neurodiagnostic systems for audiology, neurology, polysomnography, and neonatology, as well as newborn care products such as hearing screening systems, phototherapy devices for the treatment of newborn jaundice, head-cooling products for the treatment of brain injury in newborns, and software systems for managing and tracking disorders and diseases for public health laboratories.
ALGO® is a registered trademark of Natus Medical Incorporated.
Additional information about Natus Medical can be found at www.natus.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, particularly statements regarding the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions and strategies of Natus. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the benefit to the State of California of the Company’s Newborn Hearing Screening Data Management Service. These statements relate to future events or Natus' future financial performance or results, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and the actual events or results may differ materially. Natus cannot provide any assurance that its future results or the results implied by the forward-looking statements will meet expectations. Our future results could differ materially due to a number of factors, including the effects of competition, the demand for our products and services, our ability to expand our sales in international markets, our ability to maintain current sales levels in a mature domestic market, our ability to control costs, and risks associated with bringing new products to market and integrating acquired businesses. Natus disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.
More information about potential risk factors that could affect the business and financial results of Natus is included in Natus' annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and in other reports filed from time to time by Natus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
