ClearCount Medical Solutions Inc. closed its Series B funding round with a hoped-for $5 million.
ClearCount is developing the SmartSponge and SmartWand systems, which use radio-frequency identification technology and chips embedded in sponges to allow surgeons and nurses to detect and count sponges during surgeries.
Surgical sponges are the most frequent and dangerous “retained surgical items” mistakenly left inside patients. Research has shown that retained sponges can cause infectious complications in as little as 30 minutes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have stopped reimbursing hospitals and physicians for such so-called “never events.”
The latest tranche of money for the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company was $3.5 million, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The funding round was supported by new and existing shareholders and led by Draper Triangle Ventures, the Pittsburgh-based partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, according to a press release.
ClearCount will use the money to “drive market penetration, and research and development of its RFID-based solutions for hospital patient safety applications,” according to the release. It also plans to support its exclusive distribution deal with Medline Industries Inc. (PDF), which the companies announced in December, CFO Dave Haffner said.
“Thanks to the strong backing of our investors, this past year ClearCount completed a valuable distribution deal, signed major new customers and introduced an important new product that is making surgical procedures safer every day,” CEO David Palmer said in prepared remarks.
ClearCount’s products also can reduce or eliminate preventable hospital costs and delays associated with RSIs, including additional surgery and infection costs, litigation, unnecessary X-rays and anesthesia, the company said.
