New Insurance Contracts for I-Flow’s ON-Q

I-Flow Corporation develops ambulatory drug delivery systems for pain management and infusion therapy. The company’s line of compact and portable infusion pumps includes catheters and pain kits to administer medications directly to a wound site. ON-Q, I-Flow’s principal product, delivers local anesthetic continuously to the surgical site.

A review of data from 44 studies and 2,141 patients, published in December 2006 by the Journal of American College of Surgeons, offers evidence demonstrating the superiority of the pain relief therapy provided by ON-Q as compared to narcotics, the current standard of care.

Benefits included better pain relief, less need for narcotics, reduction hospital-stay length by an average of one day, and higher patient satisfaction.

57 million patients now covered.

The company announced Monday that it secured new contracts with insurance companies to cover ON-Q for patients having outpatient surgeries across the U.S.

The number of outpatient surgeries in the United States continues to be a fast growing market and represents approximately half the surgeries being performed in the U.S.

“We are excited that the universe of insurance companies is increasingly more willing to distinguish the value of ON-Q by including it in contracts for their members; the number of covered lives has grown by almost 50 percent in recent months,” said President and CEO, Donald Earhart of I-Flow.

ON-Q is covered by Medicare to treat post-surgical pain under the hospital outpatient payment system. Procedures performed in the hospital are also reimbursed.

I-Flow sells and distributes its products throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

InfuSystem, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of I-Flow Corporation, is primarily engaged in the rental of infusion pumps on a month-to-month basis for the treatment of cancer.