Sage Products Profile

Since its creation in 1971, Sage Products has had a core belief in prevention – that evidence-based interventions will improve patient outcomes. At the time of its founding, many in the healthcare industry assumed it was unavoidable that certain high risk patients would acquire infections, pressure ulcers, pneumonia and other potentially dangerous conditions during their hospital stay. “Our goal as a company was to help nurses get back to delivering basic patient care through interventional patient hygiene,” explained Bob McCafferty, Vice President of Corporate Accounts. With a commitment to elevating patient safety in mind, the company set forth to help curb the alarming hospital-acquired infection rate.

Sage developed a number of products focused on patient bathing, oral care and preoperative skin preparation that were designed to address risk factors for various types of hospital-acquired infections. It also helped a number of hospitals implement needed prevention protocols and learn how to best prevent infections, such as skin infections at surgical sites and pneumonia, in their own units.

In 1997, Sage aimed to share its infection prevention tools and techniques more broadly by partnering with the Premier healthcare alliance. Sage wanted to help hospitals across the nation improve this critical area of care, and recognized that its mission was closely tied with Premier’s ongoing efforts to improve patient safety in its member hospitals.

With Premier’s help, Sage was able to share information with hospitals across the country and explain how its products could help facilities safely reduce healthcare costs while improving the quality of care. For example, Sage was able to demonstrate that by implementing an evidence-based protocol featuring innovative oral hygiene products, hospitals could dramatically reduce the occurrence of healthcare-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonias. As McCafferty said, “If you invest upfront on quality healthcare, the end result can be a significant decrease in the overall cost and improved patient outcomes.”

Sage Products’ Growth since Partnering with Premier in 1997

Reduced ventilator-associated pneumonia by more than 50% in six regional hospitals

• Over 93% of clinical oral hygiene market share in hospitals
  • Over 73% of prepackaged bathing market share in hospitals
  • #1 trusted incontinence barrier in hospitals, with 37% market share

• New Product – Prevalon Pressure-Relieving Heel Protector – already boasts proven results against hospital-acquired heel pressure ulcers
• New product – Sage 2% Chlorhexidine Gluconate Cloth – is the first and only rinse-free CHG preop skin prep in an easy-to-use, FDA-approved applicator cloth

By helping facilities decrease hospital-acquired infections, Sage estimates that its products have saved hospitals hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars every year. With its commitment to helping hospitals safely reduce costs while improving care, Premier actively works to provide the latest information, tools and resources for hospitals to improve patient care delivery. By partnering with Sage in its awareness-building efforts, Premier helps its 1,700 member hospitals understand the importance of infection prevention in reducing all-around care costs.

“With a little money spent on prevention, you do save a lot of money on treating illnesses and infections,” said Kym Affinito, Vice President of Marketing. “We’re proud to work together with Premier to educate healthcare providers on the importance of prevention, which in turn reduces costs and improves quality of care.”

For more information about Premier or to apply for a Premier contract please visit https://premierinc.com/about/suppliers/index.jsp.

To learn more about Sage Products, call 800-323-2220 or visit www.sageproducts.com.