Novation, the supply company of VHA Inc. and the University Health System Consortium (UHC), has been on a tear lately striking up deals with such companies as Fuji and Kodak. Additional recent supplier deals to serve VHA and UCH members include:

• A three-year, dual-source supply agreement with SonoSite Inc., for hand-carried ultrasound and portable and vascular access ultrasound equipment and accessories;
  
  
• A three-year agreement with GE Healthcare to be the designated supplier and also a resource to member healthcare organizations for advanced imaging technologies. Under the terms of this agreement, members wishing to standardize to one supplier for diagnostic imaging equipment may use GEHC. Modalities covered in the agreement include CT, MR, cardiac vascular, nuclear medicine, radiographic fluoroscopy, general radiology, direct radiology, PET/CT, mammography, bone densitometry, urology, general radiology non-acute, surgical C-Arms, mini C-arms as well as ultrasound technologies; and
  
  
• Yet another three-year partnership with Siemens Medical Solutions. The contract includes a dual-source agreements for CT, nuclear medicine, PET/CT, X-ray technologies, and multi-source agreements for MRI and ultrasound. Several of these agreements, for MRI and cardiac/vascular imaging, are also included in a national group buy program whereby Novation negotiates additional discounts based on the planned purchases of multiple hospitals within a specific calendar quarter, the companies said.