ClearCount Medical Announces Expanded Never Event Warranty Coverage Provided by CNA HealthPro

Significantly expands value for hospitals working to avoid retained surgical sponge incidents

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 —

ClearCount Medical Solutions and CNA HealthPro today announced that ClearCount has secured an insurance policy enabling expansion of both the dollar amount and types of expenses covered under ClearCount's Never Event WarrantyTM program.  ClearCount offers hospitals coverage for a wide variety of costs associated with a retained sponge incident as a demonstration of its confidence in the product's performance.  This coverage comes at no additional cost to hospitals properly using ClearCount products, which are available through Medline Industries, Inc., the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies.

"We created the industry-first Never Event Warranty because we are confident that the ClearCount RFID technology will help make retained sponges in hospitals a thing of the past," said David Palmer, president and chief executive officer, ClearCount.  "Our SmartSponge and SmartWand-DTX Systems are the only products providing the safety of both counting and detection, enabling a level of assurance that allows us to offer Never Event Warranty protection.  We are delighted to offer this program through CNA."

CNA HealthPro is one of the leading providers of healthcare professional liability insurance and products liability coverage to the life sciences industry. "CNA has a long history of encouraging and developing safety improvement initiatives across the wide spectrum of industries it insures," said Mark Wood, vice president of Advanced Medical Technology, CNA HealthPro. "We are excited to support ClearCount and the Aon Corporation in this important patient safety initiative."

Aon Risk Solutions, the risk management and insurance brokerage business of Aon Corporation, was the catalyst behind the integration of the Never Event Warranty into an insurance product, and brought CNA HealthPro on board as the insurance carrier.

"Aon shares ClearCount's passion to address the risks associated with Never Events, and we are thrilled to have been involved in a solution that will result in an improved experience for hospitals and patients alike," said Mike Garofalo, director, Aon Risk Solutions. "This product innovation illustrates the opportunity that exists for businesses willing to take the time to understand risk and use that knowledge to differentiate them from the competition."

Despite designation as a "never event," retained surgical sponges are estimated to occur in one of every 1,000 to 1,500 abdominal surgical procedures, which can lead to hospital inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, serious infections and even death. Hospital infections add an estimated $30.5 billion to the nation's hospital costs each year.

About ClearCount Medical Solutions
ClearCount Medical Solutions is a medical device company focused on patient safety solutions. ClearCount has assembled an extendable RFID-based platform that provides a comprehensive solution to improve efficiency while preventing medical errors, distributed exclusively by Medline Industries.  ClearCount Medical Solutions has been recognized with a Popular Science 2009 Best of What's New Award, and has received additional recognition from TIME and WIRED magazines, the 2009 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award, the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) and more.  ClearCount's SmartSponge and SmartWand-DTX systems are the only RFID enabled systems for counting and detecting surgical sponges, thereby improving patient and OR safety, enhancing productivity, and reducing cost.  To learn more, visit www.clearcount.com.

About CNA HealthPro
A proven leader in providing comprehensive insurance coverages to the healthcare industry, CNA HealthPro offers a full range of insurance products for healthcare providers and organizations. For more information, please contact CNA HealthPro at 800-600-4776 or visit www.cna.com/healthpro/.

Serving businesses and professionals since 1897, CNA is the country's seventh largest commercial insurer and the 13th largest property and casualty company.  CNA's insurance products include standard commercial lines, specialty lines, surety, marine and other property and casualty coverages.  CNA's services include risk management, information services, underwriting, risk control and claims administration.  For more information, please visit CNA at www.cna.com.  CNA is a registered trademark of CNA Financial Corporation. 

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) is a leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. Through its more than 36,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's largest insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on brokerage revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007, 2008 and 2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and  http://www.aon.com/unitedin2010  to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

Medline, the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare products, manufactures and distributes more than 100,000 products to hospitals, extended care facilities, surgery centers, home care dealers and agencies. Headquartered in Mundelein, IL, Medline has more than 900 dedicated sales representatives nationwide to support its broad product line and cost management services.

Over the past five years, Medline has been the fastest growing distributor of medical and surgical supplies in the U.S., serving as the primary distributor to over 450 major hospitals and health care systems. As a leading distributor, Medline offers a comprehensive array of consulting and management services encompassing the supply chain and logistics, utilization and standardization, business tools and enhanced reporting capabilities, and on-staff clinicians.

Medline has a growing network of 32 distribution centers around the country, as well as an expanding, dedicated transportation fleet with over 200 vehicles in a variety of sizes to fit customers' specific delivery needs. The fleet is equipped with the latest navigation devices for enhanced order tracking and communication.