eNews April 15, 2026

How is COVID-19 affecting your business, your people, your customers? IMDA is a membership organization, and in times like these, we can all use some camaraderie. If you have a COVID story to share, advice to offer, or a warning to sound, send it to Mark Thill, IMDA’s communications director, at [email protected], with the subject line “IMDA COVID story.” We’ll compile them and send them back out to you.

Non-invasive ventilators

Clinical evidence from Italy and China shows the benefits of non-invasive ventilators for use in less severe cases of COVID-19-related respiratory problems, which constitute the majority of cases nationwide, according to AdvaMed.

$550 million contract for ventilators

Hamilton Medical Corp., Reno, Nevada, received a $551 million contract from the U.S. government to boost the nation’s stockpile of ventilators, reports the Reno Gazette Journal.

N95s decontaminated

The FDA issued an emergency authorization to Advanced Sterilization Products and Steris Corp. to decontaminate N95 or N95-equivalent respirators for reuse by healthcare workers in hospitals.

Blood purification and COVID-19

CyboSorbents (Monmouth Junction, New Jersey) reported it has been granted an Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA for the use of its blood purification technology for use in patients with COVID-19 infection. The technology treats cytokine storm and inflammation in critically ill and cardiac surgery patients.

Refurbished ventilators

Two industry veterans have formed a not-for-profit corporation to obtain and repair used ventilators for patients fighting COVID-19, reports Medical Design and Outsourcing. Co-Vents has six FDA-approved and ISO-certified ventilator service centers in New Jersey, Tennessee, California, Illinois and Georgia. The founders are Michael Raymer and Paul Woodring, formerly with Puritan Bennett. The organization is seeking decommissioned Puritan Bennett, Philips/Respironics and CareFusion critical care ventilators to refurbish.

Infusion pump shortage

Hospitals are experiencing shortages of infusion pumps, which provide medications and fluids to hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Click here for conservation strategies.

137,000 ventilators

Five new contracts for ventilator production were announced by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Defense Production Act. Recipients were General Electric, Hill-Rom, Medtronic, ResMed and Vyaire, as well as two other contracts to Hamilton and Zoll. The seven ventilator contracts will provide a total of 137,431 ventilators by the end of 2020.

Nursing homes as a source of ventilators: The ethical dilemma

Nursing homes nationwide have a cache of more than 8,000 ventilators, reports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Most of the machines are in use, often by people who’ve suffered a brain injury or stroke. Some of those residents are in a vegetative state and have remained on a ventilator for years, and commandeering those units would set up a monumental ethical dilemma.