By Healthcare Facilities Today

Edison Nation Medical and medical technology producer Hill Rom have launched a contest to find ideas for curbing hospital-acquired infections. The winning entrepreneurs will get a $2,500 minimum advance on 20 years percentage of sales or buyout and 50 percent of the licensing royalties.

The deadline for submitting entries is November 18, 2013. The contest is seeking solutions in a variety of areas, including.

• Reducing the spread of infection;

• Sterilize/contain medical instruments and provide better infection and contamination monitoring;

• Ways to improve compliance among healthcare providers;

• Ways to do a better job of bacteria culture collection and diagnostics.

According to an article in MedCityNews, hospital-acquired infections are causing 100,000 deaths each year and costing $34 billion. Part of the costs are driven by lengthened hospital stays due to complications from these infections. 

Read the article.