Dr. Hill has a longstanding interest in medical and surgical innovation. After serving as an advisor to healthcare related startups in Silicon Valley beginning in 1999, Dr. Hill founded VasoNova, a bio-tech start-up that created catheter guidance technology for placing peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) and other central venous catheters (CVCs).
As the principal innovator, Dr. Hill collaborated with engineers to develop the technology, which utilizes real time ECG and Doppler ultrasound data and computer algorithms to determine when a catheter tip is in the lower 1/3 of the superior vena cava. With accuracy approaching 100%, the technology was approved by the FDA in 2011 as an alternative to x-ray confirmation for PICC and CVC tip position.
In 2011, the company was acquired by Teleflex, Inc. and the VasoNova technology is now marketed under the Arrow brand. The technology, now called the Vascular Positioning System (VPS), is commercially available in the U.S and abroad and has been used in place of x-ray confirmation in many thousands of patient cases.
For more information about VasoNova/Teleflex VPS:
Acquisition News Release
VasoNova Teleflex VPS