Halyard Health

History

On March 26, 1872, Kimberly, Clark & Co. was established in Neenah, Wisconsin through the partnership of four businessmen—John A. Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark and Frank C. Shattuck.

The first healthcare product by Kimberly-Clark was absorbent wadding, intended to replace cotton. It was used as a bandage for wounded soldiers in World War I. Army nurses adapted the material for menstrual use. Kaycel fabric for surgical gowns was developed by Kimberly-Clark in 1960 for use in field hospitals during the Korean War.

In 1980, Health Care began to grow as it was separated from consumer packaged goods management and products, such as Kleenex, with a move to Roswell, Georgia. Kimberly-Clark Health Care had offices in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Europe, Asia and India. It also sold its products in more than 150 countries.

Expansion

Kimberly-Clark Health Care opened European Health Care operations in Brussels in 1991.

In 1999, Kimberly-Clark Health Care expanded into new global markets.

Company acquisitions

In 1998, Ballard Medical Product, a maker of disposable medical devices for respiratory care, gastroenterology and cardiology, was purchased by Kimberly-Clark for $764 million.

That same year, Kimberly-Clark also acquired TECNOL Medical Products, Inc., a maker of disposable face masks and patient care products.

Kimberly-Clark acquired Safeskin Corporation in 2000, a maker of disposable gloves for healthcare, high technology and scientific industries.

In 2009, Kimberly-Clark acquired Baylis Medial Company’s Pain Management Business and I-Flow Corporation.

On April 11, 2016, Halyard announced its agreement to acquire CORPAK MedSystems, a company specializing in enteral access devices. The acquisition is an all-cash transaction for a total consideration of $174 million.

Spin-off

In November 2013, Kimberly-Clark Corporation announced the company’s plan to pursue a tax-free spin-off of the company’s health care business creating a stand-alone, publicly traded health care company. Robert E. Abernathy, would become chief executive officer of the new company.

In May 2014, Kimberly-Clark announced that the Form 10 for the spin-off plan had been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and that the new company, Halyard Health, would be headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.

The spin-off was scheduled to come into effect on October 31, 2014. At that time Halyard Health applied to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HYH." One hundred percent of the shares of Halyard Health would be distributed to Kimberly-Clark shareholders, one share for every eight shares of Kimberly-Clark stock.

On November 3, 2014, Halyard debuted as a public company following the spin-off, and began trading on the NYSE under the symbol "HYH."

Products

Halyard Health focuses on seven categories of products.

Surgical Solution products are used in operating rooms and include gowns, trays, drapes, masks, microbial sealant and sterilization wrap.

Digestive Health products are designed for enteral feeding, diagnostics and endoscopy procedures and include feeding tubes, gastric lavage systems, paracentesis needles and trays, endoscopy catheters, cleaning devices and cytology brushes.

Respiratory Health products are designed for airway management and include closed suction catheters, oral care kits, endotracheal tubes and sampling catheters.

Pain Management products include tools to manage chronic and surgical pain such as needles, trays, radiofrequency generators, cooled RF treatment systems, incisional pumps, ambulatory pumps and peripheral nerve block pumps.

Infection Prevention products include equipment designed to protect against contamination and infections such as gloves, gowns, masks, apparel, chemotherapy protective equipment and hand hygiene monitoring.

IV Therapy products include pumps designed for in-home delivery of IV drugs.

Wound Care products include dressings designed to improve healing and maintain moisture.

Lawsuit

The infection protection Microcool gowns manufactured by Halyard are at the center of a fraud lawsuit against Halyard Health and Kimberly-Clark and profiled on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes. The lawsuit alleges that Halyard knowingly sold Microcool gowns which failed to meet industry standard specifications and could potentially expose medical workers to the patient's bodily fluids. The company denies the allegations and asserts that the gowns which failed to meet specifications were outliers, and that no health care worker has been infected as a result of defective products.

Headquarters/campus

Halyard Health's campus is located in Alpharetta, Georgia, just north of Atlanta.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of Halyard Health are: Robert E. Abernathy, Gary D. Blackford, John P. Byrnes, Ronald W. Dollens, Heidi K. Fields, Patrick J. O’Leary, Maria Sainz, and Dr. Julie Shimer.

Awards

In 2013 and 2014, Halyard Health was named a winner of the Practice Greenhealth Champion for Change Awards, recognizing the company's ongoing commitment to sustainability accomplishments in support of people, the planet and products.

Halyard Health was awarded Innovative Technology Designation for Coolief Cooled Radiofrequency Treatment at Novation Expo 2015.

Community

Since Kimberly-Clark's original grant to help launch MedShare in 1998, the company has funded the shipment of $18.5 million worth of supplies to 13 countries in Latin America.

Since then, Halyard examination gloves have been on every MedShare shipment and Halyard Health continues to be one of MedShare’s largest medical product donors. In 2015 Halyard donated $400,000 in medical supplies to MedShare for April 2015 Nepal earthquake relief efforts including surgical gowns, protective masks, and examination gloves.