“The DiskCover System automates the aseptic technique, making clean care fast, consistent, and cost-effective.”

In the United States alone, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) account for over 100,000 deaths annually, emphasizing the urgent need for innovative solutions to protect patients and healthcare workers. Over time, technologies have improved infection control; the journey is far from over. The rise of alcohol-resistant microorganisms challenges current infection control efforts, requiring innovative technology advances to protect patients during care delivery.

AseptiScope is at the forefront of this vital field. This San Diego based clinical innovation start-up has designed a game-changer in infection prevention. Led by Scott Mader and a team of start-up experts, AseptiScope’ s first innovation is getting attention from top healthcare providers who are now recognizing that stethoscopes moving between patients are transmitting pathogens much like an unclean “third hand”.

In an exclusive interview with Business Fortune, Scott W. Mader, CEO described the company’s commitment to enhancing patient safety and infection prevention through advanced technologies, beginning with their flagship product, the DiskCover System, which immediately applies a sterile “disk cover” barrier between the patient and the stethoscope, removing a vector that has undermined infection control efforts in the US and around the world. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Can you share the story behind the inception of AseptiScope? What motivated the founders to start this company, and what challenges did they face in the early days?

AseptiScope founders have introduced clinical innovation successfully in the past and have a methodology for this over the years. Stethoscope contamination is well documented. In 2018 we initiated a seed fund to fuel prototype development and validation of a new type of infection control technology that automates aseptic technique. “Aseptic Technique” is the gold standard for preventing infection. This is a protocol deployed, for example, when multiple people gown a surgeon for the operating room. It is too onerous and time-consuming to apply to routine healthcare. Our stethoscope hygiene solution - The DiskCover System, automates aseptic technique, making clean care fast, consistent, and cost-effective.

Your company tagline is “Infection Protection for Clinician and Patient”. How does this fit into the core values that drive your mission and portfolio?

There is an immediate risk to patients and clinicians. With 100,000 US patients lost to infection resulting from healthcare delivery, HAI is an existential challenge for modern healthcare delivery. Patients must be safe when seeking care at their most vulnerable moments. Furthermore, nurses, doctors, and all healthcare workers deserve to work in a secure environment. Our technology elevates safety for both healthcare providers and the patients for whom they care.

Our flagship product, The DiskCover System, provides a clean shield between the patient and the stethoscope diaphragm (the part that touches the skin during examination). This single-use barrier is fully clean or “aseptic”. We know that stethoscope diaphragms cleaned for a full minute remain contaminated over half the time. The bugs are more resistant to alcohol cleaning. Infection preventionists recognize that cleaning between patients is minimally effective, and they have no real solution. So for years, they have often dedicated a cheap “disposable stethoscope” to each patient room. This option is not effective, nor is it supported by data. In actual practice, that toy stethoscope is now handled by everyone caring for that patient, exposing it to contamination each time it is used. The stethoscope quality is poor, compromising the examination of the patient. Beyond that, you now have an occupational safety problem, since each caregiver is now forced to share common, contaminated earbuds. We designed and validated The DiskCover System to resolve this challenge. It allows clinicians to use high-quality stethoscopes rather than low-quality, highly wasteful disposable stethoscopes while delivering totally clean care.

The DiskCover System addresses a critical gap in stethoscope hygiene. What inspired the development of this product, and how does it differ from existing solutions in the market?

The stethoscope is a known vector of pathogen transmission, comparable to an unwashed hand. While significant efforts are made to ensure hand hygiene in healthcare, the stethoscope touches U.S. patients more than five billion times per year, undermining infection control precautions.

The current standard requires cleaning the stethoscope’s point of patient contact (the diaphragm) for 60 seconds between each patient. However, this is not feasible within today’s healthcare workflow and is rarely performed. Furthermore, superbugs are increasingly resistant to alcohol cleaning.

In less than two seconds, The DiskCover system applies a single-use, clean barrier between the stethoscope and the patient.

You also have other “clean” technologies coming down the road. What is the long-term strategic alignment of the portfolio?

We have a product portfolio that starts with The DiskCover System for the stethoscope and will extend to protecting patients from other vectors such as ultrasound probes, hands, etc. This line will commonly protect patients from pathogens that thrive in the halls of healthcare. This is a clean, sustainable technology that saves lives, time, and money. Equally important is the long-term risk to patients, clinicians, and society: The indiscriminate use of disinfectants and antibiotics leads to the emergence of highly resistant bacteria and other pathogens. Our technology allows for full protection of the patient while directing disinfectants to a strategic role, vs. a ubiquitous role.

Our innovations are designed to address both immediate and long-term challenges. By developing technology to ensure completely clean contact, we elevate patient safety while reducing reduces the development of resistant pathogens. These microbes efficiently use resistance mechanisms to survive. Just like people, the hospital environment has normal microflora. Trying to create sterile spaces may only invite disinfectant and antibiotic-resistant organisms to occupy the space. By minimizing the indiscriminate use of disinfectants and reserving them for when they are truly needed, we become responsible stewards of patients, care providers, and public well-being. This especially important aspect of what we do is known as “antimicrobial stewardship”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness around infection control. How has this influenced AseptiScope’s strategy and product offerings?

Just as 9-11 elevated our public awareness of terror, COVID has elevated our awareness about whether we receive clean healthcare. The DiskCover System offers superior patient protection, but it also offers patients visual confirmation of clean care. After COVID-19 patients became much more conscious of whether they were being protected from infection. If they know they are being protected it elevates the “Patient Experience”. A few months ago, the Cleveland Clinic published a fascinating study examining how patients felt about three stethoscope hygiene methods. Today, patients see the stethoscope as a contamination concern, and they almost never see anyone clean them. Patients favored being able to visually confirm they were protected with the Disk Cover barrier applied to a stethoscope. With The DiskCover System, patients are truly protected, and seeing this improves the healthcare experience for them.

Are there any strategic partnerships or collaborations that AseptiScope is currently pursuing or has established? How do these relationships enhance your product offerings?

There are many examples of this. 3M Healthcare and 3M converting experts have worked with our engineers and operations team to establish a unique, first-in-class standard for medical grade tapes and adhesives.

Clinical leaders across the country have validated and published the unique impact of The DiskCover System in healthcare delivery.

In 2024, the CDC reached out to us, providing an opportunity to meet with their quality division regarding stethoscope transmission and the benefits of automated, touch-free technology.

The most amazing partnerships are with our customers who are integrating The DiskCover System and adopting new policies and procedures to protect their patients. This Spring at a major healthcare conference, one of our customers is presenting how, by integrating The DiskCover System into their ICU, they have halted central line infections, one of the most life-threatening HAI problems facing this country.

What is your long-term vision for AseptiScope? How do you envision the company evolving in the next decade, and what legacy do you hope to leave in the healthcare industry?

We are adding a new type of technology that elevates patient safety and healthcare efficiency. The DiskCover System is already integrating into hospital infection prevention policy and procedure. This elevates patient safety, improves workflow, and lowers costs. I’ve never introduced a product that gets better reviews from our customers.

Importantly, patients recognize that they are being protected, and it improves trust in care delivery. This is the mission of our entire team at AseptiScope.

Scott W. Mader, Founder & CEO of AseptiScope | In His Own Words

My family heritage is Canadian. My mother was a nurse, and my father was a physician. The migration to the US has healthcare implications as my father pursued residency training in the US and conditionally stayed here to practice medicine in rural Ohio. At that time both clinical skills and the patient-clinician bond were high. Dad’s stethoscope was as common in family photos as our Canadian Newfoundland dogs who were always at our side. The stethoscope around my father’s neck was a symbol of trust and integrity as a medical expert. I believe mom and dad are proud of what we are doing here at AseptiScope.

“By developing technology to ensure completely clean patient contact, we elevate patient safety while reducing the development of resistant bacteria, fungi, and other pathogens.”

“By developing technology that is specifically designed and validated to prevent pathogen exposure and ensure clean patient contact, AseptiScope is helping reduce HAIs.”