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ClearCount's SmartWand-DTX device

Sponge-safety company ClearCount Medical Solutions has hired a new chief financial officer.

In his new role, David Haffner will oversee the day-to-day financial operations of the company and will be responsible for its financial strategy, according to a statement from Pittsburgh-based ClearCount.

Haffner previously worked as CFO for medical technology companies such as RedPath Integrated Pathology and Renal Solutions.

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ClearCount’s SmartWand system was recently cleared for U.S. sales by the Food and Drug Administration. The system uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology coupled with chips embedded in sponges to allow surgeons and nurses to count and detect sponges used in operations. The goal is to help hospitals avoid leaving sponges inside patients, a type of so-called ’never event“’-a serious and costly medical error that should never happen.

ClearCount’s other product, the SmartSponge system, was cleared by the FDA in 2007. The SmartSponge system counts all the sponges to be used in an operation before it starts, then reconciles that number with the number of sponges returned to a receptacle after the surgery. In contrast, the SmartWand can be used to count sponges, but doesn’t provide an ’in-and-out’ reconciliation of the number of sponges used in a procedure.

ClearCount is a portfolio company of Draper Triangle Ventures.