Whither Tyco? Whither Hospital Supply?

Tyco International is creating a colossus in hospital supply. But as customers in this consolidated, nationalized market become more demanding--asking for brand name products at ever lower prices--has the strategy run its ground. The demise of American Hospital Supply and new, more high tech focuses of companies like Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Laboratories suggests that hospital suppliers to survive must concentrate on higher margin businesses immune to the pressures of national contracting.