Press Releases

SAN DIEGO, September 24, 2004 – ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry, has announced today that Consorta, Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill, a leading health care group purchasing organization, which provides resource management solutions to shareholders and their facilities, has entered into a three year dual source agreement for IV Smart Pump and Smart Systems including the Medley™ Medication Safety System, Signature Edition® Gold Infusion System with the Guardrails® Safety Software, and related pump sets.

This dual source award came after a very thorough breakthrough technology process conducted by Consorta and Consorta’s Shareholders. A specific criteria to evaluate new pump technologies was developed by Consorta’s Clinical Committee, and after review of all technologies, ALARIS Medical Systems’ Medley™ Medication Safety System and Signature Edition® Gold Infusion System were among the technologies selected for a Consorta award. This agreement will take effect on October 15, 2004.

"ALARIS Medical Systems is excited about the opportunity to provide the Medley™ Medication Safety System and the Signature Edition® Gold Infusion System to the Consorta and its members. This breakthrough technology offers health care providers an array of tools to significantly reduce the potential for patient harm," said Jake St. Philip, vice president and general manager of ALARIS Medical Systems’ North American Business Unit. "We anticipate an outstanding partnership with the Consorta in our joint mission to improve patient safety at the point of care through the provision of innovative products to the members of the Consorta."

"We want to ensure that our members have access to the latest advances in medical technology," said Darrel Weatherford, chief operating officer, Consorta. "The advanced features of the pumps offered through these two agreements provide a new level of patient safety and medication error prevention."

The Medley™ Medication Safety System is a modular point-of-care platform that integrates infusion, patient monitoring and clinical best practice guidelines for optimal outcomes. At the core of the Medley™ System is the Guardrails® Safety Software, available only from ALARIS Medical Systems, which provides an automatic safety net for infusion programming focused on medication error-prevention at the critical point of IV delivery to the patient. The Guardrails® Safety Software helps protect patients from infusion programming errors by allowing institutions to configure unique care-specific profiles with pre-defined drug dose limits and other delivery parameters to meet the particular needs of multiple patient care areas. ALARIS Medical Systems is the only provider of error-prevention software in a modular system that includes syringe delivery, large volume infusion therapy and monitoring in a single platform.

The Signature Edition® GOLD Infusion System optionally incorporates the Guardrails® Safety Software application for use at the point of care, allowing caregivers to safely select and program infusions. The software stores the drug library providing immediate accesses and continuous monitoring of infusion medication through the Guardrails® Safety Software. All Guardrails® Alerts are stored and available within the system, to be accessed by the Guardrails® Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) products for analysis.

ALARIS Medical Systems will kick off this new agreement at the Consorta Annual Resource Management Conference in Chicago, IL from September 26th – 29th, 2004 and will display this innovative medication safety technology at the Cardinal Health booth.

About Consorta Consorta, Inc., based in suburban Chicago, is a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, whose shareholders are faith based or non profit health systems. As a cooperative Consorta's shareholders and participants share fully in the organization's bottom-line performance and have access to best-in-market product pricing as demonstrated through regular price audits. Consorta’s Shareholders are among the leading integrators of non-profit health care in America, sponsoring significant care providers in many parts of the country. Consorta’s Shareholder health care systems operate more than half of all Catholic hospitals in the United States, own many extended and alternate care sites and have extensive affiliate relationships with other non-profit hospitals and alternate care facilities. The Consorta membership encompasses nearly 500 acute care facilities, representing 55,944 beds, and more than 2000 other care sites.

About ALARIS Medical Systems ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) develops and markets products for the safe delivery of intravenous (IV) medications. The Company's IV medication and infusion therapy delivery systems, software applications, needle-free disposables and related monitoring equipment are marketed in the United States and internationally. ALARIS Medical Systems' "smart" pumps, with the proprietary Guardrails® Safety Software, help to reduce the risks and costs of medication errors, help to safeguard patients and clinicians and gather and record clinical information for review, analysis and interpretation. The Company provides its products, professional and technical support and training services to over 5,000 hospital and health care systems, as well as alternative care sites, in more than 100 countries through its direct sales force and distributors. Headquartered in San Diego, California, ALARIS Medical Systems employs approximately 3,000 people worldwide. Additional information on ALARIS Medical Systems can be found at http://www.alarismed.com.

Commission filings of ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc., including Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and other filings. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments.

About Cardinal Health Cardinal Health, Inc. (www.cardinal.com) is the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry. Cardinal Health develops, manufactures, packages and markets products for patient care; develops drug-delivery technologies; distributes pharmaceuticals and medical, surgical and laboratory supplies; and offers consulting and other services that improve quality and efficiency in health care. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health employs nearly 60,000 people on six continents and produces annual revenues of more than $50 billion. Cardinal Health is ranked No. 17 on the Fortune 500 list and is named one of the best U.S. companies by Forbes magazine for 2004.

This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Persons reading this release are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including the effect of legislative and regulatory changes affecting the health care industry, the potential of increased levels of competition, technological changes, the dependence of ALARIS Medical Systems upon the success of new products (including its proprietary Guardrails® Safety Software and the Medley™ Medication Safety System) and ongoing research and development efforts including obtaining regulatory approvals, restrictions contained in the instruments governing the Company's indebtedness, and the significant leverage to which the Company is subject. Such risk factors are detailed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of ALARIS Medical, Inc. and ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc., including Forms 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002, and other filings. On June 30, 2003 the two companies were merged. Subsequent SEC filings are available only for ALARIS Medical Systems, Inc. The Company assumes no obligation to