Cardinal Health Medication Solutions Offer Comprehensive Approach to Improve Safety, Efficiency and Cost Savings for Hospitals’ Medication Use Processes
DUBLIN, Ohio, Nov. 28, 2007 — Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, today announced it is partnering with hospitals across the country to help simplify how medications are purchased and dispensed to patients.
Nine hospitals, including Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Memorial Hermann, Nebraska Medical Center, Ochsner Medical Center, Oregon Health & Science University, St Joseph’s Orange and SSM St. Anthony Hospital, will leverage Cardinal Health technologies, services and expertise to improve their hospitals’ processes for medication management.
Ordering, storing and dispensing medications at hospitals is an extremely complex process, with multiple steps, people and handoffs involved in getting pharmaceuticals to the patient bedside. Cardinal Health experts perform a detailed analysis that helps hospitals see a comprehensive view of their entire medication use process, and then they integrate key products and services from Cardinal Health to simplify medication management and maximize safety, efficiency and cost savings.
“Ochsner Medical Center has long been a leader in providing the very highest level of care, but we continue to push ourselves to take quality, safety and efficiency to the next level,” said Warner Thomas, president and chief operating officer, Ochsner Health System. “Cardinal Health’s experts have helped us take a more strategic approach to how we manage our medications across our entire hospital, which will lead to even safer and more efficient delivery of medications to our patients.”
Traditionally, different steps within the medication use process were managed by different departments. For example, the purchasing department may have taken the lead to order pharmaceuticals from a wholesaler, the pharmacy department would be responsible for receiving the pharmaceuticals and filling physician orders, and the nursing staff would administer the medications to patients. Each department would be keenly focused on their specific area of responsibility, so any process change in one area could unknowingly create an issue for the other departments.
“Cardinal Health is focused on leveraging the technology and expertise across our company and provide the best overall solution for our customers,” said Jon Zimmerman, general manager of Medication Solutions for Cardinal Health. “By combining our pharmaceutical procurement and logistical solutions with our automated dispensing cabinets, smart IV pumps, bedside barcode patient identification technologies and our expertise in the medication use process, we provide true end-to-end medication management capabilities for hospitals.”
Cardinal Health’s unique combination of people, technologies and services helps hospitals:
- Improve patient safety through new technologies that protect patients from medication errors;
- Improve the quality of care by reducing the administrative workload on pharmacy and nursing so they can spend more time caring for patients;
- Meet their compliance initiatives by streamlining information and process flows;
- Optimize procurement practices to maximize spend and control costs; and
- Achieve rapid results by facilitating ease of implementation
Launched in February 2007, Cardinal Health medication solutions help hospitals more efficiently purchase and manage their medications through the entire medication use process. Medication solutions include a collection of systems, technologies, services, process improvements and expert consultants that improve safety, efficiency and cost savings throughout a hospital or an entire health system.
This new comprehensive approach to medication management will be presented in booth 734 at the 42nd Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists being held Dec. 2-6 in Las Vegas.
About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is an $87 billion, global company serving the health care industry with products and services that help hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies reduce costs, improve safety, productivity and profitability, and deliver better care to patients. With a focus on making supply chains more efficient, reducing hospital-acquired infections and breaking the cycle of harmful medication errors, Cardinal Health develops market-leading technologies, including Alaris® IV pumps, Pyxis® automated dispensing systems, MedMined™ electronic infection surveillance, VIASYS® respiratory care products and the CareFusion™ patient identification system. The company also manufactures medical and surgical products and is one of the largest distributors of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies worldwide. Ranked No. 19 on the Fortune 500 and No. 1 in its sector on Fortune's ranking of Most Admired firms, Cardinal Health employs more than 40,000 people on five continents. More information about the company may be found at www.cardinalhealth.com.
