New offering is a key component to the industry’s most comprehensive system to manage all medications
NEW ORLEANS, HIMSS CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION, Feb. 26, 2007 — Cardinal Health, the leading provider of products and services supporting the health-care industry, today launched a new point-of-care offering to help hospitals reduce medication errors.
For the first time, nurses and other clinicians will be able to use one application to monitor orders for their patients, determine the location of medications, pre-program pumps for IV infusions, verify the accuracy of medications administered and document to the hospital’s existing IT systems. This is made possible by new technologies from Cardinal Health and a new seamless information flow among its Care Fusion® bedside verification application, Pyxis MedStation® units and Alaris® System IV pumps.
Cardinal Health is the first and only company who can offer a complete suite of automated dispensing cabinets, smart infusion pumps and bedside bar code verification systems, and have them communicate seamlessly with one another. The new point-of-care technology also allows clinical data to flow from the hospital pharmacy information system through a single Cardinal Health interface. The system will also support reporting to other information technology systems in the hospital.
“Our new point-of-care technology will help hospitals solve some of their most difficult problems in improving patient safety and will make the medication workflow for clinicians simpler and safer by eliminating many of the hand-offs that lead to mistakes,” said Dwight Winstead, group president of Clinical Technologies and Services for Cardinal Health. “In addition, it will allow hospitals to leverage their current and future investments in Pyxis®, Alaris® and Care Fusion® products.”
Cardinal Health is in a unique position to offer an end-to-end solution for managing the medication and information flow for all medications. Offering the industry’s most comprehensive combination of technologies, services and information, Cardinal Health helps hospitals manage all medications from the pharmaceutical distribution center to the patient bedside.
To leverage this capability Cardinal Health also launched today Integrated Medication Solutions to help hospitals more efficiently purchase and manage their medications through the entire medication use process. Integrated Medication Solutions include a collection of systems, services and expert consultants that maximizes safety, efficiency and cost savings throughout the medication management process. Initially, Cardinal Health’s solutions will be targeted to Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) and large hospitals.
Cardinal Health made today’s announcement from the floor of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HiMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition being held here from Feb. 25 through March 1.
About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is an $81 billion, global company serving the health-care industry with a broad portfolio of products and services. Through its diverse offerings, Cardinal Health delivers health-care solutions that help customers reduce their costs, improve safety and productivity, and deliver better care to patients. The company manufactures, packages and distributes pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, offers a range of clinical services and develops automation products that improve the management and delivery of supplies and medication for hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies. Ranked No. 19 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 55,000 people on six continents. More information about the company may be found at
www.cardinalhealth.com.
# # #
Except for historical information, all other information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Cardinal Health's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports (including all amendments to those reports) and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) the following: competitive pressures in its various lines of business; the loss of one or more key customer or supplier relationships or changes to the terms of those relationships; changes in the distribution patterns or reimbursement rates for health-care products and/or services; the results, consequences, effects or timing of any inquiry or investigation by or settlement discussions with any regulatory authority or any legal and administrative proceedings, including shareholder litigation; uncertainties related to completing the divestiture of the PTS segment, including the fulfillment or waiver of conditions to closing under the acquisition agreement and any adjustments as to the amount of actual proceeds to be received; the costs, difficulties and uncertainties related to the integration of acquired businesses; and general economic and market conditions. Except to the extent required by applicable law, Cardinal Health undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.
