Press Releases

Cardinal Health to offer Presource^® and Convertors^® products to 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 53,000 other health care sites through Premier agreement

DUBLIN, Ohio, July 16, 2008 – Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, today announced that it has signed an agreement to offer Presource® custom procedure packs and Convertors® surgical drapes and gowns to the 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 53,000 other health care sites that are members of Premier, one of the nation’s largest group purchasing organizations. 

The five-year agreement is effective Jan. 1, 2009. Under terms of the contract, Cardinal Health will provide Premier members with custom procedure packs and surgical drapes and gowns for all areas within the acute care hospital and surgery center environment, including the operating room, labor and delivery, cardiac catheterization lab and interventional radiology lab.

Convertors leading brand of surgical drapes and gowns offers a variety of infection prevention products designed to meet clinician needs and the unique requirements of various procedure types. Premier members can purchase Convertors single-use surgical drapes and gowns in bulk, as single-sterile units or as part of a Presource custom procedure pack.

Presource custom procedure packs, which contain key surgical items needed for specific procedures, help standardize product selection and reduce the amount of clinician time spent gathering surgical materials.

“This contract demonstrates that Premier values our ability to offer an integrated drape, gown and custom pack solution to its members,” said Gordon LaFortune, president of Infection Prevention for Cardinal Health. “By combining Convertors high quality infection-prevention surgical drapes and gowns with Presource packs, we can deliver Premier members an excellent source of products and services for their operating rooms.”

Cardinal Health will also offer its Preferred Choice ProgramSM, Standard Kit and other solutions to assist Premier members in improving product standardization and cost management. Through its Preferred Choice Program, Cardinal Health works with each customer to identify all products needed for a Presource pack, then recommends clinically equivalent options for those products. By providing alternatives that are of high clinical quality, this program helps customers reduce supply costs while maintaining their focus on safety and infection prevention.

”This expanded agreement complements our current relationship with Premier and enables us to provide a full range of integrated kitting and surgical drape and gown solutions to help Premier’s membership improve safety, productivity and patient care,” said Steve Inacker, president and general manager of Cardinal Health’s Presource Products and Services business.

Cardinal Health has also recently been awarded Premier contracts for third-party scope repair, pulmonary function and metabolic analyzers and medication and supply automation products.

About Premier
Serving more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals and 53,000-plus other healthcare sites, the Premier healthcare alliance and its members are transforming healthcare together. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates one of the leading healthcare purchasing networks and the nation's most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information. A subsidiary operates one of the nation's largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups. A world leader in helping healthcare providers deliver dramatic improvements in care, Premier is working with the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

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 service, 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, Cardinal Health employs more than 40,000 people on five continents. More information about the company may be found at www.cardinalhealth.com.