Press Releases

DUBLIN, Ohio, Oct. 11, 2010 — At this week’s Health Connect Partners Hospital Pharmacy Conference in Nashville, Tenn., Cardinal Health will announce an expansion of its capabilities to seamlessly integrate the company’s pharmaceutical distribution services with each hospital’s pharmacy technologies and processes to enable safer and more efficient medication dispensing to patients.

Through this expanded offering, Cardinal Health can integrate its distribution services with the pharmacy technology systems each customer prefers, instead of requiring customers to invest in specific technology solutions. This approach supports each hospital’s unique technology vision and needs, with a goal to improve medication safety, increase efficiency, contain costs and maximize each hospital’s current and future investments in pharmacy automation.

For more than a decade, Cardinal Health has offered its CardinalASSIST^® service, which enables automated medication ordering and streamlined replenishment of Pyxis^® MedStation^TM systems from CareFusion. Cardinal Health’s new, expanded offering will integrate its distribution services with other technology products used in a hospital pharmacy, including carousels, robots, inventory management systems and repackaging equipment. 

“This expanded approach is part of our broader, multi-year strategy to invest in technology solutions that improve the customer experience,” said Doug Roberts, national vice president of Pharmaceutical Acute Care Sales for Cardinal Health. “The goal is to help hospital pharmacies maximize the return on their technology investments and help them optimize supply chain safety and efficiency, regardless of whether they use a centralized, hybrid or de-centralized medication dispensing model.”

Cardinal Health plans to integrate its services based on each hospital’s technology preference, but has already created partnerships and integration protocols for automated dispensing cabinets, carousels, robots, re-packaging equipment and software from pharmacy technology providers  including CareFusion, Sentry Data Systems, Inc., Swisslog and Talyst. Current examples of integration capabilities include:

• CareFusion: Pyxis MedStation system;
• Sentry Data Systems, Inc.: Sentinel RCM^TM and Sentrex^TM software solutions;
• Swisslog: PillPick^® system; Boxpicker^TM and ATP Series;
• Talyst: AutoCarousel, AutoPack, AutoCool and AutoSplit 340B software.

As part of this new strategy, Cardinal Health will also continue to evaluate the marketplace for additional opportunities to integrate technology capabilities to further optimize the hospital pharmacy supply chain.

Hospital pharmacies interested in more information about Cardinal Health’s expanded technology integration offering can contact GMB-AcuteCarePharmacy@cardinalhealth.com.

About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $96 billion health care services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. As the business behind health care, Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and physician offices focus on patient care while reducing costs, improving efficiency and quality, and increasing profitability. Cardinal Health is an essential link in the health care supply chain, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 60,000 locations each day. The company is also a leading manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company supports the growing diagnostic industry by supplying medical products to clinical laboratories and operating the nation's largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ranked #17 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. More information about the company may be found at cardinalhealth.com.