Extends company’s patient safety solutions to hospital-acquired infections
July 12, 2006 — Birmingham, AL — Cardinal Health, the leading provider of products and services supporting the healthcare industry, today announced the acquisition of privately held MedMined, Inc., a leader in technology and services that identify and prevent hospital-acquired infections.
The acquisition will immediately extend Cardinal Health’s portfolio of patient safety solutions in the areas of hospital-acquired infections and antimicrobial management. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Reducing Hospital Infections
Hospital-acquired infections directly affect patient outcomes and are estimated to cost the healthcare industry billions of dollars each year. Current estimates are that one out of every 20 patients gets an infection as a result of hospitalization, leading to higher costs, longer hospital stays and a greater risk of death. Beginning in 2008, Medicare will no longer reimburse hospitals for expenses associated with hospital-acquired infections.
Using patented data-mining methods to analyze real time clinical data, MedMined helps identify specific opportunities to manage infections and change processes to prevent future infections. The data may also be used to efficiently report infection rates, enabling hospitals to provide the public with meaningful information from which to make comparisons. Many hospitals using MedMined’s Data Mining Surveillance(r) service have achieved a significant financial return in the first year of use by improving practices, reducing infection rates and lowering variable, non-reimbursed costs.
MedMined services are currently used in approximately 185 hospitals in more than 25 states and are made available to local hospitals for quality initiatives through Blue Cross Blue Shield in six states: Alabama, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
“Hospitals have a long history of striving to prevent infections and MedMined’s techniques now provide them with information that complement their safety initiatives and support measurable improvements,” said David Schlotterbeck, chief executive officer of Pharmaceutical and Medical Products for Cardinal Health. “MedMined advances Cardinal Health’s long-standing commitment to help our hospital partners improve safety by reducing variations in clinical practices. There are significant opportunities to extend MedMined’s data-mining and technology-based services to the medication management solutions we offer today with our Alaris and Pyxis products.”
Stephen Brossette, president of MedMinded added, “We are very excited to join one of the world’s premier healthcare companies. Cardinal Health shares our vision for patient safety and already has leading medication safety and outcomes measurement offerings that fit well with our hospital-acquired infection solutions. Given Cardinal Health’s breadth and depth of knowledge and experience in managing medications in hospitals, we expect to find additional opportunities to apply our patented data-mining methods to deliver value to customers.”
About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $75 billion, global company serving the health-care industry with a broad portfolio of products and services. Through its diverse offering, Cardinal Health delivers integrated health-care solutions that help customers reduce their costs, improve efficiency 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.
About MedMined
MedMined is a Birmingham, Ala.-based medical information technology company founded in 2000 to provide data mining analysis and related technical, clinical, and financial consulting services to the healthcare community. MedMined’s patented infection-tracking technology and proprietary service are being used by nearly 200 hospitals nationwide, covering more than 2.5 million hospital admissions yearly. The company has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, MIT’s Technology Review, and other leading publications and organizations. For more information, visit www.medmined.com.
Contact:
Amy Geus, MedMined. Inc.
(205) 382-0251
[email protected]