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Cardinal Health and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Sign Integrated Services Agreement

DUBLIN, Ohio, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal Health, Inc. today announced that it has signed a unique integrated services agreement with Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, a leading healthcare provider serving the Chicago area. Under the terms of this agreement, Cardinal Distribution is expected to supply Evanston with approximately $15 million of pharmaceuticals annually over the next five years. In addition, Evanston will deploy approximately 90 MEDSTATION(R)-Rx System 2000 units to be supplied by Pyxis Corporation.

Together, Evanston and Cardinal intend to achieve innovative breakthroughs in medication use and redefine the standard of medication delivery services in the industry. Innovation and creativity are core elements of this business relationship. The purpose of this relationship is to create innovative ways for Evanston to develop a world class medication management and delivery system. As such, the intent is to ensure maximum creativity, to be as encompassing as possible, and to foster the mutual success of both organizations.

An important element in Evanston's selection of Cardinal was the opportunity to participate in the company's automated replenishment program, CardinalASSIST(SM). This program will enable the health system to benefit from efficiencies created by automating certain labor-intensive aspects of the replenishment process for acute care pharmacies.

Evanston has also targeted the reduction of drug therapy complications within the acute care setting as a major goal. Published studies in this area have suggested that a sizable number of preventable adverse drug events occur within acute care settings. Evanston is committed to ensuring the highest quality patient care, including minimizing the potential for adverse drug events. Cardinal and Evanston are taking a leadership role in dealing with this industry issue by establishing a dedicated position for a clinical pharmacoeconomist at Evanston to research and develop a model for the reduction of adverse drug events in acute care settings.

"We are very pleased to have reached this comprehensive, integrated services agreement with Evanston," remarked Connie R. Woodburn, executive vice president of corporate sales for Cardinal Health. "The primary objective of this unique agreement is to improve the management of drug therapy for patients and ensure the highest quality healthcare. Utilization of Cardinal's extensive pharmacy information resources and integrated service offerings will enable Evanston to significantly improve the operating efficiency of its pharmacies, and enable its pharmacists to dedicate a greater percentage of their time to improving clinical outcomes."

"Medications are powerful tools in treating patients, but they must be used safely and effectively to maximize their benefit and avoid harm. Pharmacists help to assure this happens," stated Stanley S. Kent, director of pharmacy services at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. "Streamlining all aspects of our medication use process will allow our pharmacists additional time to meet this goal."

"This agreement provides a solid foundation for what both of our organizations believe will be an expanding relationship going forward," added Ms. Woodburn. "We are continuing to explore additional areas, such as outpatient pharmacy services, for further opportunities to improve patient care."

Evanston Northwestern Healthcare is comprised of Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital, ENH Medical Group, ENH Home Services and ENH Research Institute. It supports education and research programs through its affiliation with Northwestern University Medical School, where virtually all attending physicians are on faculty. The Hospitals have been ranked among the "Top 100 Hospitals" for the past four years, the only Chicago-area hospitals to be so honored. The Hospitals have received "Accreditation with Commendation" from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, a distinction granted to only five percent of hospitals nationwide. Evanston and Glenbrook Hospitals have been listed among the "Best Hospitals in America" by US News and World Report for the past three years.

Cardinal Health, Inc., a Fortune 200 company based in Dublin, Ohio, is one of the country's leading healthcare service companies. Cardinal provides innovative, cost-effective pharmaceutical services that improve the medication use process to a broad base of customers nationwide. These services include pharmaceutical distribution (Cardinal Distribution & National Specialty Services, Inc.), hospital pharmacy management (Owen Healthcare, Inc.), automated dispensing systems manufacturing (Pyxis Corporation), drug delivery systems development (R.P. Scherer Corporation), pharmaceutical packaging and repackaging (PCI Services, Inc. and National PharmPak Services, Inc.), retail pharmacy franchising (Medicine Shoppe International, Inc.), and healthcare information systems development (Cardinal Information Corporation). The common stock of Cardinal Health, Inc. is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Some of the information included in this press release includes "forward- looking statements" which are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated, or implied. The most significant of such uncertainties are described in Cardinal's Form 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K Reports and exhibits to those Reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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