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Cardinal Health Pyxis Scrubstation® System Offers Simplified Access, Improved Control for Scrub Management

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 20, 2005 – Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), the leading provider of products and services supporting the health-care industry, today introduced a new version of its Pyxis ScrubStation®, an automated system that electronically secures, tracks and distributes “scrubs,” the garments worn by health care professionals.

Each year, the average health care facility spends up to $100,000 replacing lost scrubs. Pyxis ScrubStation® products enable hospitals to improve workflow efficiency and inventory control, reduce costs associated with scrub management and help ensure product is always available to authorized users.

The new version of the Pyxis ScrubStation® system offers mobile alert capabilities to enable time-sensitive response by hospital support personnel. Issues such as stock-outs and return stations reaching full capacity will trigger an automated alert via e-mail, various paging systems or other mobile devices. Support personnel can then attend to the situation in a timely manner.

The Environmental Services department at El Camino Hospital, a 395-bed not-for-profit facility located in Mountain View, Calif., manages its scrub inventory using the Pyxis ScrubStation® system’s mobile alerts capability. El Camino Hospital has won several awards for quality, safety and patient care, and was named one of healthcare’s "Most Wired" hospitals in 2005 for the third year in a row in a benchmarking study conducted by Hospital and Health Networks magazine.

“Our staff is now notified the instant a unit needs attention regardless of where they are,” said Eric Guglielmoni, director, environmental services for El Camino Hospital, “This enables them to respond immediately with the correct requirements without checking the central computer for system status. As a result, it’s made the staff more efficient and enables them to focus more time on other parts of their job.”

To help control access, the Pyxis ScrubStation® system offers the Pyxis® BioID fingerprint identification system. This feature verifies a user’s identity with a fingerprint scan before granting access to the Pyxis ScrubStation® unit. Since fingerprints are unique and cannot be shared like conventional passwords, this method helps ensure only authorized users access the unit.

Other enhancements include the ability to connect units in close proximity, which keeps user credits synchronized regardless of the hospital’s local area network (LAN) status. Additionally, it minimizes the number of network connections back to the hospital’s LAN, simplifying installation requirements. With the new release, administrators can also manage the complete system from various locations throughout their facility including managing users and inventory, printing reports, monitoring station status and viewing return station videos.

White papers on the new mobile alerts capabilities and the Pyxis® BioID feature are available for download on the Pyxis® Products Customer Connection site at www.cardinalhealth.com/pyxis.

About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $75 billion, global company serving the healthcare industry with a broad portfolio of products and services. It manufactures 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. Through this diverse offering, Cardinal Health delivers integrated health-care solutions that help customers reduce their costs, improve efficiency and deliver better care to patients. Ranked No. 16 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. 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 8-K and Form 10-Q reports (including all amendments to those reports) and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) the following: the costs, difficulties, and uncertainties related to the integration of acquired businesses; 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 any regulatory authority or any legal and administrative proceedings; the impact of previously announced restatements; difficulties or delays in implementing its global restructuring program; difficulties in opening new facilities or fully utilizing existing capacity; difficulties and uncertainties associated with business model transitions; and general economic and market conditions. Cardinal Health undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.