Cardinal Health Launches New Analytics Tool to Help Hospitals Improve Antibiotic Stewardship Efforts

PRESS RELEASE

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIF. — Dec. 8, 2014 — Cardinal Health today introduced a powerful new tool that gives pharmacists the ability to rapidly analyze antibiotic use trends and identify significant opportunities to improve antibiotic stewardship efforts.

Almost 2 million people each year are sickened by antibiotic-resistant infections, resulting in 23,000 deaths annually.1 Andup to 50% of antibiotic use in hospitals is inappropriate2.

Cardinal Health’s new Antibiotic Analytics dashboard helps pharmacists address these trends. It is part of Cardinal Health’s Drug Cost Opportunity Analytics software package, a web-based technology that provides data and insights to help hospital pharmacy leaders manage drug spend. The new dashboard tracks and benchmarks antibiotic selection and use over time, by Defined Daily Dose or Days of Therapy. It then evaluates susceptibility and resistance patterns, and determines the best pharmaceutical agent for each hospital’s specific patient population.

The new Antibiotic Analytics dashboard supports hospitals’ and health systems’ current Antibiotic Stewardship programs, and:

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Allows users to toggle back and forth between DRG and prescribing physician information from antibiotic trending data;

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Identifies IV-to-PO comparisons to benchmark;

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Provides health system-level reporting;

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Integrates antibiograms with antibiotic use trending; and

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Serves as the foundation of antibiotic stewardship programs.

“From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiatives to White House executive orders, antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for hospitals and health systems, nationwide, making antibiotic stewardship top-of-mind for many pharmacy leaders,” said Tom Burke, general manager of Cardinal Health’s Innovative Delivery Solutions business. “This new tool provides pharmacists with the actionable insight they need to develop proactive antibiotic stewardship programs, measure and continually improve them — all in an effort to improve patient safety and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.”

Attendees of the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, taking place Dec. 7-11, 2014 in Orange County, Calif., can learn more about the Antibiotic Analytics dashboard by visiting the Cardinal Health booth #2021. To learn more about the Antibiotic Analysis dashboard, call 1.877.300.9180 or visit cardinalhealth.com/innovativedeliverysolutions.

About Cardinal Health

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $91 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, clinical laboratories and physician offices focus on patient care while reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and improving quality. Cardinal Health is an essential link in the health care supply chain, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products and services to more than 100,000 locations each day and is also the industry-leading direct-to-home medical supplies distributor. The company is a leading manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company operates the nation's largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ranked #22 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs 34,000 people worldwide. More information about the company may be found at www.cardinalhealth.com and @CardinalHealth on Twitter.

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Sources:

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); 2013 Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the U.S.

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); 2014 Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs