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Bayhealth Medical Center Selects McKesson's Horizon Clinicals to Advance Service and Safety

Electronic Medical Record to Bolster Caregiver Decision Making

To enhance patient outcomes and safety while more effectively managing resources, Bayhealth Medical Center, which serves central and southern Delaware, has launched an ambitious three-year initiative to deploy advanced Horizon Clinicals® applications from McKesson. Bayhealth's goal is to establish an electronic medical record that can serve as the foundation for transforming clinical and administrative processes.

Earlier this year, nurses at the 399-bed medical center began using McKesson's AccuDose-R™ automated dispensing cabinets to more accurately store, track and dispense medications. Complementing this new capability, Delaware's second-largest healthcare system will automate critical pharmacy functions with bar-code technology and unit-dose packaging. Physicians will be able to electronically order medications, eliminating handwritten scripts that are sometimes prone to errors. At the bedside, nurses will use handheld scanning devices to verify the accuracy of medications prior to administering them to patients, thereby improving the quality of care.

"Our IT deployment will give us powerful capabilities for measurably improving clinical decision making, increasing patient satisfaction, implementing best practices, and incorporating additional safeguards," said David Walczak, Bayhealth Medical Center associate vice president of technology. "The end result will be the delivery of the most effective and safe levels of care to our patient community through standardized policies and processes."

Bayhealth will also install McKesson's Horizon Care Record™, a comprehensive electronic medical record system that allows multiple caregivers to simultaneously view clinical documents and medical images, rather than relying on traditional paper charts that can only be accessed by a single clinician at a time. Thanks to automated results-reporting capabilities, doctors and nurses will be able to instantly receive clinical alerts to guide consistent and effective care. These applications will serve as the foundation to ultimately deploy Horizon Expert Orders(TM), McKesson's clinical decision support and computerized physician order entry solution.

Bayhealth physicians are already well-versed in using automated technologies to improve treatment services. Over 80 percent, for example, are using McKesson's Web-based HorizonWP® Physician Portal to review patient medical histories, test results and reports, as well as electronically sign charts from on-site or remote locations. As physicians increasingly look to reduce administrative work and free up time for patient care, their portal use has jumped dramatically -- up 265 percent from 2004 -- with 400 logins per day.

"We have enjoyed remarkable success with the portal, which removes geographic barriers to rendering care by letting physicians access medical images, transcribed reports, lab results, and patient information anytime, anywhere," said Anthony F. Oliva, DO, CPE, Bayhealth vice president for medical affairs. "Furthermore, we believe such broad acceptance of Web-based technology bodes well for acceptance of new clinical systems that will benefit our patients."

Soon, the more than 20,000 patients admitted annually to the medical center will gain real-time capabilities to communicate with caregivers over the Internet, manage their accounts, and pre-register for upcoming hospital visits. Using McKesson's patient portal, they will also be able to ask medical, billing and other questions, request appointments and pay bills electronically.

To evaluate the impact of such new technologies on service, safety and satisfaction, Bayhealth and McKesson will regularly assess medical and administrative processes as part of their ongoing collaboration. Along the way, they will fine-tune procedures to further drive efficiency and effectiveness.

"McKesson is excited to be a part of Bayhealth's clinical excellence initiative," said Sunny Sanyal, McKesson group president, Clinical Solutions. "Bayhealth has made great progress already with pharmacy automation, and we look forward to extending the benefits of technology to clinicians throughout the medical center."

About Bayhealth Medical Center

Comprised of Kent General Hospital, Milford Memorial Hospital, Middletown Medical Center, and St. Jones Center for Behavioral Health, Bayhealth Medical Center is Delaware's second-largest health care system, with over 2,700 employees and 354 physicians -- 95 percent of which are board-certified or board-eligible. A member of Premier, Inc., Bayhealth is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. For more information, visit www.bayhealth.org.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation is a Fortune 15 healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 170-year history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare, and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit. www.mckesson.com.

Distributed by Market Wire