Hospira and Lancaster General Hospital Honored for Patient Safety Initiatives

LAKE FOREST, Ill., June 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP), the world's leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, today announced that Hospira and Lancaster General Hospital have been selected as the 2012 co-recipients of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Foundation/Institute for Technology in Health Care Clinical Application Award. Given annually to an individual or group that has applied innovative clinical engineering practices or principles to help solve significant clinical patient care problems or challenges, this award honored Hospira and Lancaster for implementing an automated smart infusion system at the patient bedside. Hospira and Lancaster General Hospital accepted the award at the AAMI Annual Conference & Expo earlier this month.

Lancaster became one of the first institutions to move I.V. interoperability, or I.V. clinical integration, of smart infusion pumps with the electronic health record (EHR), beyond a pilot phase. They worked with Hospira and their information technology partners to implement the integrated system using Plum A+™ infusion pumps with Hospira MedNet™ safety software connected to the hospital information system. Using I.V. clinical integration to link a smart pump with EHRs helps hospitals enhance safety and efficiency and avoid costs.

Following their initial implementation of I.V. clinical integration technology, Lancaster General Hospital saw a 32 percent reduction in reported monthly errors involving I.V. medication administration. Additionally, the hospital saw a streamlined workflow for pump programming, reducing the number of programming steps by 58.8 percent (from 17 to 7).(1)

"At Lancaster General Hospital, we strive to eliminate medication errors through continuous process improvements," said Richard Paoletti, vice president, Lancaster General Hospital. "We are proud to be recognized as a leader of smart pump and EHR integration to help streamline the I.V. medication process and reduce error potential."

"As the leader in infusion technologies and I.V. clinical integration, Hospira is committed to delivering quality technology and services to our customers across our entire smart pump offering," said Richard Nevin, vice president, Medication Management Systems, U.S., Hospira. "Hospira and Lancaster have a shared vision of advancing health and wellness, which we're proud to have achieved through this advanced technology."

Hospira is leading the industry toward integration of healthcare technologies, which could dramatically reduce medical errors, and potentially save thousands of lives and avoid millions of dollars in costs due to medication errors. While adoption of EHRs is expanding rapidly, integration of EHRs with smart pumps and other devices is the critical next step in improving the accuracy and safety of medical care. More than an estimated 1.5 million preventable medication errors occur each year in the United States throughout the healthcare system, and medication errors add more than $3.5 billion per year to hospital costs.(2)

Near real-time sharing of information between EHR systems and smart pumps can help reduce the potential for medication errors by ensuring that all medications are tracked and validated between prescribing and administration to the patient. A recent KLAS report highlighted Hospira as the early leader in smart pump integration, with more live I.V. clinical integration sites than any other infusion pump provider and the only vendor to integrate with multiple EHR providers, including Cerner and Epic.(3)

About Hospira

Hospira, Inc. is the world's leading provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies. Through its broad, integrated portfolio, Hospira is uniquely positioned to Advance Wellness™ by improving patient and caregiver safety while reducing healthcare costs. The company is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., and has approximately 15,000 employees. Learn more at www.hospira.com.

About Lancaster General Health

Lancaster General Health (LG Health) is a 623-licensed bed not-for-profit health system with a comprehensive network of care encompassing Lancaster General Hospital (LGH) and Women & Babies Hospital, including a Level III-B Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and a network of outpatient centers and physician practices. Thrice designated a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, LGH has been recognized regionally and nationally for its cardiovascular, intensive care and orthopedic services. Other entities include LG College of Nursing & Health Sciences, Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital, VNA Community Care Services, LG Health Research Institute and Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. In the summer of 2013, the new Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Center will provide advanced technology and integration of cancer care under one roof. As a member of the Penn Cancer Network, LG Health has access to the vast research and technological resources of one of the nation's foremost cancer centers.

SOURCE Hospira, Inc.