Omnicell and Cerner Collaborate to Provide Seamless Interoperability between Automated Medication System and Electronic Health Records

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnicell, Inc. (OMCL), today announced that Billings Clinic is the first hospital to integrate Omnicell and Cerner remote cabinet functionality. The interoperability between the Omnicell automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) and Cerner Millennium^® EHR, via the CareAware iBus^®, has resulted in new efficiencies in the medication administration workflow. This collaboration has enabled nurses to issue, view availability and waste medications in a single view, saving nursing time and leading to increased patient safety.

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The interoperability efforts between the two companies is planned to expand to include direct connectivity between Omnicell and Cerner systems via Cerner's CareAware iBus, and extend to include supply and anesthesia systems integration. 

A recent analysis from the West Health Institute estimates that improving interoperability between medical devices and electronic health records (EHRs) in hospitals could save more than $30 billion a year while improving patient care and safety. The report stated that among the sources of savings could be increased clinician productivity, because of less time spent entering device data manually into EHRs ($12 billion), and the reduction of adverse events, because of  "safety interlocks" ($2 billion).^1.

"At Billings Clinic one of our primary missions is to ensure that we get medications to our patients safely and efficiently," said Kyle Townsend, director of pharmacy. "We are excited to be a partner with these two leading healthcare technology companies to find innovative ways to improve our medication delivery and demonstrate the efficiencies that interoperability is bringing to healthcare."

Billings Clinic in Billings, Montana, is a 285-bed hospital with a 90-bed skilled nursing and assisted living facility. Billings Clinic is a Magnet-designated hospital and Accountable Care Organization. The healthcare facility continually strives to provide their clinicians with the most up-to-date technology for ensuring quality patient care.

"We are delighted to collaborate with Cerner to provide customers like Billings with interoperable solutions that will improve the quality of care for their patients and ease the workflow for caregivers," said Jorge Taborga, executive vice president of engineering at Omnicell. "Interoperability that allows access to information from multiple sources and systems across the care continuum has become increasingly vital to improving care coordination."

"In the year since announcing our alliance, the Omnicell and Cerner teams have done tremendous work to develop an interoperable solution that saves steps in the medication process, all facilitated by the CareAware iBus platform," said Randy Lantz, vice president of engineering for Cerner DeviceWorks. "We look forward to continuing to execute on our roadmap with Omnicell to deliver additional value for our customers."

For more information about the Omnicell and Billings collaboration, please click here.

About Cerner

Cerner is contributing to the systemic change of health and care delivery. For more than 30 years Cerner has been executing its vision to make health care safer and more efficient. We started with the foundation of digitizing paper processes and now offer the most comprehensive array of information software, professional services, medical device integration, remote hosting and employer health and wellness services. Cerner systems are used by everyone from individual consumers, to single-doctor practices, hospitals, employers and entire countries. Taking what we've learned over more than three decades, Cerner is building on the knowledge that is in the system to support evidence-based clinical decisions, prevent medical errors and empower patients in their care.

Cerner^® solutions are licensed by approximately 10,000 facilities around the world, including more than 2,700 hospitals; 4,150 physician practices; 45,000 physicians; 550 ambulatory facilities, such as laboratories, ambulatory centers, behavioral health centers, cardiac facilities, radiology clinics and surgery centers; 800 home health facilities; 45 employer sites and 1,750 retail pharmacies.

Certain trademarks, service marks and logos (collectively, the "Marks") set forth herein are owned by Cerner Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and certain other countries throughout the world. All other non-Cerner Marks are the property of their respective owners. Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, please visit www.cerner.com, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.  It is important to note that the Company's performance, and actual results, financial condition or business could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. The words "believe", "positioned", "guidance", "expect" or the negative of these words, variations thereof or similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: [the possibility of product-related liabilities; potential claims for system errors and warranties; the possibility of interruption at our data centers or client support facilities; our proprietary technology may be subject to claims for infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights of others, or may be infringed or misappropriated by others; risks associated with our non-U.S. operations; risks associated with our ability to effectively hedge exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the potential for tax legislation initiatives that could adversely affect our tax position and/or challenges to our tax positions in the United States and non-U.S. countries; risks associated with our recruitment and retention of key personnel; risks related to our dependence on third party suppliers; risks inherent with business acquisitions; the potential for losses resulting from asset impairment charges; risks associated with uncertainty in global economic conditions; managing growth in the new markets in which we offer solutions, health care devices and services; changing political, economic, regulatory and judicial influences; government regulation; significant competition and market changes; variations in our quarterly operating results; potential inconsistencies in our sales forecasts compared to actual sales; the volatility in the trading price of our common stock and the timing and volume of market activity; our directors' authority to issue preferred stock and the anti-takeover provisions in our corporate governance documents; material adverse resolution of legal proceedings; [and, failure of the parties to achieve the intended benefits][failure to reach the intended synergies.]] Additional discussion of these and other risks, uncertainties and factors affecting the Company's business is contained in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, since the statements speak only as of the date that they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in future operating results, financial condition or business over time.

About Omnicell
Since 1992, Omnicell (NASDAQ: OMCL) has been creating new efficiencies to improve patient care, anywhere it is delivered. Omnicell is a leading supplier of comprehensive automation and business analytics software for patient-centric medication and supply management across the entire healthcare continuum— from the acute care hospital setting to post-acute skilled nursing and long-term care facilities to the home.

More than 2,700 Acute Care customers worldwide have utilized Omnicell's medication automation, supply chain and analytics solutions to increase operational efficiency, reduce errors, deliver actionable intelligence and improve patient safety. Omnicell Non-Acute Care solutions, including its MTS Medication Technologies brand, provide innovative medication adherence packaging solutions to help reduce costly hospital readmissions. In addition, these solutions enable approximately 6,000 institutional and retail pharmacies worldwide to maintain high accuracy and quality standards in medication dispensing and administration while optimizing productivity and controlling costs.
For more information about Omnicell, Inc. please visit www.omnicell.com.

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SOURCE Omnicell, Inc.