Florida Hospital First U.S. Site to Adopt New Automated Laboratory Solution From Roche

ORLANDO, Fla., May 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Hospital is improving its laboratory testing capabilities with new state-of-the-art equipment from Roche Diagnostics that is designed to help labs increase their testing capacity and deliver reliable results with greater efficiency. The high-volume, automated system will allow patient blood samples to pass through the testing process untouched by human hands.

As the Central Florida community grows and the hospital cares for more patients, the new equipment will enable the laboratory to handle the increased demand for diagnostic tests without slowing down the testing process. The Roche system combines three components: the new cobas® 8000 modular analyzer series, the cobas p 701 post-analytical unit, and the Roche/Hitachi MODULAR PRE-ANALYTICS sample handling system. Florida Hospital initially expects to process approximately 3,000 to 4,000 test tubes daily and provide about two to three million individual test results per year. The system will handle the vast majority of the most common laboratory tests run by the hospital.

"The high volumes of testing we do at Florida Hospital make it essential that we have the highest-capacity and most efficient laboratory equipment available," said Patrick O'Sullivan, laboratory director at Florida Hospital Orlando. "This automated system not only ensures high levels of productivity and workflow, but also standardizes test results across all Florida Hospital systems."

The new system will also help ensure reliable and consistent results for repeat testing. The refrigerated post-analytical unit stores 27,000 test tubes, automatically retrieves them when additional testing is needed, and automatically discards tubes that are no longer needed.

"Florida Hospital continues to demonstrate its commitment to innovation in patient care, and we congratulate them on being the first U.S. hospital to adopt this new automated lab solution," said Jack Phillips, president and CEO of Roche Diagnostics Corporation. "We look forward to helping them achieve a higher level of productivity, efficiency and consistency across their eight facilities."

In addition to the integration of new laboratory equipment, Roche Diagnostics and Florida Hospital are exploring future opportunities to collaborate on healthcare initiatives.

"Florida Hospital and Central Florida continue to build Orlando as a medical destination," said Keith Lowe, executive director of Florida Hospital Strategic Venture Group. "We look forward to exploring opportunities to develop a new collaborative relationship with Roche focused on improved patient care."

For media inquiries only, please contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at (407) 303-8217 or Betsy Cox, Director, Corporate Communications for Roche Diagnostics at (317) 521-3911 or [email protected].

About Florida Hospital

Opened in 1908, Florida Hospital is a faith-based institution focused on providing whole person care. It is one of the largest not-for-profit hospitals in the country, caring for more than a million patient visits per year – that's more than any other hospital in the country, according to the American Hospital Association. The more than 2,000-bed system is comprised of eight hospitals and 18 Centra Care locations throughout Central Florida. In 2009, Florida Hospital received the Joint Commission's "Gold Seal of Approval." Florida Hospital is also a two-time recipient of the Governor's Sterling Award for performance excellence.

Florida Hospital is on a journey to create a culture of health and wellness in the community through the Healthy 100 program. Healthy 100 encourages the community to live to a healthy 100 years of age by taking care of their mind, body and spirit. Florida Hospital provides a wide range of health services, including many nationally and internationally recognized programs in cardiology, cancer, women's medicine, neurosciences, diabetes, orthopedics, pediatrics and advanced surgical programs. Florida Hospital is a designated statutory teaching hospital and also trains physicians from all around the world on the newest technologies. For more information, please visit www.floridahospital.com.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2010, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 47.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com or www.roche-diagnostics.us.

SOURCE Roche Diagnostics