Allina Health Selects Omnicell for Medication Automation Solutions

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnicell Inc., (NASDAQ:OMCL), today announced that Allina Health has selected the company to be its provider of automated medication solutions for the 12 acute care hospitals across its integrated delivery network. Allina Health is known for offering advanced technology and high quality of care to patients in communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. With Omnicell, its pharmacists and nurses will have access to solutions designed to improve workflow and enable staff to spend more time engaging patients.

Treating more than 1.3 million patients each year, Allina Health pharmacists take pride in working closely with physicians and other health care providers to ensure appropriate, safe and effective use of medications. In 2013, the system initiated the Allina Health Automated Dispensing Cabinet (ADC) Project, an initiative dedicated to providing medication solutions that can be fully integrated and managed optimally. Omnicell's automated medication management solutions were selected to help Allina Health to standardize practices to acquire, manage, dispense, and deliver medications more efficiently.

"Allina Health is proud to partner with Omnicell as we continue to integrate proven technology to support our patients and our pharmacy and nurse teams," said Ann Byre, director, Allina Health Pharmacy Services. "As part of the selection process we enlisted feedback from employees across the system, including pharmacy, bedside nursing, anesthesia providers, emergency medical services, and IT. After an exhaustive search, Omnicell was our choice, as we both share a current and future vision of putting the patient first to ensure the right care is delivered at the right time."

With its multi-site capabilities driven from one centralized server, Omnicell's latest platform release (known as the Omnicell Unity enterprise platform) will enable Allina Health to manage the ADCs installed across all 12 hospitals in their central pharmacies, operating rooms, ambulance bases and nursing units via a single database. This integration is designed to reduce the need for duplicate data entry, reduce the chance for errors and improve the accuracy with which medications are tracked throughout the health system.

"For more than 20 years, Allina Health has been dedicated to streamlining our processes and improving patient care through technology. We believe our partnership with Omnicell will allow us to ultimately achieve both objectives and we look forward to working together as our system grows," said Byre.

The solutions selected by Allina Health are all part of the Omnicell enterprise platform and include:

• OmniRx^® automated medication dispensing cabinets, including the integrated Medication Label Printer that allows nurses to print patient-specific labels right from the ADC during medication issue. The ADCs also include the Touch & Go™ advanced biometric ID system, designed with state-of-the-art biometric technology to improve efficiency and security.
• Anywhere RN™ remote medication management software, a unique web-based application that allows nurses to remotely access the Omnicell dispensing cabinets at their convenience from virtually any hospital workstation, to streamline workflow and minimize interruptions that can lead to medication administration errors.
• Anesthesia Workstation™  automated dispensing cabinets for the operating room that are designed to provide secure, convenient access to drugs required during surgery and easy documentation of controlled substance use.
• SinglePointe™ patient medication management software which handles and stores up to 100 percent of a patient's medications within the automated dispensing cabinets to improve pharmacy and nursing workflow efficiency and reduce the chance for medication errors or missed doses.
• Controlled Substance Management System (CSM) designed to improve the management of narcotics throughout the continuum of care. CSM provides perpetual inventory management and an automated audit trail to help the pharmacy comply with regulatory standards. It includes a new timesaving purchasing platform to automate the medication ordering workflow with distributors and the Drug Enforcement Administration's Controlled Substance Ordering System (CSOS).

"Managing medications has become an increasingly complex process for hospitals that extend across multiple locations. There is a clear need to streamline this process with a fully integrated technology platform that allows customers to understand and manage the flow of medication," said J. Christopher Drew, executive vice president, field operations, Omnicell. "As Allina Health continues to expand and serve additional communities, Omnicell is proud to help establish a blueprint for a system-wide end-to-end solution to help meet their goals of increased efficiency and elevated patient care."

About Allina Health

Allina Health is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of illness and enhancing the greater health of individuals, families and communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A not-for-profit health care system, Allina Health cares for patients from beginning to end-of-life through its 90+ clinics, 12 hospitals, 15 outpatient pharmacies, specialty care centers and specialty medical services that provide home care, senior transitions, hospice care, oxygen and home medical equipment, and emergency medical transportation. Learn more at allinahealth.org.

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 2,800 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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Editor's Notes:

1. All Omnicell news releases (financial, acquisitions, products, technology etc.) are issued exclusively by PR Newswire and are immediately thereafter posted on the company's external website.
2. Omnicell, the Omnicell logo design, and OmniRx are registered trademarks of Omnicell, Inc. AnywhereRN, Anesthesia Workstation and SinglePointe are trademarks of Omnicell, Inc.
3. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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SOURCE Omnicell, Inc.