Cardinal Health Introduces New Technology Enhancements To Help Nuclear Medicine Departments, Imaging Centers Improve Integration, Efficiency

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Jun 07, 2012, 08:30 ET

DUBLIN, Ohio, June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Society of Nuclear Medicine's (SNM) 59^th Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, Fla., June 9-12, Cardinal Health will introduce new technology enhancements that make it possible for hospital nuclear medicine departments and imaging centers to seamlessly improve data integration and the overall efficiency of their operations.

Cardinal Health is one of the nation's leading distributors of radiopharmaceuticals, which, when injected into patients, are used to detect and treat illnesses like heart disease, cancer and brain disorders. Through its broad nationwide network of positron emission tomography (PET) biomarker manufacturing facilities and radiopharmacies, Cardinal Health delivers these time-sensitive radiopharmaceuticals to hundreds of imaging centers and hospital nuclear medicine departments across the United States. The company also offers an array of business and practice management tools that help these customers run their nuclear medicine practices more smoothly, more profitably and more accurately.

"We understand that our customers are constantly looking for ways to work better, faster, smarter and more efficiently. They're looking for ways to simplify the way they work, so they can spend more time with patients," said John Rademacher, president of Cardinal Health's Nuclear Pharmacy Services business. "Our new technology enhancements help fill those customer needs, enabling them to spend less time on tasks like scheduling, ordering and data entry, and more time on patient care."

The technology enhancements Cardinal Health will introduce at the SNM Annual Meeting include:

New features and functionality for Syntrac™ Integration Tools: Cardinal Health's Syntrac™ Integration Tools serve as a department management system for imaging centers and hospital nuclear medicine departments. Via the Health Level Seven (HL7) interface, Syntrac™ Integration Tools can now integrate with customers' health information systems, helping to drive higher efficiency in scheduling, ordering and inventory receiving processes. This data integration can help users improve the accuracy and consistency of data across multiple workstations and technologies, and across multiple facilities. It also helps users decrease the amount of staff time spent on managing and updating data in multiple systems. In addition, the tabbed interface and intuitive design make it easier for users to compile, analyze and share patient, procedure and medication usage information, in multiple electronic formats, with other members of their health care facility.
A faster, more efficient way to order radiopharmaceuticals: Syntrac Integration Tools tightly integrates with Cardinal Health's Web Ordering technology, which imaging centers and hospital nuclear medicine departments use to order patient-specific doses of radiopharmaceuticals. Orders can be placed directly from the Syntrac Integration Tools main dashboard, and users can also download inventory packing lists without keying in the information or scanning individual unit dose barcodes. The mobile-optimized Web Ordering site also enables users to track their radiopharmaceutical orders via smart phone.
Faster, more efficient billing: Cardinal Health also now offers customers fully automated, electronic data integration (EDI) electronic invoicing. By providing a direct electronic interface between Cardinal Health billing systems and customer accounts payable systems, this new functionality manually populates invoice fields, eliminating the need for customers to manually enter information to process payments.

"Once the hospital systems started talking to our enhanced Syntrac system, it made us so much more compliant and provided a much safer environment," said Dan Morin, ARRT(N), chief nuclear medicine technologist, Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, N.H. "The enhanced integration gives us more time to focus on patient care and more confidence that our patient and procedure data is consistent, across systems."

Visit SNM Booth #1221 to learn more about these new technology enhancements, and other ways Cardinal Health helps hospital nuclear medicine departments and imaging centers enhance integration and efficiency.

About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $103 billion health care services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. As the business behind health care, Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and physician offices focus on patient care while reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and improving quality. Cardinal Health is an essential link in the health care supply chain, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 60,000 locations each day. The company is also a leading manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company supports the growing diagnostic industry by supplying medical products to clinical laboratories and operating the nation's largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ranked #21 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. More information about the company may be found at cardinalhealth.com and @CardinalHealth on Twitter.