Fort Madison Community Hospital Installs AmerisourceBergen's Bridge-MedPoint to Improve Patient Safety and Drive Clinical Process Improvement

November 11, 2004

Fort Madison Community Hospital Installs AmerisourceBergen's Bridge-MedPoint to Improve Patient Safety and Drive Clinical Process Improvement

Valley Forge, PA ¡VNovember 11, 2004 -- AmerisourceBergen Corporation, one of the largest pharmaceutical services companies in the U.S., today announced Fort Madison Community Hospital has successfully implemented AmerisourceBergen Technology Group¡¦s Bridge-MedPoint, its suite of cost-effective software applications designed to assist hospital staff in improving medication, transfusion, specimen collection safety and information management. The Bridge-MedPoint barcode point-of-care system helps Fort Madison address the growing pressures of industry and payer organizations to eliminate preventable medical errors thereby reducing the cost of care, improving patient outcomes and increasing nurse satisfaction. Bridge-MedPoint also helps Fort Madison identify root causes of systemic errors and provide information to drive process improvement.

¡§After a thorough analysis of available systems, it became clear that AmerisourceBergen¡¦s Technology Group had the system that best met our need for tools to improve our medication administration process. In just two weeks, we¡¦ve seen a measurable improvement by using the Bridge-MedPoint system, giving us greater confidence that we¡¦re catching medication errors before they get to the patient,¡¨ said Brad Kokjohn, CFO, Fort Madison Community Hospital

¡§There is mounting pressure for hospitals to adopt technology that enhances patient safety and reduces cost. The Fort Madison success demonstrates that an affordable bar code medication administration system that provides a practical solution for enhancing patient safety is available today for any size organization. We applaud the leaders and clinicians throughout the health system for their fine example,¡¨ said Denean Rivera, President of the AmerisourceBergen Technology Group¡¦s Bridge product line.

Bridge-MedPoint is a suite of cost-effective solutions designed to assist hospital staff in improving patient safety at the bedside and providing meaningful information for process improvement. Bridge-MedPoint uses bar-code technology and point-of-care computing devices to verify the five rights, alert nurses to look-alike and sound-alike medications, as well as high-risk medications, provide age and weight-based dosing parameters for sensitive pediatric and geriatric patients, offer medication allergy checks and to check many other essential clinical rules. In addition, Bridge-MedPoint capabilities integrate well with nursing operations to enhance the nursing experience with the patient.

About Fort Madison Community Hospital
Fort Madison Community Hospital is a 50-bed, JCAHO accredited hospital located in southeast Iowa. Fort Madison is dedicated to patient satisfaction and providing the community with high quality care through continuous process improvement. In 2003, they were honored with the ¡§Exceeding Patient Expectations¡¨ Award by Avatar International, Inc., for the second consecutive year.

About AmerisourceBergen
AmerisourceBergen„¥ (NYSE:ABC) is the largest pharmaceutical services company in the United States dedicated solely to the pharmaceutical supply chain. It is the leading distributor of pharmaceutical products and services to the hospital systems/acute care market, physician¡¦s offices, alternate care and mail order facilities, independent community pharmacies, and regional chain pharmacies. Through its AmerisourceBergen Technology Group, the company is a leading provider of point-of-care patient safety solutions and has been honored for its educational initiatives and patient safety solutions. With more than $48 billion in annualized operating revenue, AmerisourceBergen is headquartered in Valley Forge, PA, and employs more than 14,000 people. AmerisourceBergen is ranked #22 on the Fortune 500 list. For more information, go to www.amerisourcebergen.com.

Contact:
Barbara Brungess
610-727-7119
bbrungess@amerisourcebergen.com