ALARIS Medical Adds Guardrails Safety Software to Novation Agreement.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 15, 2002

ALARIS Medical Inc. (AMEX:AMI) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, ALARIS Medical Systems Inc., has added its proprietary Guardrails(TM) Medication Safety Software to its Novation Agreement, a 54 month infusion pump agreement signed in December of 2000 for VHA Inc. members.

Medication errors are a leading cause of death and disability in the United States, causing more fatalities annually than breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents and AIDS combined. Administration errors account for over one-third of all preventable adverse drug events; infusion errors are the most devastating and costly of these errors. The Guardrails Safety Software is the foundation of ALARIS Medical's safety solution. The Guardrails Software is the intravenous medication error prevention application that provides a unique automatic safety net for infusion programming. Only the Guardrails Software focuses on medication error safety management at the critical final point of infusion delivery, enhancing patient protection from potentially tragic infusion programming errors. This software product allows institutions to configure multiple device operational parameters and drug dose limits to the specific needs of multiple patient care areas.

The Guardrails Safety Software will be backward compatible with ALARIS Medical's existing Signature Edition(TM) Gold Infusion Pump technology, facilitating quick implementation of enhanced safety features without the high cost of acquiring capital equipment. This also results in a compression of the learning curve for clinicians. The software offers instant access to the hospital's best practices guidelines for the administration of IV therapies and, in the future, can be fully integrated with a facility's automated computerized physician order entry system.

According to Jake St. Philip, vice president and general manager of ALARIS Medical Systems' North American Business Unit, "Our Guardrails Safety Software represents a unique opportunity for ALARIS to join forces with Novation to provide comprehensive solutions that enable its VHA members to implement the highest level of safety around drug delivery. The addition of this technology to our Novation agreement provides VHA members access to the solutions ALARIS brings to a critical and error prone step in the medication administration process."

Dan Sweeney, vice president contract and program services for Novation, said, "Positive input from clinical member councils reinforces our belief that ALARIS Medical's innovative technology will deliver one of the most comprehensive medication error prevention solutions that will enable hospitals to provide high levels of safety and care for patients."

About Novation

Based in Irving, Texas, Novation was established in 1998 and serves the purchasing needs of more than 2,300 members and affiliates of VHA and University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), two national healthcare alliances. Novation also serves more than 5,400 members of HealthCare Purchasing Partners International (HPPI), another group purchasing organization owned by VHA and UHC. The largest supply chain management company in healthcare, Novation manages more than $17 billion in annual purchases for VHA, UHC and HPPI members. For more information, go to http://www.novationco.com/. VHA, also based in Irving, is a nationwide network of more than 2,200 leading community-owned health care organizations and their physicians. It comprises 26 percent of the nation's community hospitals. For more information, contact www.vha.com.

About ALARIS Medical Inc.

ALARIS Medical Inc., through its wholly owned operating company, ALARIS Medical Systems Inc., is a leading developer, manufacturer and provider of integrated intravenous infusion therapy and patient monitoring instruments and related disposables, accessories and services. ALARIS Medical's primary brands, ALARIS(R), IMED(R) and IVAC(R), are recognized throughout the world. ALARIS Medical's products are distributed in more than 120 countries worldwide. In addition to its San Diego world headquarters and manufacturing facility, ALARIS Medical also operates manufacturing facilities in Creedmoor, N.C.; Basingstoke, U.K.; and Tijuana, Mexico. Additional information on ALARIS Medical can be found at http://www.alarismed.com/.

This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Persons reading this release are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including the effect of legislative and regulatory changes affecting the health care industry, the potential of increased levels of competition, technological changes, the dependence of ALARIS Medical upon the success of new products (including its proprietary Guardrails(TM) Safety Software and the MEDLEY(TM) Medication Safety System) and ongoing research and development efforts including obtaining regulatory approvals, restrictions contained in the instruments governing the company's indebtedness, and the significant leverage to which the company is subject. Such risk factors are detailed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of ALARIS Medical Inc. and ALARIS Medical Systems Inc., including Forms 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000, and other filings. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments.