Bassett Healthcare Turns to McKesson for Unified Electronic Health Record.

Initiative Will Provide Advanced Clinical Capabilities across Four Hospitals and 23 Community Health Centers

ATLANTA -- Bassett Healthcare, located in Cooperstown, N.Y., recently selected a wide range of McKesson technology solutions as part of an initiative to help create a single, secure electronic health record (EHR) in its four hospitals and 23 community health centers. To achieve its goal of safer, more efficient and more connected care, Bassett will deploy a combination of Horizon Clinicals([R]) solutions including computerized provider order entry and clinical decision support (CPOE/CDS), bar-code medication administration and a Web-based business intelligence tool. The technology will bring together a wide range of patient information into a single electronic format that can be easily accessed by authorized staff.

"Our goal is to deploy solutions that ensure we have an efficient, effective and safe system for our patients and our providers," said Bertine C. McKenna, Ph.D., FACHE, executive vice president and chief operations officer, Bassett Healthcare. "This is our next step in using technology to help create high quality healthcare."

McKesson's solutions will be deployed in a healthcare system recognized as a leader in the use of technology to improve healthcare. Bassett was recently named by Health Imaging & IT as one of the Top 25 Connected Facilities in the United States for 2007.

"As we considered all the options for achieving a unified patient record across all clinical settings and systems, it was an easy choice to select McKesson," said Kenneth Deans, vice president and chief information officer, Bassett Healthcare. "McKesson has a solid strategy and vision for the future and a sound history with our organization and the industry."

The agreement represents Bassett's next step in developing a comprehensive EHR through the use of McKesson's Horizon Clinicals product line. The health system has established a solid EHR foundation with McKesson's electronic document management and diagnostic imaging systems. Horizon Patient Folder[TM] enables medical staff to capture, index, store and retrieve patient information for greater efficiency and enhanced decision making. Horizon Medical Imaging[TM], a top-rated picture archiving and communication system (PACS), speeds time to diagnosis and treatment by enabling clinicians to acquire, distribute and archive medical images and diagnostic reports across the enterprise.

"McKesson offers a robust and comprehensive solution that can help us reach our overriding goal of enhancing not only patient safety, but quality of care as well," said Dr. Henry Weil, medical director of informatics, Bassett Healthcare. "With McKesson's clinical decision support solution, we expect to have the versatility to consolidate information such as the patient's medication record and nursing notes into a single user interface. With real-time access to this data, we expect to achieve universal use and adoption of our EHR."

Once the systems are deployed, caregivers at Bassett not only will be able to chart care electronically at the bedside, but also review the most current information and clinical data available. In addition, McKesson's CPOE/CDS solution will provide evidence-based guidelines at the moment of decision making, while the bar-code scanning solution will prompt nurses to check for the "five rights" of medication administration - right patient, right drug, right dose, right time and right route. Bassett also will roll out Horizon Lab[TM] to automate the entire laboratory process including order entry, specimen management, analytic operations, information distribution, billing and business performance management.

"Bassett Healthcare's commitment to the expansive use of technology will enhance patient care and safety by giving physicians and other clinicians the tools they need to make the most informed patient care decisions," said Duncan James, group president, Health Systems, McKesson Provider Technologies. "We look forward to our expanded partnership and the opportunity to support Bassett's advancements in the delivery of safe, connected care."

About Bassett Healthcare

Bassett Healthcare is a regional health system of four hospitals and 23 community health centers serving residents of an eight-county region in central New York. The centerpiece of Bassett Healthcare is The Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, a 180-bed acute care, inpatient teaching facility in Cooperstown. Recognized as one of the finest rural health systems in the country, Bassett Healthcare surgeons and specialists offer services not typically found in a rural community. Bassett's mission is one of commitment to patient care, research, and medical education. Bassett has provided comprehensive patient-centered health care since the 1920s and has had a formal affiliation with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons since 1947.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 18th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson is the longest-operating company in healthcare today, and will mark 175 years of continuous operations in 2008. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com.