Beckman Coulter Joins Patient Safety Organization.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2003

The Patient Safety Officer Society (PSOS) announced today that Beckman Coulter Inc. is the organization's newest corporate sponsor.

PSOS is a non-profit organization supporting the activities of hospital patient-safety officers to reduce preventable medical errors and enhance the overall safety of patient care.

Beckman Coulter is a global biomedical company and a recognized leader in the development of new technology that helps medical laboratories improve patient safety. The company's technology has been instrumental in recent testing advances that improve patient safety and reduce the likelihood of laboratory-related medical errors.

"Beckman Coulter is an innovator in better, more cost effective ways to assure patient safety," said David Shulkin, M.D., PSOS's president and founder, and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "The company's involvement in PSOS is another indication of the laboratory's critical contribution to reducing medical errors, and Beckman Coulter's commitment to enhancing patient safety."

Dr. Shulkin underscored the vital role of clinical laboratories in reducing medical errors. "The role the clinical lab can play in patient safety has until recently been underestimated by patient safety experts," he said. "With as much as 80 percent of the data physicians use to make medical decisions coming from lab test results, labs and lab processes are now recognized as playing critical roles in protecting American healthcare consumers."

Beckman Coulter praised PSOS's efforts to promote the value of patient safety officers.

"We're very pleased to support PSOS as part of Beckman Coulter's worldwide commitment to patient safety," said Jeff McHugh, Beckman Coulter vice president of laboratory systems and routine testing, diagnostics. "Our affiliation with PSOS highlights the role that our automated lab instruments, systems and processes play in assuring faster reporting of lab results.

"For example, our Power Processor lab robotics system virtually eliminates patient specimen identification errors and can cut test turnaround time in half, while our SYNCHRON LX(R)20 PRO chemistry analyzer with closed-tube sampling technology reduces the need for lab workers to manually de-cap and re-cap sample tubes, reducing the opportunity for cross-contamination of test results and sample evaporation error. These technological breakthroughs help labs ensure improved patient safety by delivering more accurate test results to physicians faster so they can make the right treatment decisions."

Research on how Beckman Coulter technology reduces medical errors was recently presented at the prestigious Patient Safety Congress sponsored by the National Patient Safety Foundation. The company is also a co-sponsor of patient-safety presentations and conferences sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association for Laboratory Automation.

Beckman Coulter Inc. is a global biomedical company headquartered in Fullerton, Calif. The company develops and markets instruments, chemistries, software and supplies that simplify and automate laboratory processes throughout the biomedical testing continuum. Through pioneering medical research and drug discovery, specialty testing, and patient care diagnostics, Beckman Coulter supports all phases of the battle against disease. Annual sales for the company totaled $2.06 billion in 2002, with 62 percent of this amount generated by recurring revenue from supplies, test kits and services. For more information, visit www.beckmancoulter.com.

PSOS, headquartered in Gladwyne, Pa., and formed in 2002, provides professional growth opportunities and other resources to hospital patient-safety officers to help them reduce preventable medical errors and enhance patient safety in their organizations. Membership is free to patient safety officers anywhere in the world. The organization has more than 500 members. For more information, access www.PSOS.org.