January 2003

From Bridge Medical, Inc.

Bridge Bedside Scanning System, patient safety—focus of HIMSS book award, educational session, etc.

HIMSS 'Book of the Year' focuses on safety at the point of care

WHAT:	HIMSS/CHIME Awards Banquet: HIMSS Book of the Year
WHEN:	Feb. 11; reception at 6:30, dinner at 7 pm.
WHO:	Bridge SVP/COO Russell "Rusty" R. Lewis will accept an award for The Impact of Information Technology on Patient Safety on behalf of his co-contributors--"a veritable 'who's who' of patient safety experts," in the words of HIMSS President/CEO H. Stephen Lieber. Nationally recognized patient safety leader Gordon Sprenger; medical informaticist Jonathan M. Teich, MD, PhD; Georgetown University Medical Center transfusion medicine director S. Gerald Sandler, MD, FACP, FCAP; and Bridge BPOC experts Mary Michael Brown, RN, MS, Jamie Kelly, Barbara Trohimovich, RPh, and Michael Yang, MD, MS, are among the contributors.
WHERE:	Hotel del Coronado Crown Room, San Diego.
MORE:	First released at the HIMSS summer meeting in Las Vegas, the book was edited by Lewis, and is "designed to keep healthcare information technology professionals abreast of the latest patient safety issues," says Lieber. "The book demonstrates BPOC technology's impact on patient safety."
	Adds Lewis: "All the contributors are avid advocates of technology's power to transform the current hospital environment into one where patient safety is a given not a goal. Spiraling healthcare costs, nursing and pharmacist shortages, regulatory initiatives, and other pressures, make patient safety an essential business strategy."
	See http://www.bridgemedical.com/lewis2.shtml for details on the book.

'Real-world' benefits and limitations of BPOC
WHAT: HIMSS Session #76: "Using Barcode Technology To Improve Patient Safety."
WHEN: Feb. 11; 1-2:15 pm
WHERE: Room 6F.
MORE: Lewis will explore positive identification using barcodes, error-reduction applications and results from multiple hospitals, and real-world benefits and limitations of barcoding systems.

Hummel on MedPoint
WHAT: HIMSS Vendor Product Session featuring John Hummel on Bridge barcode technology.
WHO: Hummel is CIO and senior vice president of information technology at Sutter Health, an award-winning 26-hospital health network in Northern California that's implementing MedPoint. His work spearheading integration of numerous technologies throughout Sutter was recently recognized by Computerworld.
WHEN: Feb. 10; 4:30-5:15 pm
WHERE: Room #11B.
MORE: "Our information technology taskforce concluded MedPoint was the BPOC system best equipped to meet all our clinical and technical criteria," says Hummel. "Bridge has optimized its implementation process so that hospitals can deploy this sophisticated technology quickly, affordably and painlessly. The product's open technology and successful interface history were also major considerations. Extensively tested by hospitals around the country for years, MedPoint is perfect for hospitals that require their IT vendors to be team players."

About HIMSS
Based in Chicago, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society provides more than 12,000 individual, and 100 corporate members, leadership in healthcare for the management of technology, information and change through services, education and networking opportunities, and publications.

On the Net: HIMSS Conference site: http://conference.himss.org/ASP/education.asp.

About Bridge
Founded in 1996, Bridge Medical, Inc.--an AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) company--is headquartered in Solana Beach, Calif. Bridge has pioneered the use of barcoding at the bedside to promote patient safety.

Learn more about Bridge and MedPoint at a HIMSS Media Briefing, Feb. 10 at 11:30 am, Room 14B (Exhibit Hall, Mezzanine Level) or at HIMSS Booth 3349.

On the Net: Bridge Medical site: http://www.bridgemedical.com

CONTACT:
Bridge Medical, Carol Somer, 858-314-5538, 888-578-0100, 703-593-5786 (cell) or [email protected]. HIMSS, Joyce Lofstrom, 312-915-9237 or [email protected]; Fred Bazzoli, 312-915-9253 or [email protected]

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA, ILLINOIS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS, MEDICAL, MEDICAL DEVICES, PHARMACEUTICAL, SOFTWARE
MedPoint is a trademark of Bridge Medical Inc. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.