bioMérieux Demonstrates Mobile Technology for the Pharmacy
Posted: 12-09-2005 :

Durham, NC - bioMérieux, Inc. announced the one-year anniversary for STELLARA™ Clinical Intervention and Patient Monitoring software launched at last year’s American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) forum in Orlando. This week the 2005 ASHP forum in Las Vegas, Nevada, one bioMérieux customer demonstrated impressive results achieved after only one year of implementing STELLARA at his institution.

“We have experienced tremendous success with STELLARA as our intelligent interface software over the past year, which led to an increase in clinical interventions by our pharmacists,” said J. Kelly Martin, PharmD, director of pharmaceutical services, Franciscan Health Systems in Tacoma, Washington. “We are seeing concrete results in the forms of cost savings and improved patient care. In 2005, cost savings from interventions increased by 23% and our pharmacists prevented 222 adverse drug events (a 23% increase from 2004) after implementation of STELLARA.”

The STELLARA system provides knowledge-enriched, infectious disease-specific recommendations to clinicians for medication treatment management. With the recent availability of the final level of functionality, Étage 4, bioMérieux completed its suite of Intelligent Patient Therapy Software Systems enabling the clinician to capture a more comprehensive view of the patient, avoiding potential medication errors and reducing the chances of costly adverse drug events (ADEs).

“We developed the STELLARA system so it could be available at various performance and price levels to accommodate any size hospital,” explained Eric Bouvier, bioMérieux’s North American president. “STELLARA software is an integral component of our integrated solutions initiative by linking key hospital personnel to the data and lab results generated throughout the hospital and will also play an important role in creating better records for hospitals, which has become vital in today’s ‘Pay for Performance’ environment.”

STELLARA software integrates microbiology results identification/susceptibility/resistance) from bioMérieux’s BacT/ALERT® and VITEK® systems directly to the pharmacist and clinician to allow for quicker and more accurate treatment decisions for the patient. Two new STELLARA customers weigh in on why they selected the system for their hospitals.

“As a leading-edge healthcare institution, we are always looking for new ways to improve patient care and safety,” said Dr. Charles McCluskey, director of pharmacy services, Ohio Health-Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “With more than $120 billion spent nationally in treating adverse drug events each year, STELLARA will provide significant cost savings, not to mention shorter hospital stays and better outcomes for our patients.”

“We have been using both VITEK and BacT/ALERT for blood culture and ID/AST at Resurrection for several years with excellent results,” explained Joe Gera, director of pharmacy, Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. “In an effort to leverage invaluable laboratory data to increase patient therapy management we have taken an integrated solutions approach, choosing STELLARA as the conduit between the lab and our clinicians.”

bioMérieux’s web-based application operates on Palm® systems, offering mobility and real-time alerts for the clinician. Moreover, the system provides documented return on investment for the hospital. STELLARA is powered by TheraDoc® Expert System Platform®, a Salt Lake City-based medical informatics company focused on clinical decision support.

About bioMérieux, Inc.
bioMérieux, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of bioMérieux S.A., a company headquartered in France. bioMérieux is a leading international diagnostics group that specializes in the field of in vitro diagnostics for clinical and industrial applications. bioMérieux designs, develops, manufactures and markets systems (i.e. reagents, instruments and software) used in:

- Clinical applications: the diagnosis of infectious diseases such as hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis and respiratory illnesses, as well as pathologies such as certain cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers, based on the analysis of biological samples (such as blood, saliva or urine); and

- Industrial applications: the microbiological analysis of food, environments (such as water and air), surfaces and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, based on product or environmental samples.

In 2004, bioMérieux sales reached 931 million euros. The company is present in more than 130 countries through 33 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors, which positions the company well to benefit from the growth potential of the in vitro diagnostics market. Some important drivers that underpin this growth are aging populations and age-related illness, illnesses related to life-style and eating habits, emerging new pathogens, the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the fight against bio-terrorism, the recognition of the importance of the quality of food products.

bioMérieux is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris (symbol “BIM”, ISIN code: FR0010096479). For more information, visit the web site at www.biomerieux-usa.com .

About TheraDoc
TheraDoc is a medical informatics company specializing in therapeutic, real-time decision support that improves the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care in large and small healthcare organizations. Integrated with disparate hospital information systems or electronic medical records, TheraDoc's technology helps clinicians manage multiple processes of care across multiple conditions and diseases.

Founded in 1999, TheraDoc designs, develops, and supports a suite of clinical decision support technologies. TheraDoc's founders and core medical informatics team are internationally recognized for their pioneering work in medical expert systems. Their experience in clinical decision support design and development spans two decades. On the Net: TheraDoc's site: www.theradoc.com