Cerner to acquire point-of-care software provider Bridge Medical

Cerner Corp. has inked an agreement to acquire Bridge Medical Inc., an AmerisourceBergen Corp. subsidiary and provider of point-of-care software. For Cerner, the transaction will expand its presence in the bar-coding market, an area expected to increase considerably as the federal government continues its push to bring medical information to the point of care, the company said.

"This acquisition brings speed to safety in the healthcare market, and bolsters our already significant set of point-of-care technologies, as well as our client base," said Cerner COO Paul Black. "As hospitals and health organizations strive to meet the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards, the growth of Cerner's point-of-care offerings position the company well to help our clients remain fully compliant with industry requirements."

Named the Best in KLAS for medication administration in a September 2004 Bedside Study, Bridge Medical's barcode-enabled point-of-care system combines medication verification with laboratory specimen identification. The system uses bar-code scanning, clinical knowledge bases, wireless networking and integration capabilities to alert clinicians of potential medication administration and collection errors at the bedside.

The acquisition complements Cerner's PowerPOC suite of products and Cerner Millennium PathNet Handheld Specimen Collections for laboratory. With this acquisition, Cerner will be able to bring new opportunities to longstanding clients, and extend a greater reach into the growing point-of-care software market.

The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on Cerner's 2005 financial results, Cerner said.

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