Cardinal Health Spinoff Focused Solely on Patient Safety
Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health is spinning off its Clinical and Medical Products businesses as a new company based in San Diego, Calif. and named CareFusion®. It will offer infusion and medication safety technologies, respiratory equipment, automated medical supply dispensing, and infection prevention products, the parent company said Feb. 16. CareFusion® will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CFN.
"CareFusion is a name that clearly communicates our ability to bring together technologies that improve patient safety and streamline the care process," said David Schlotterbeck, Cardinal Health's vice chairman and soon-to-be CEO of CareFusion. "Not only will CareFusion be an immediate market leader in medication safety and infection prevention, [but] we will put a substantial emphasis on innovation and clinical differentiation to continue to serve this growing segment of the global health care industry. Patient safety has always been a moral obligation for hospitals, but with payors creating additional financial incentives to reduce errors, improving safety has become an economic mandate."
The new company will generate about $4 billion in annual revenue and have more than 13,000 employees globally. Its technologies include Alaris® IV pumps, Pyxis® automated dispensing systems, MedMined™ electronic infection surveillance service, AVEA® respiratory care products, and ChloraPrep® skin preparation products. Cardinal Health has owned the CareFusion® trademark since 2006 when it acquired Care Fusion, Inc., a maker of hand-held barcode technology that provides positive patient ID for medication administration, lab specimen collection, and blood transfusions.