Tuesday, September 25, 2018
McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc., an affiliate of the McKesson Corporation, has signed an exclusive agreement with ILÚM Health Solutions, part of Merck & Co, Inc.’s Healthcare Services and Solutions business, that provides innovative technology and services to support infectious disease management, to serve the U.S. community hospital market. This agreement highlights the companies’ shared focus on supporting community hospitals to improve patient safety and conserve antibiotics.
McKesson recognizes the strategic importance of innovative technology in the health care continuum, and has steadily accelerated its investment and growth in laboratory diagnostics over the past several years.
“Through this alliance, we aim to help community hospitals overcome challenges related to the development and execution of effective antibiotic stewardship programs,” said Paul Edwards, managing director, ILÚM Health Solutions. “Studies show that the rate of antibiotic use in community hospitals is on par with academic medical centers.i This underscores the need for a technology solution that unlocks electronic patient data in order to help community hospitals maximize resources, meet national standards, and improve patient care.”
“We’re excited to partner with ILÚM and help represent its industry-leading dedicated Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) technology in the community hospital market,” said Doug Shaver, senior vice-president and general manager, McKesson Laboratory Solutions. “Their technology solutions and capabilities support McKesson’s commitment to bring a comprehensive and coordinated ASP solution to our customers.”
ILÚM is collaborating with healthcare providers to help improve infectious disease outcomes through the use of clinical decision support and electronic patient data, as well as technology-enabled solutions to facilitate antimicrobial stewardship programs and sepsis management.
ILÚM has deep experience working with hospitals to implement disease surveillance solutions and turn lab and medication data into actionable information. One example is its Precision Antibiotic Therapy (PAT™) analytic, which integrates patient-specific risk factors from the longitudinal record to offer timely insights for antibiotic use.
“About one out of every two hospitalized patients is given at least one antibioticii, up to half of which are not needed or are not optimally prescribed,iii” says Dr. Brandon Palermo, chief medical officer, ILÚM Health Solutions. “We need to do better. These solutions, which include individualized precision analytics, deliver decision support within clinicians’ workflows to help ensure that the right patient gets the right antibiotic at the right time.”
