AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands and PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 22, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -Wolters Kluwer Health (WKHealth), the industry-leading drug information provider, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Cerner Corp. to enhance point-of-care decision support in Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs) and hospitals. Drug and medical data from WKHealth's SKOLAR MD and Clin-eguide Order Sets will be integrated into the Cerner Millennium(R) clinical knowledge system, called Executable Knowledge(R). This will enhance the medical, pharmacy and nursing information clinicians can access using Executable Knowledge to help improve patient outcomes and reduce medical errors. The combined solution from WKHealth and Cerner will be available beginning November 2004. WKHealth is a division of Wolters Kluwer, one of the world's leading publishers and providers of information products and services."We are extremely pleased to partner with Cerner, a healthcare IT industry leader, and look forward to the impact this relationship will have on future patient care," said Ken Killion, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Health's Clinical Tools business unit. "Our combined offering enhances decision support by providing practitioners with immediate access to the most relevant information needed to treat patients effectively."
SKOLAR MD, an Internet-based knowledge system, enables healthcare professionals to rapidly find answers to specific clinical questions through a single integrated search of textbooks, quick-answer guides, evidence-based medicine sources, pharmaceutical references, journals and patient education material. SKOLAR MD Critical Care, also available through this joint solution, focuses on a subset of high-quality information resources for clinicians practicing in critical care settings.
"We have heavily relied on Clin-eguide as our reference database for years," said Judy Murphy, Director of Applied Development in Information Services, Aurora Health Care. "This integrated solution will now allow us to access Clin-eguide at the point of care, improving physician workflow and the quality of patient care."
Additionally, this partnership will include the integration of Clin-eguide Order Sets, groups of orders pertaining to specific topics or problems related to over 200 clinical conditions and supported by links to full Clin-eguide content. As a result, the decision support capabilities of Cerner's Executable Knowledge will be enhanced, providing clinicians with additional up-to-date clinical knowledge and best practice guidelines at the point-of-care.
"This relationship represents an exciting opportunity for Cerner to work with Wolters Kluwer Health, a widely renowned healthcare publisher, and to fulfill Cerner's goal of expanding its suite of Executable Knowledge," said Paul Gorup, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President, Cerner. "By creating a single source for all medical and drug information, physicians and nurses are equipped with the best available clinical knowledge to make better diagnoses and treatment recommendations."
For additional information regarding Wolters Kluwer Health medical content offered through Cerner, SKOLAR MD or Clin-eguide, contact Tony Straszewski at + 1-800-591-5690 or visit www.wkhealth.com.
About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health (Philadelphia) is a leading provider of information for professionals and students in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts & Comparisons; electronic information providers, such as Ovid Technologies, Medi-Span and SKOLAR; and pharmaceutical information provider Adis International. Leveraging its broad array of industry-leading intellectual property, Wolters Kluwer Health is creating integrated drug and disease databases and point-of-care information tools for healthcare professionals. These tools aid disease management, medication error reduction, workflow improvement and more effective patient management. Wolters Kluwer Health has annual revenues (2003) of Eur 663 million and is a division of Wolters Kluwer.
Wolters Kluwer is a leading multinational publisher and information services company. The company's core markets are spread across the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal and regulatory, and education sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2003) of Eur 3.4 billion, employs approximately 18,750 people worldwide and maintains operations across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its depositary receipts of shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.
Media Connie Hofmann Director, Communications Wolters Kluwer Health t + 1 215 521 8511 chofmann@wkhealth.com Caroline Wouters Vice President, Corporate Communications Wolters Kluwer nv t + 31 (0)20 6070 459 press@wolterskluwer.com Investors/Analysts Oya Yavuz Vice President, Investor Relations Wolters Kluwer nv t + 31 (0)20 6070 407 ir@wolterskluwer.com www.wkhealth.com www.wolterskluwer.com