SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ — CareFusion and Blue Cross
and Blue Shield of Illinois today announced that 23 hospitals have
formed the Illinois Hospital Quality Initiative (IHQI), a
partnership created to improve clinical outcomes and cut health
care costs by reducing health care-associated infections and
medication errors. CareFusion (NYSE:
CFN) is a global, medical device company that specializes in
patient safety technologies.

Each year, nearly one in 20 patients acquires an infection in
U.S. hospitals and almost 100,000 people die as a result. Such
infections cost U.S. hospitals some $35 billion annually, according
to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC estimates that up
to $31.5 billion of costs could be prevented through the deployment
of specific prevention methods and technology.

In addition to the Illinois effort, Blue Cross and Blue Shield
and its client hospitals partner with MedMined™ services of
CareFusion in six other statewide hospital quality initiatives
– Alabama, California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and
Texas – that encompass more than 150 hospitals. Some
statewide partnerships have realized up to a 19 percent reduction
in health care-associated infections, leading to millions of health
care dollars saved and thousands of lives protected.

“The IHQI partnership addresses both the human and economic
impact of health care-associated infections and enhances our
commitment as a community hospital to provide a safe environment
for our patients,” said Sister Donna Marie, C.R., executive vice
president and CEO ofResurrection Medical Center in
Chicago. “In today’s environment, the prevention and management of
infection is one of the most important factors we deal with in
order to provide a safe healing environment for patients. MedMined
services enable us to transition from traditional, targete

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