HB Hillenbrand Ind

Companies will connect intelligent hospital beds to the electronic medical record ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) and Hill-Rom, an operating company of Hillenbrand Industries (NYSE:HB), announced today that they have formed a strategic relationship to integrate their technologies to improve and coordinate healthcare delivery, featuring Hill-Rom intelligent hospital beds that communicate directly with the Cerner Millennium(R) healthcare computing platform. "The hospital environment has become increasingly complex, with the nurse having to manage multiple IT (information technology) applications and sophisticated medical devices," said Michael Gallup, vice president and general manager of Hill-Rom IT Solutions. "Our partnership with Cerner brings together two market-leading companies committed to transforming care at the bed-side by driving interoperability between applications and medical devices." Efforts in the first stage of the partnership are focusing on the integration of Hill-Rom's intelligent bed systems, such as VersaCare(R) and TotalCare(R), with the Cerner Millennium system. Utilizing the Cerner CareAware(TM) global device connectivity architecture, the intelligent bed is able to feed data, including patient weight, bed rail position and head elevation, to the Cerner Millennium system. Access to real-time information and automation of labor-intensive tasks not only furthers safety initiatives, but also allows clinicians to spend more time with patients. In addition, the relationship is expected to expand to integrate the Cerner CareAware architecture with other Hill-Rom IT solutions such as nurse call, asset management and NaviCare(R) Patient Flow. Likely integrations include Hill-Rom's asset management software and the Cerner CareAware architecture to provide an enhanced solution to a hospital's asset tracking needs - including asset tracking, utilization management and reduction of cross-contamination events. Integration with NaviCare Patient Flow and Nurse Call would complement the Cerner Smart Room, Cerner's solution to improve patient care and clinician efficiency through advanced technology, by providing clients with enhanced communication, real-time patient tracking and intelligent task management for clinical operations. Both Cerner and Hill-Rom anticipate favorable responses from their clients to this endeavor. Cerner, with more than 6,000 clients worldwide, and Hill- Rom, with more than 250,000 intelligent beds and surfaces purchased since 1995, foresee a number of opportunities to integrate more closely each of their respective core and emerging businesses. "Cerner's partnership with Hill-Rom is representative of the changing nature of the healthcare business," said Bill Miller, vice president of Cerner. "As automation continues to increase in healthcare, so does the need to effectively manage the information generated by disparate medical devices. This partnership with Hill-Rom is one example of how the CareAware architecture creates a single source of truth for patient information in the electronic medical record incorporating data generated by medical devices." In 2007, Cerner launched its Medical Device Certification Program, designed to facilitate the integration of information generated by medical devices into the EMR. A first of its kind in the industry, this program allows Cerner to work directly with medical device companies like Hill-Rom to develop drivers to seamlessly connect medical devices to the EMR. The capabilities enabled by the Cerner and Hill-Rom agreement will be highlighted at HIMSS08, the annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in Orlando. Both companies will showcase aspects of this connectivity venture in their booths at HIMSS08 on Feb. 24-29. The Cerner booth is located at 5763; Hill-Rom is located at 6163. About Hillenbrand Industries, Inc. Hillenbrand Industries is organized into two operating companies serving the healthcare and funeral services industries. Hill-Rom is a leading worldwide manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and related services for the healthcare industry, including patient support systems, non-invasive therapeutic products for a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions, medical equipment rentals, and workflow information technology solutions. Hill-Rom's comprehensive product and service offerings are used by healthcare providers across the healthcare continuum in hospitals, extended care facilities and home care settings to enhance the safety and quality of patient care. Hill-Rom ... enhancing outcomes for patients and their caregivers. Batesville Casket Company is a leader in the North American death care industry through the sale of funeral services products, including burial caskets, cremation caskets, containers and urns, selection room display fixturing and other personalization and memorialization products. Batesville Casket Company ... helping families honor the lives of those they love. http://www.hillenbrand.com/ About Cerner Cerner is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and waste in the care process. With more than 6,000 clients worldwide, Cerner is the leading supplier of healthcare information technology. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner, Cerner's logo, CareAware and Cerner Millennium. (NASDAQ:CERN), http://www.cerner.com/. Cerner Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. It is important to note that the Company's performance, and actual results, financial condition or business could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. The words "will", "would", "likely", "expected", "foresee" and "anticipate" or the negative of these words, variations thereof or similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the possibility of product-related liabilities; potential claims for system errors and warranties; our proprietary technology may be subjected to infringement claims or may be infringed upon; recruitment and retention of key personnel; risks related to our reliance on third party suppliers; changing political, economic and regulatory influences; government regulation; significant competition and market changes; and, failure of the parties to achieve the intended benefits. Additional discussion of these and other factors affecting the Company's business is contained in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in future operating results, financial condition or business over time. Hillenbrand Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release contain forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the Company's future plans, objectives, beliefs, expectations, representations and projections. The Company has tried, wherever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "encourage," "expect," "may," "goal," "become," "pursue," "estimate," "strategy," "will," "projection," "forecast," "continue," "accelerate," "promise," "increase," "higher," "lower," "reduce," "improve," "expand," "progress," "potential" or the negative of those terms or other variations of them or by comparable terminology. The absence of such terms, however, does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. It is important to note that forward- looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those set forth in any forward- looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: the Company's dependence on its relationships with several large national providers and group purchasing organizations, changes in death rates, whether the Company's new products are successful in the marketplace, changes in customers' Medicare reimbursements, collections of accounts receivable, compliance with FDA regulations, antitrust litigation, potential exposure to product liability or other claims, failure of the Company's announced strategic initiatives and restructuring and realignment activities to achieve expected growth, efficiencies or cost reductions, disruptions in the Company's business or other adverse consequences resulting from the planned separation of the Company's two operating companies, failure of the Company to execute its acquisition and business alliance strategy through the consummation and successful integration of acquisitions or entry into joint ventures or other business alliances, competition from nontraditional sources in the funeral services business, volatility of the Company's investment portfolio, increased costs or unavailability of raw materials, labor disruptions, the ability to retain executive officers and other key personnel, and certain tax-related matters. For a more in depth discussion of these and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements, see the discussions under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended September 30, 2007 and in Amendment 1 to the Batesville Holdings, Inc., Form 10. The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: Hillenbrand Industries, Inc. CONTACT: Hill-Rom Media, Lauren Green-Caldwell, +1-812-034-8692, ; Hill-Rom Investors, Blair 'Andy' Rieth, +1-812-931-2199, ; Cerner Media, Sarah Bond, +1-816-885-8020, ; Cerner Investors, Allan Kells, +1-816-201-2445, Web site: http://www.hillenbrand.com/ http://www.cerner.com/

Copyright