2008-06-17 14:52:34 -
www.mckesson.com - McKesson Corporation Ana Schrank, 415-983-7153 Investors and Financial Media Ana.Schrank@McKesson.com James Larkin, 415-983-8736 General and Business Media James.Larkin@McKesson.com McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) today announced that chairman and chief executive officer John H. Hammergren, along with his executive committee and employee representatives, will Ring The Opening Bell(SM) at the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) tomorrow morning to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the company's founding.
McKesson is ranked 18th on the FORTUNE 500 with revenues of $102 billion in its most recent fiscal year. The company is a healthcare services and information technology leader dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients.
"McKesson has been innovating to advance healthcare since our very first days in business," said John H. Hammergren, chairman and chief executive officer. "From the creation of the first national drug distribution system, to the invention of bar code technology that increases the safety of medication administration from the warehouse to the patient's bedside, McKesson has been a true leader in healthcare."
Today, McKesson software and automation solutions are used in over 50 percent of U.S. hospitals to streamline workflow and support clinical decision-making. Everyday more than 120,000 physicians rely on McKesson electronic medical records to enable them to spend more time with patients, and more than 400,000 healthcare locations receive shipments of critical medicines and supplies.
A healthcare company from its beginning, McKesson traces its roots back to 1833 when John McKesson and Charles Olcott founded a small medicinal distribution business in lower Manhattan, not far from the New York Stock Exchange. Olcott & McKesson, as the company was then known, did a thriving business importing therapeutic drugs and chemicals from Europe and medicinal herbs, roots, and spices from Shaker colonies in Pennsylvania. They shipped the medicines and supplies to inland cities via boats sailing through the newly built Erie Canal to the Great Lakes.
About McKesson
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 18th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson is the longest-operating company in healthcare today, marking its 175th anniversary this year. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients.
Bell-Ringing a Highlight of the Company's Year-Long Celebration
