By: Chris Miller, Product Manager We see it over and over on a regular basis, death caused by medication errors. A July 2014 press release from U.S. Senator Barbra Boxer estimates each year “between 210,000 and 440,000 Americans die as a result of preventable errors in hospitals”1, which leads to an estimated $19.5 Billion, yes... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | SafetyBy Niels Erik Hansen, Ph.D. Recent news of a $200 million fund to compensate victims of the bankrupt New England Compounding Center (NECC) is an extreme example of how expensive manual compounding errors can be. Contaminated compounds produced by NECC were linked to a 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people in 20 states and... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | ROI | SafetyBy Niels Erik Hansen, Ph.D. In January, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report about hospitals’ use of standalone compounding pharmacies to produce compounded sterile preparations (CSPs). The study was spurred by concerns about the quality of CSPs following the 2012 meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | Regulatory | SafetyBy Mitch Valdmanis, M.Eng. Recently an excerpt from the book “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age” by Robert Wachter was published online: “The Overdose: How Medical Tech Gave a Patient a 39-Fold Overdose“. Though the headline is sensationalized – a more appropriate title would be “How Medical... Read more
Categories: Blog | Safety | Softwareby Thom Doherty The reason Intelligent Hospital Systems Inc. (IH Systems) acquired AmerisourceBergen Technology Group Today IH Systems announced the acquisition of AmerisourceBergen Technology Group (ABTG) creating the most integrated pharmacy technology company in the industry, and strengthening our position in the pharmacy automation market. Worldwide, pharmacy automation purchases are growing with a compounded annual growth... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | Safetyby Thom Doherty Businesses providing regulated aseptic compounding services require stringent quality control measures, and good manufacturing practices (GMP) provide the framework for implementing critical quality control processes. Automation, which provides unparalleled product and process repeatability, is increasingly seen as a solution for compounding centers and hospitals to meet the requirements of highly-regulated manufacturing environments. Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | Regulatory | SafetyBy Niels Erik Hansen, Ph.D. Evidence shows the risk of patient injury from medication errors is substantial and costly – especially errors associated with injectable medications. A first-of-its-kind study published in American Health & Drug Benefits in 2012 uncovered some sobering facts: • Adverse drug events (ADEs) from injectable medications kill up to 7,000 patients... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | SafetyBy Walter Eliuk, P.Eng. RIVA is a fully automated IV compounding system that produces IV bag and syringe medications in a Hospital pharmacy. The Port Disinfection Subsystem (PDS) is a powerful feature unique to RIVA. This feature helps to assure reliable aseptic processing of compounded products. A state-of-the-art UV light source is used to disinfect... Read more
Categories: Automation | Blog | Engineering | SafetyBy Alex Reinhardt, P. Eng. I’ve had some recent discussions with potential customers that raised an interesting question: What is most important to your organization, making a high percentage of doses with IV automation, or, saving money? These are vastly different but both equally legitimate. Let’s look at each in a bit more detail. Read more
Categories: Blog | Productivity | ROI | Safetyby Craig A. Boyce , RPh Over the past month, a number of regulatory changes have occurred surrounding aseptic and sterile compounding. Some of the significant regulatory actions include: FDA release of the cGMP Interim Guidance for Human Drug Compounding Outsourcing Facilities Under Section 503B of the FD&C Act (7-1-2014) Massachusetts passage and signing of... Read more
Categories: Blog | Regulatory | Safety