CARLSBAD, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 1, 2015) - MEPS Real-Time, Inc., developer of Intelliguard® RFID Solutions for pharmacy automation and inventory management, has ended its 2015 fiscal year with sustained strong business momentum driven by continuing affirmation of the value of its solutions in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.
Intelliguard® RFID Solutions offer automation and machine-verified workflow processes that support safe and efficient management and replenishment of pharmaceutical inventory to improve patient safety and reduce costs in hospital pharmacies. For MEPS®, the 2015 fiscal year was focused on market expansion as well as quantitative proof of the benefits of RFID-enabled technology solutions for many manual, error-prone processes in hospital pharmacies.
MEPS® conducted numerous quality studies at hospital sites across the country, and results were presented in educational sessions, facilitated poster sessions and conference proceedings including the California Society for Health System Pharmacists (CSHP) Seminar 2014 in San Francisco, Calif.; the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists 67th Summer Educational Session in Ontario, Canada; the CSHP Western Branches Banff Seminar in Alberta, Canada, and the RFID Journal Live 13th Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego, Calif.
Noteworthy Quality Improvement Highlights
North York General Hospital, Toronto, Canada: The Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System is used to manage North York General Hospital's (NYGH) pharmaceutical trays. A quality study confirmed that the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System reduces tray-restocking times on average by 4.9 minutes. "That equals 659 labor hours saved annually," according to Edith M. Rolko, NYGH's director of pharmacy and infection prevention and control. More importantly, the study confirmed medication inventory errors were eliminated in all trays processed with Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System.
Scripps Memorial Hospital, San Diego, Calif.: Scripps Memorial Hospital also uses the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System. After six months in use, a Time and Motion Study was conducted to validate the impact of the automated system. On average, the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System saved 19.5 minutes with large trays and 6.3 minutes for even the smallest trays. These figures total nearly 1,500 hours of annual staff time savings and again, errors were completed eliminated.
Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, Calif.: Hospital and pharmacy leadership at Rady Children's Hospital concluded that anesthesia tray replenishment needed to be controlled by the pharmacy and they needed to understand the staff time commitment to manage the extra workload this new task represented. Rady Children's converted 118 procedural and emergency trays to the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System, including Anesthesia Trays, Heart Trays, Narcotic Fanny Packs, and Code Blue Emergency Transport Bags. The study confirmed that by using the automated Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System, pharmacy technicians are able to process anesthesia trays in just more than five minutes each, versus nearly 21 minutes needed using a manual process. In addition, in all cases, there were zero errors reported in the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray System processed trays.
Long Beach Memorial Hospital / Miller Children's Hospital, Long Beach, Calif.: Organizationally, Long Beach Memorial Hospital required a process and a system to take more control of medications used by anesthesiologists. Specific hospital and pharmacy leadership goals included:
- An efficient method to replenish the medications
- Decreasing the time needed to check expiration dates and locate and remove recalled medications
- Minimize time spent filling out paperwork
- Reduce the risk for human error
- Help improve lost costs from charge capture
- Improve control of medications used by our anesthesiologists
A Time and Motion Study confirmed that with the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System, the average time saved for each tray is as much as 18 minutes depending on tray type, with zero errors reported in all Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System processed trays.
Long Beach Memorial Hospital continues to quantify revenue improvements from charge capture and cost savings from improved inventory control. Early results show promising findings in both categories. These findings will be published in an upcoming case study.
Notable Milestones in Fiscal Year 2015
FFF Enterprises, Inc.: MEPS Real-Time, Inc. continues its partnership with FFF Enterprises Inc., which for more than 27 years, has been recognized as the nation's leading supplier of critical-care biopharmaceuticals, plasma products (including albumin, intravenous immune globulin and coagulation products) and vaccines.
The FFF Enterprises product consignment program, VERIFIED Inventory Program-Consignment (VIPc™) (www.fffenterprises.com/Services/VERIFIED), utilizes Intelliguard® RFID Solutions to manage high-value medication inventory. FFF Enterprises provides a single, consolidated software platform that enables end-to-end visibility of its critical drug inventory levels, expiry data and the conditions in which its drugs are stored across disparate hospital client sites nationwide. Nearly 100 Intelliguard® Vendor Managed Inventory Systems are now deployed nationwide with substantial installation growth occurring.
New and Expanded Purchasing Options
Cardinal Health Stocks Intelliguard® RFID Smart Tags: MEPS Real-Time® entered into a Distribution Sales Agreement (DSA) with Cardinal Health to stock its distribution centers with Intelliguard® RFID Smart Tags. Hospitals can now acquire the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System RFID Smart Tags directly through Cardinal Health. MEPS Real-Time, Inc. provides the hardware, software, implementation and support at no additional charge to the hospital on an all-inclusive, per tag pricing model that eliminates capital equipment costs.
Greater New York Hospital Association: GNYHA member hospitals receive group pricing discounts on the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System. http://www.gnyha.org
Innovative Purchasing Concepts (IPC): IPC member hospitals receive group pricing discounts on the Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System. http://www.ipcgpo.com
Expanded Purchasing Options: In addition to the Cardinal Health distribution agreement, MEPS Real-Time, Inc. has expanded its direct purchasing options to provide more flexibility to hospital purchasing managers. Hospitals now have the option of a capital purchase, lease option or RFID tag only pricing models. MEPS® continues to provide full installation, implementation and support to all Intelliguard® Solutions clients regardless of the purchase model.
Expanding Intellectual Property Portfolio
Underscoring its role as an RFID technology leader, MEPS® today has 11 issued patents, eight patent applications pending in the U.S, one patent and 24 applications in other countries, as well as exclusive rights to additional RFID method and technology patents for the healthcare market. This patent portfolio includes the industry's smallest RFID Smart Tag as part of its Intelliguard® Kit and Tray Management System, as well as technologies and methods that allow fast and accurate RFID read rates (no null spots) in challenging environments such as metalized refrigerators and small volume areas.
"Our vision has always been to deliver original, innovative RFID solutions that help healthcare providers ensure safe, quality patient care by assuring the right drugs in the right doses are available when and where they're needed," said Shariq Hussain, President and CEO, MEPS Real Time, Inc. "This past year, we were definitively able to prove that our solutions not only save valuable staff time, but eliminate the medication errors that occur with manual methods that depend on human reliability and perfection."
About MEPS Real-Time, Inc. and Intelliguard® RFID Solutions for Critical Inventory™
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., MEPS Real-Time, Inc. (mepsrealtime.com) is a leading innovator of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solutions for pharmacy automation and inventory management. Its suite of Intelliguard® RFID Solutions offers unprecedented real-time visibility of high-value, critical-dose drug inventory to reduce costs through inventory management and monitoring of expiration dates, NDCs, lot numbers and temperature; increase staff efficiency by eliminating manual counting and item-level scanning through automation; improve patient safety through medication error prevention; and enhance diversion prevention with embedded security features. Intelliguard® RFID Solutions include Kit and Tray Management, Inventory Management, and Vendor Managed Inventory Systems.
MEPS, MEPS Real-Time and Intelliguard are registered trademarks and RFID Solutions for Critical Inventory is a trademark of MEPS Real-Time, Inc.
Contact Information:
Contacts:
MEPS Real-Time, Inc.
Valerie Fritz
760-585-4096
or
Peacock PR/McAdams Group
Erin Peacock
949-939-1872
