For Second Year in a Row, RIVA Named Top IV Robot in Study Ranking Pharmacy Automation
For the second consecutive year, RIVA, the fully automated IV compounding system developed by Intelligent Hospital Systems (IH Systems), has been recognized as category leader in “Pharmacy automation: IV robots” by independent healthcare research firm KLAS. The top ranking was announced in its recent “2014 Best in KLAS: Medical Equipment & Infrastructure” report. RIVA’s overall score of 81.3 is the highest for IV robots (one component of the RIVA system is a robotic arm) used in pharmacy automation that were evaluated in the report.
“Ongoing pharmacy product recalls and the passage of legislation in the U.S. to better regulate pharmacies show automation is an increasingly necessary solution for safe and efficient pharmacy production,” said Dr. Niels Erik Hansen, president and CEO of IH Systems. “RIVA continues to be recognized by pharmacists not only for enhancing medication and patient safety, but also for increasing efficiency and reducing costs.”
To compile its annual ranking of medical equipment, KLAS collects data from thousands of healthcare providers and administrators across the U.S. and Canada through surveys and in-depth interviews. The 2014 Best in KLAS report ranks pharmacy and medical products in 21 different market segments.
This is the third time in three years that RIVA has been recognized in a KLAS report. An earlier study of pharmacy automation, “U.S. IV Automation: Robots and Workflow Solutions in 2012,” gave RIVA high marks for having needed functionality, being ready for widespread industry use and customers that would buy it again.
In the 2013 Best in KLAS report, RIVA was recognized as category leader for IV robots in pharmacy automation, a ranking that RIVA repeated in this year’s Best in KLAS study. Data in the 2013 report found 95 percent of RIVA customers surveyed by KLAS indicated they would buy the RIVA system again.
RIVA is engineered with multiple safety technologies and prepares IV medications in an aseptic ISO Class 5 environment with laminar airflow. RIVA units have been installed at 35 sites worldwide and have cumulatively produced millions of IV doses safely and accurately. Installed units also have performed hundreds of thousands of routine contamination tests with zero failures. Customer feedback indicates users continue to rate RIVA’s safety technology and IH Systems’ customer service among the best in the industry. Several customers have purchased multiple RIVA systems to fulfill a greater portion of their IV medication production.
KLAS report citations:
“2014 Best in KLAS: Medical Equipment & Infrastructure,” July 2014. © 2014 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com.
“2013 Best in KLAS Awards: Medical Equipment & Infrastructure,” June 2013. © 2013 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com.
“U.S. IV Automation: Robots and Workflow Solutions in 2012,” October, 2012. © 2012 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com.
About Intelligent Hospital Systems
Intelligent Hospital Systems (IH Systems) is a medical device company focused on the design and development of automated solutions for the hospital environment. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, IH Systems manufactures RIVA, a fully-automated IV manufacturing system that prepares medications for syringes and IV bags in an aseptic environment. Using RIVA, hospitals enhance patient safety, lower the cost-per-dose of medications, reduce their vulnerability to medication shortages and cut waste. For more information, visit www.intelligenthospitals.com.
About KLAS
KLAS is a research firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery by enabling providers to be heard and counted. Working with thousands of healthcare executives and clinicians, KLAS gathers data on software, services, medical equipment and infrastructure systems to deliver timely reports, trends and statistical overviews. The research directly represents the provider voice and acts as a catalyst for improving supplier performance. KLAS was founded in 1996, and their staff and advisory board average 25 years of healthcare information technology experience. Follow KLAS on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KLASresearch.