KLAS Publishes Report On Medication Administration Barcoding At The Point Of Contact

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Article Date: 10 Jan 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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KLAS has been monitoring the Medication Administration Barcoding at the point of contact (BPOC) market segment since 2003. In this report, KLAS set out to discover the changes occurring in the marketplace as well as the successes and struggles healthcare providers were encountering. The investigation included vendor performance ratings from their healthcare providers, bar-code technology implementation time, management reports and interfaces. The report also features provider feedback relating to labeling unit dose medications and scanning compliance.

Organizations such as the FDA, HIMSS, JCAHO and ASHP have added urgency to the BPOC adoption process. In 2004 JCAHO proposed a requirement for healthcare organizations to implement bar-coding technology. Two years later, in 2006, an FDA rule went into effect requiring manufacturers to label medications with bar-codes. HIMSS created a bar-coding task force. Other agencies have aided the effort. In spite of the energy surrounding bar-coding solutions, implementation of this technology remains at a slow pace.

KLAS found that the number of healthcare providers using a live solution is increasing; however, the marketplace has experienced the addition of few new vendors and products since the 2004 report. Part of the slow market growth may be attributed to the lagging adoption of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE). Both BPOC and CPOE are pieces of the Closed-Loop Medication Administration process.

Vendor products included in the main body and early data of the report are Cerner Bridge MedPoint, Cerner CareMobile/CareAdmin, Epic EpicCare Inpatient MAR, GE Centricity Enterprise Medication Charting, McKesson Horizon Admin-Rx, Meditech BMV and Siemens Med Administration Check. Addendum data was also included for CareFusion Bar Code Medication Administration, Eclipsys Sunrise KBMA, IntelliDOT and Mediware MediMAR.

About KLAS

KLAS is the only research firm that specializes in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare's information technology (HIT) vendors. KLAS' mission is to improve HIT delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors, and vendors. Working together with executives from over 4500 hospitals and over 2500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends, and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the HIT industry. KLAS measures performance of software, professional services, and medical equipment vendors.

http://www.healthcomputing.com