Infection Control 2019
An Early Look at Innovative Technologies

Market Energy for Innovative Technologies

UV Disinfection

Xenex Has Highest Mindshare Due to Innovation, Outcomes, and Ease of Use

Of the innovative approaches covered in this report, UV-disinfection equipment is the most adopted. Among UV-disinfection vendors, Xenex generates the most (and the most positive) mindshare—in part because they share research-validated outcomes—and they are the only vendor with interviewed customers who want to expand their machine fleet. A few respondents who did not choose Xenex said pushy, “aggressive” marketing led to concerns that the technology was overhyped or the outcomes research was biased. Most organizations who have seen a demo of the Tru-D machine are confident it would drive outcomes. Those who didn’t choose Tru-D cite reasons such as product limitations, a lack of automatic reporting, and workflow issues. Clorox is less well known for UV disinfection but is seen as an affordable option. Some view the movability of Clorox’s machine as a plus, though others express concern that the smaller machine might not be effective. Surfacide, also less frequently considered, uses a unique three-tower approach and is noted for a shorter cycle time.

Electronic Hand-Hygiene Monitoring

Ecolab Leads in Effectiveness

Interest in electronic hand-hygiene monitoring is high, but adoption to date is low; concerns from uninterested organizations include high costs. Ecolab allows customers to set up zones around patient beds to capture all of WHO’s My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene, and alerting and analytics provide real-time feedback to users. Positive perceptions of GOJO are mostly based on word of mouth; some respondents express concern that the solution may be vulnerable to users cheating the system. DebMed users have achieved reduced infections, but some organizations don’t choose the vendor’s solution because they feel it doesn’t adequately capture WHO’s 5 Moments. BioVigil’s solution uses alcohol sensing, making it difficult to cheat the system, and provides instant feedback to change behavior. SwipeSense stands out for providing strategic guidance.

Best-of-breed VigiLanz leads the market with high retention and new technology (such as active alerting). Desired capabilities include advanced automation and predictive analytics. Despite BD’s and Wolters Kluwer’s solid performance, only about half of their customers are likely to invest in their innovative technology, often because these customers are considering moving to their EMR vendors. Premier has the lowest retention among measured vendors due to inadequate delivery of new technology.