IV Workflow Management 2022
Functionality Drives Recent Purchases (A Decision Insights Report)

Epic IV Dispense Prep is offered as a free add-on only to Epic customers, and a BYOD model requires them to purchase and manage hardware on their own. Of interviewed Epic organizations, about 50% seeking an IV workflow management solution consider Epic’s product, and those considering organizations usually select it. Satisfied customers appreciate the solution’s usability and integration benefits for formulary maintenance, labeling, and billing. In recent years, Epic has rolled out photo-capturing and gravimetric analysis functionality, but customers report the BYOD model has led to cameras freezing and inefficient gravimetric analyses, limiting adoption compared to that of other solutions with gravimetric analysis functionality. Challenges implementing and updating hardware due to the BYOD model are ultimately the main reasons organizations don’t select Epic or choose to replace or supplement the solution. Customers want Epic to either manage the hardware or provide guidance on what to use. Additionally, the lack of hard stops in the workflow is a safety concern for some.

“DoseEdge System has nice technology. It is integrated well into the workflow and has great data capture. We are compliant with our regulations, and the safety features are excellent. We have really enjoyed the barcode and image capture. Because of the technology, we have been able to remove our pharmacists from the IV room, and they all work remotely. The system has had nice workload and safety advantages. DoseEdge System is user friendly, and it is working well in our system.” —Director (current customer)

“I know Baxter has new add-on technologies that are appealing, but even looking at a demo of the newest DoseEdge System version, we feel like the updates the vendor adds aren’t very substantial. The newest version still looks a lot like what we went live with many years ago.” —Manager (current customer)

“We have been happy with PharmacyKeeper Verification. The vendor has offered really good customer support. We call them about downtime and issues, and their help line is probably one of the best I have ever called. . . . Probably 75% of the time or more, they are actually able to solve the issue on that first phone call without having to call me back or send it off to a different service technician. When they do have to send off my calls, the issue is usually fixed by the second phone call.” —Manager (current customer)

“Grifols does not offer a gravimetric analytics solution, and we are pressing them for integration of that. That is a small gap in their functionality. Originally, we specifically picked Grifols because they didn’t offer that, but now having that functionality is a strong recommendation of ASHP and ISMP, so we would like to be able to do that when we need to. There are also things that PharmacyKeeper Verification is supposed to do that are currently on Grifols’ bug list.” —Director (current customer)

“BD Pyxis IV Prep frees up the number of pharmacists that we need in the IV room. That is our favorite thing about the system. We have faith in the pictures and the gravimetrics that we use. BD Pyxis IV Prep provides us with an appropriate picture of how medication was used.” —Manager (current customer)

“The onboarding reports are very weak. There are certain aspects of the configurations, particularly the ADT management, which are very constraining and not fully built to support a hospital-based practice. . . . For example, if we are doing a gravimetric analysis and sense that something is not going quite the way we expect, there are limited points along the way where we can safely change the measure to volumetric, and those points are not readily identifiable to the end users. There are some limitations to managing different concentrations of the drug that can be ordered. . . . There are also some shortcomings in lot management that cause challenges for us.“ —Manager (current customer)

“Epic IV Dispense Prep is integrated with our EMR. The formulary for order entry in the EMR is the same formulary we use for our IV production. That is a huge advantage of Epic’s system. Anything I order from the EMR is ready to use in Epic IV Dispense Prep. We don’t have to do any formulary maintenance that we wouldn’t already be doing anyway. The system has some of the same safety features as the EMR, and that is probably the biggest benefit. The safety features use barcodes.” —Director (current customer)

“Epic claims that it can do gravimetric verification, but I don’t think the gravimetric verification workflow is efficient yet. It still needs some development. The picture-taking workflow is good enough, but the downside is that Epic isn’t a hardware company. If we want to do those things, we are on our own to figure out what cameras and scales to use. We are on our own if we want to download and install certain drivers for our computers to run those things and communicate back to the Epic system. Those things are possible, but we are taking on a lot more maintenance. With another vendor, we can just pay for those things.“ —Director (current customer)

“Omnicell was the one vendor we looked at who could most clearly talk compounding. Their knowledge base was more significant than any of the other vendors’ knowledge bases. We did a demo with Omnicell, and we put their product developers in front of our smartest directors. There was one question the entire day that the product developers couldn’t answer. The product still needed some enhancements. The people we spoke to clearly understood pharmacy and compounding.” —Manager (customer who selected Omnicell)

“Since Omnicell had newly emerging technology, we knew the solution wouldn’t be perfect.” —Director (considered but didn’t select Omnicell)