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DoD’s Pikes Peak Joint Refill Processing Center Goes Live with PharmASSIST Robotic Dispensing System
Joint-Forces Prescription Refill Center First of Its Kind for Department of Defense (DoD)

JOHNSON CITY, NY - May 28, 2004 - Innovation Associates announces that the U.S. Air Force Academy hosted the grand opening for the Pike’s Peak Joint Refill Processing Center on April 13th in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The opening of the center unveiled the first jointly staffed (U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army) robotic prescription refill processing center of its kind in the Department of Defense (DoD). The center also introduced Innovation’s first PharmASSIST robotic system offering for the DoD. The center is responsible for refilling prescriptions for five Colorado Springs Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs): Evans Army Community Hospital (EACH) at Fort Carson, The 21st Medical Group at Peterson Air Force Base, Air Force Clinics at Schriever Air Force Base and Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, and the 10th Medical Group at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

“This joint effort is the first time we’ve worked together like this. The refill processing center enables us to staff more efficiently and removes the technical refilling process from the daily base operation so that pharmacists can concentrate on patient counseling and dispense prescriptions without interruptions,” says Colonel Ardis Meier, Pharmacy Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General. “The center is a major component of our Air Force Pharmacy Optimization Project, of which our goals are to improve patient safety and increase efficiency through better utilization of our staffs,” explained Colonel Meier.

The refill processing center is comprised of two Robotic PharmASSIST systems with 480 dispensers; PharmASSIST Symphony Software; vial feed/print-and-apply labeling system; pneumatic transport system; vial sealer, multi-level conveyor system; and a variety of manual filling, Rx verification, and Rx packing stations. Currently, the center is open from 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday and is processing on average just under 2000 Rxs daily, with peaks reaching up to 3000 Rxs. The plan is to expand to multiple shifts and weekends over time.

According to Colonel Douglas Robb, Commander of the 10th Medical Group, “This refill pharmacy gives us the capacity to serve all the military facilities in the Pike’s Peak Region, so this will touch some 122,000 plus beneficiaries receiving care from the southern end of Colorado Springs to the northern tip at the Air Force Academy.” Robb adds, “In the future, our strategic vision is to expand north to Buckley AFB, F.E Warren AFB, and to possibly serve as a reach back center to help support the war efforts in Iraq.”

The center has helped to address the patient safety and efficiency goals set by the Air Force. “We currently have a staff of 8-10 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working on site, whereas we used to have 15-16 people doing refills daily at the different medical facilities. With this manpower savings, we can now divert people back to providing more direct patient care,” stated Chief Master Sergeant Wendell Ellis, 10th Medical Group Pharmacy Manager.” Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson, 10th MDG Pharmacy Flight commander, commented that “the most valuable feature of the robot and the software used in the prescription filling process is that it virtually eliminates drug-to-drug errors, which are the most common types of pharmacy dispensing errors.” Drug-to-drug errors refer to filling a prescription with something other than the medication prescribed or desired.

“Innovation Associates is extremely proud of this major accomplishment and is grateful to the Air Force and Army for the opportunity to design and deliver this state-of-the-art technology for the refill processing center,” says Harry Boyer, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Innovation Associates. “During this project, we’ve had the good fortune to learn a great deal about the integrity of armed services pharmacy practice. This integrity continually drove our development efforts and we feel confident this system will meet their exceptional quality standards.”

Innovation Associates, Inc., a leader in the world of automated prescription dispensing, offers the PharmASSIST family of products to address the prescription growth, quality assurance, pharmacy workflow, and cost control challenges of all size pharmacies. With over three decades of broad-based, business experience, Innovation Associates is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality pharmacy automation products to the pharmacy industry. For more information on Innovation Associates, Inc., visit www.innovat.com.

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