Kit Check and QuVa Pharma have teamed up to make medication tracking easier for hospital pharmacies across the United States. The companies announced the deal on December 4, 2017, in Orlando, Florida. Under the agreement, QuVa Pharma will build Kit Check’s radio frequency identification (RFID) tags into its prefilled syringes.
The tags then work with Kit Check’s scanning tools. Because each syringe arrives already tagged, pharmacies can manage inventory more closely, cut waste and send syringes straight into kits.
Kevin MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of Kit Check, said many of the company’s client pharmacies prefer pretagged syringes. In his view, they also help pharmacists get the most out of Kit Check’s kit and tray automation. He added that the approach saves staff time, reduces errors and improves patient safety, while letting each pharmacist work at the top of their license. Everyone benefits, he said.
QuVa Pharma’s medicines come ready to use. They are made and fully tested in a controlled setting. Once a batch reaches the hospital, a pharmacist can add it to inventory in seconds with the Kit Check scanner. After that, the drugs can be tracked from the pharmacy to the patient, whether they sit in bags, trays or kits.
After inventory, Kit Check’s machine learning platform, Bluesight, adds a further layer. It gives item-level insight such as real-time restocking, inventory benchmarking and alerts about manufacturer recalls. Even so, that works no matter which medication workflow a hospital uses.
For QuVa Pharma, quality compliance comes first. Both of its Texas facilities are in good standing with the FDA. Meanwhile, a third one is being built to keep up with demand. The company is also investing in specialty sites and operations, since recent regulatory changes have affected healthcare providers.
Stuart Hinchen, co-founder and CEO of QuVa Pharma, said the company’s main mission is patient safety. He explained that outsourced compounding lowers the risk of errors during bedside preparation. As a result, pharmacists can act more as informed advisors on treatment. The RFID tags, he added, allow detailed tracking of each item.
Still, the tagged syringes are already in production and can be ordered now. Both companies are exhibiting at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting 2017 in Orlando from December 4 to 6. Kit Check is at booth 1011, and QuVa Pharma is at booth 646.
Kit Check makes automated medication management tools for hospital pharmacies. Its hospital partners in the US and Canada have tracked more than 30 million medications with its products. QuVa Pharma is a 503B compounding company that serves healthcare facilities focused on compliance.
