Most facilities (64%) were able to purchase more than three-quarters of their medications in bar coded unit dose this year. However, that was a decline from last year, when 70% of facilities achieved this same milestone.

Purchasing more than 90% of medications in bar coded unit dose is a challenge few facilities have been able to achieve. This year, just 26% of health system pharmacies were able to purchase more than 90% of their medications as such, a drop from last year’s 34%.

It remains challenging to send 100% of medications to the units in bar coded unit doses; this year, just 41% of facilities met this goal. Nevertheless, almost three-quarters of facilities (74%) did send more than 95% of their medications to the units in this format.

Manual packaging systems are nearly ubiquitous in pharmacy; 92% of all pharmacies rely on these systems to ensure consistent bar coded packaging. Most facilities (65%) utilize these systems in an ancillary capacity to package medications such as allergy risks, hazardous drugs, nonformulary medications, and controlled substances.

The numerous vendors in this marketplace deliver high-quality solutions as demonstrated by the 96% satisfaction rating. Almost two-thirds of users (64%) assign top marks to their packaging vendors.

Medi-Dose remains the market leader for medication packaging needs, followed by Health Care Logistics, Medical Packaging Inc, Omnicell, and Euclid Medical Products.

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