'Buyer's Remorse' a Consideration in Smart Pump Purchases

    OREM, UT, March 16, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Nearly one in five smart pump customers say they would not buy their current pump again, with one notable exception, according to a new report from healthcare market research firm KLAS.

The report, "Smart Pumps: Avoiding Buyer's Remorse", reflects the opinions of 348 providers and notes that roughly 20 percent of customers who purchased the B. Braun Outlook or the new Hospira Symbiq pump say that they would not buy the same pump again, nor would 17 percent of those using the small, user-friendly Baxter Sigma pump. In contrast, 99 percent of interviewed customers who purchased the CareFusion Alaris pump would repeat the decision.

"Providers feel that CareFusion is a well-rounded option that plays well in hospitals of all sizes," said Coray Tate, KLAS clinical research director and author of the new study. "In particular, CareFusion clients rave about wireless capabilities and do not typically complain about wireless issues, even in large hospitals over 500 beds where CareFusion is the only vendor with a significant client base."

Despite the loyalty of CareFusion's customers, the Alaris pump was not the highest-rated product in the large-volume pump (LVP) category. That distinction belongs to the B. Braun Outlook, which has been the top-rated pump in KLAS' watch for three years running, earning a reputation as a solid, functional pump delivered by a good company.

For its part, the Outlook was the highest-rated pump by a wide margin in hospitals with 200-500 beds, although the product scored lower than any vendor in the under 200-bed range, which includes more than 50 percent of the Outlook customers interviewed by KLAS.

The KLAS report also points out that, despite continued hopes of greater connectivity, smart pump integration with electronic medical records (EMRs) remains an unreachable goal for most healthcare providers. Hospira is the only vendor that has achieved integration with an EMR, having done auto programming with the Plum A+/MedNet pump and Cerner's EMR at two hospitals.

"As a company, Hospira is ahead of the pack in terms of integration, but it is still very early in the game," Tate said. "Unfortunately Hospira also had the lowest performance score among the go-forward large-volume pumps; so that early success in integration hasn't yet translated into strong customer satisfaction."

The vendors highlighted in the "Smart Pumps: Avoiding Buyer's Remorse" report include Baxter, B. Braun, CareFusion (formerly Cardinal Health), Hospira and Smiths Medical.

To learn more about the market for smart pumps, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of participating vendors, the report "Smart Pumps: Avoiding Buyer's Remorse" is available to healthcare providers online for a significant discount off the standard retail price. To purchase the full report, healthcare providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com/reports.

About KLAS

KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare vendors. KLAS' mission is to improve delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors and vendors. Working together with executives from more than 4,500 hospitals and over 2,500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry. KLAS measures the performance of software, professional services and medical equipment vendors. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email [email protected] or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative.

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