ForHealth’s IntelliFill i.v. to Serve Key Role in Strategy to Advance Patient Safety at Crouse Hospital

Syracuse, N.Y. Hospital to Integrate Robotic IV System with BPOC Later in Year


DAYTONA BEACH, FLA – February 13, 2007 – ForHealth Technologies Inc., makers of IntelliFill i.v.™, a high-speed robotic system for the preparation of IV medications in syringes, announced today that Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York, has purchased its pharmacy robotic technology to automate its small volume IV medication preparation. Crouse Hospital will implement the IntelliFill i.v. system in its inpatient pharmacy and plans to integrate the IV automation’s barcoded syringes with a barcode point-of-care system (BPOC) later this year.

“IntelliFill i.v. fits nicely with our plans for rolling out bedside barcoding in that we’ll be able to track an IV medication from the time we start the preparation to the time it’s administered to a patient,” said Barbara McNiff, Pharm.D., director of pharmacy, Crouse Hospital. “From a safety and quality perspective, having the end-to-end tracking mechanism with IntelliFill’s barcoded syringes was significant to our selection process.”

The IntelliFill i.v. system automates the compounding and labeling of intravenous medication doses in syringes with a combination of accuracy, reliability and speed not possible using manual processes. The system employs barcode scanning, vision systems and weight confirmation steps, and delivers patient-labeled, barcoded syringes prepared in an ISO Class 4 environment. As a result, IntelliFill i.v. diminishes risks of touch contamination during preparation, lowers drug budget costs and reduces the likelihood of medication errors.

“IntelliFill will have a positive impact on our entire medication-use process. It will provide our pharmacy with a high quality, sterile environment for preparing small volume parenterals, and it will provide our nurses with a safe, highly efficient process for administering IV medications to patients,” said McNiff. “Financially, we expect to greatly reduce administration costs because we’ll no longer need to purchase the various IV supplies necessary for manual IV preparation and administration.”

“We are pleased that the IntelliFill system will form an important part of Crouse Hospital’s overarching strategy to advance patient safety,” said Rod Wolford, CEO, ForHealth Technologies. “Crouse is an excellent example of how hospitals are integrating our robotic automation with other technologies to reduce the chances for errors in the medication-use continuum and achieve their goals for safety efficiently and effectively.”

About Crouse Hospital
Crouse Hospital is a 576-bed acute-care hospital located at 736 Irving Avenue in Syracuse, New York. The hospital serves more than 21,000 inpatients, 55,000 emergency services patients and more than 150,000 outpatients a year from a 15-county area in Central and Northern New York. For more information, please visit www.crouse.org.

About ForHealth Technologies Inc.
Founded in 1998, ForHealth Technologies, Inc., a leader in automation technology for intravenous drug preparation, is committed to increasing patient safety and decreasing operating costs by automating the preparation of small-volume injectable medications in healthcare organizations worldwide. Offering safety, accuracy, efficiency and reliability, its robotic technology, IntelliFill i.v., automates the preparation of IV syringes, greatly enhancing both the safety of patients and the efficiency of hospital pharmacies. For more information, please visit www.fhtinc.com.