Fairview Health Services has deployed BD’s Vmax 160 pharmacy automation robot, becoming the first U.S. health system to use the system as it expands centralized outpatient pharmacy operations. Fairview fills an average of 20,000 prescriptions a week through 25 outpatient pharmacies and mail-order services serving patients across Minnesota. The health system is investing in centralized pharmacy operations as demand increases for specialty therapies and medications requiring different storage and fulfillment processes.
The Vmax 160, developed by Becton, Dickinson and Company, is designed to automate the storage, inventory management and fulfillment of unit-of-use medications, including boxed products. The technology has previously been used in Europe and is now being introduced to the U.S. market.
The system can operate in refrigerated environments of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, allowing pharmacies to handle medicines requiring cold-chain storage. BD said the technology also automates inventory replenishment and labeling and tracks medication expiration dates, lots and recalls. Its expiration-management function is designed to prevent expired products from being dispensed.
Fairview’s adoption of the Vmax 160 builds on its existing use of BD pharmacy automation technology, including the Parata Max 2 high-speed vial-filling robot. The health system is using automation as part of its effort to increase fulfillment capacity as its medication mix shifts toward products such as GLP-1 medicines, biologics and other specialty therapies.
The Vmax 160 is intended primarily for centralized fulfillment operations, where prescriptions can be processed for distribution through outpatient pharmacies and mail-order services. Such operations can consolidate inventory and dispensing activities that would otherwise be handled at individual pharmacy locations.
BD is positioning the Vmax system alongside its other pharmacy automation products and its Incada Connected Care Platform, which connects workflows across pharmacy operations. The company is seeking to automate more stages of medication storage, dispensing and fulfillment while reducing manual handling.
