Growth demonstrates strong demand for TUG® autonomous mobile robots and MedEx™, the real-time medication tracking solution

PITTSBURGH--Aethon deployed 77 TUG robots and nine installations of MedEx medication tracking software in 2012. This demonstrates strong demand for Aethon's TUG autonomous mobile robot technology and rapid adoption of its new medication delivery tracking software solution, MedEx™. Aethon was also recently featured on a 60 Minutes segment discussing growth of the robotics industry.

Geisinger Health System implemented TUG robots to more efficiently and securely deliver medications from pharmacy to nursing. The Wyoming Valley location is the second hospital in the Geisinger system to go live. They also implemented MedEx to track deliveries of medication whether sent through traditional pneumatic tubes, via manual deliveries or with the TUG robots. Claude Parnell, Director of Operations for System Therapeutics, comments, "With MedEx we can finally track delivery of medication from the pharmacy to the nursing unit and benchmark our performance to ensure we are efficiently turning around medications. The TUG robots securely deliver medications autonomously and we expect to reap the benefits of improved productivity as a direct result of automating delivery. In only six weeks we implemented and went live with the complete solution. The transition was seamless and Aethon was with us every step of the way to ensure the project proceeded without any difficulties."

MedEx is a real-time medication tracking and chain-of-custody system that tracks all forms of medication delivery within a hospital. It records the delivery progress of each dose from the moment a prescription is ordered until the administering nurse retrieves it. MedEx also provides visibility of medication delivery to nursing and reduces or eliminates effort spent tracking missing medications.

Fleets of TUG robots were also installed in 2012 to address a wide variety of hospital logistical challenges that include helping dietary departments improve quality of service by delivering meals and handling environmental services tasks, such as delivering linens and removing trash. The TUG robots recently installed in 2012 have already made 84,000 deliveries traveling 17,000 miles. They are delivering a tangible ROI through labor savings as well as improved service levels by augmenting existing staff in the hospital.

Aethon's logistics and tracking solutions have been deployed in over 130 hospitals. More information about Aethon is available at http://www.aethon.com.