We have had the Autopack Machine installed since about June of this year, and for the most part I really like it. I will add though we are on our second Autopack machine because our first one had a couple issues Talyst could not figure out. Every so often during a run of a 100 tabs or caps, it would package a cap with no print on the packet, and would not count it, so the 100th packet would be empty. Also the machine would reboot randomly. Talyst sent 2 or 3 techs out to try and figure out the problem, but were unable to, so they sent us a brand new machine. I was very impressed with that!

With our new Autopack machine we have had no problems. We have about 70 canisters right now with more on the way, so I use the STS tray a lot, which is still way faster than our old table top. We have also had many talks with Talyst about reporting features and a database for storing NDC's and they seems very responsive about fixing those for us in the next update.

I know there have been some people who have not had good experiences with their Autopack so I wanted to share ours. Hope this helps some people out in some way!

Name of Facility: EMMC

City, State: Maine

Please don't publish:

Brian,

You are very lucky they replaced your machine when you were having minor issues. We had a machine that mispackaged (wrong pill in the wrong packet), a serious patient safety issue, and we couldn't get a new machine. It took several months and threatening to call the FDA to get the problem fixed. But we couldn't get a new machine.

I will say, our machine is working fairly well now. However, we are trying to find out now, how to recycle the 60+ canisters we have that are worthless, because of manufacturer discontinued meds, recalled meds or contract changes. They will not recallibrate them as McKesson or SwissLog will. And they won't exchange them either.

(I am sure I will hear from Talyst for posting this, as they called me the last time I posted something negative about them. But this is a forum for us to share information and experiences, among buyers - not vendors. )

Name of Facility: Arnot Ogden Medical Center

City, State: Elmira, NY

Years as a Buyer: 8 1/2

We reuse the canisters when we can. As long as it is the same drug and strenght you can change the NDC number in the Autopharm pre-pack software and reuse the canister. Most of the time the new tab/cap works in the old canister. Otherwise if we can't reuse them we keep them for spare parts.

Name of Facility: Rapid City Regional Hospital

City, State: Rapid City, SD

Years as a Buyer: 7

Will they recalibrate them for a fee or not at all?? We have around 70 canisters right now and growing. I use the STS track a lot more than I would like! I also have found some different NDC's work in the same canister. Sometimes our buyer finds a really good deal, so I test the canister out first, and sometimes it works! I have had atleast 3 canisters come from Talyst that the tab must have changed since they last updated their canister list because they double drop, so we need to get then recalibrated soon.

Name of Facility: EMMC

City, State: Maine

The canisters are basically scrap once you cannot use them. You would think Talyst would be on top of that, but not a chance.

We have probably 100-130 used canisters and there is no return program anywhere. Talyst will listen, but putting it on their list of "things to get to" list which will still take anywhere from 18-24 months at this point.

Their performance has improved since getting rid of a few high level employees, but they have a long way to go.

Also - reusing them is nice if you can, but its usually "one of 20" that can be reused.

Do you still have a lot of old canisters you are not using anymore? Is it because the meds are discontinued? Would you mind sending me a list of the canisters and their NDC#s? Maybe we could trade or something

I can put together a list. Sorry this took so long, I have not been back to this page in some time.