What is Driving the Future of Medical Gas Equipment?

VIPR Integrated Technology
Rotarex Meditec is a pioneer in integrated valve technology for medical gas applications. Over time, gas companies have realized the value of this technology, since integrating a cylinder valve and pressure regulator (VIPR) is inherently safer and it improves caregiver productivity. All essential control functions are integrated into a single, compact valve, making it easier and faster to ensure accurate medical gas therapy. Today, Rotarex Meditec is a leader in the medical integrated valve segment, with over 2 million valves in service – and we expect that VIPR technology will become the dominant technology in the market worldwide.  

SMART Devices
Since the beginning, safe and proper use of medical gas equipment has always been very important. That’s why we’ve focused on developing products that are simple and intuitive, so that even untrained caregivers can correctly use the devices. A natural next step for the future is to develop electronic self-monitoring products that make it even easier for caregivers to ensure proper gas therapy administration.  This is why Rotarex Meditec has developed a range of medical VIPRs and switchover boards that digitally monitor medical gas flow and cylinder content levels to provide valuable information, such as calculating how much gas remains in the cylinder and sending an alert when it needs changing.This machine-to-caregiver communication will also significantly improve caregiver productivity by enabling remote centralized monitoring. It is important for homecare situations where patients often self-administer oxygen therapy without the direct supervision of a trained caregiver. 

Becoming a “One-Stop Shop”
Reducing administrative complexity is a theme that will be increasingly important in the future. This has prompted us to widen the breadth of our product range beyond our historical focus on cylinder valves. Now, we provide complete medical gas supply systems for hospitals along with portable solutions for homecare and emergency applications. Our engineers have leveraged our parent company’s deep expertise in specialty gas pressure regulating systems and instrumentation and applied it to medical gas applications. As a result, we offer a best-practice range of interchangeable components that can be configured into a complete system – from the gas source to the patient. And, our components and systems are compliant with multiple international standards. By sourcing a complete set of products and components from a single supplier with global scale, medical facilities save time and money.

Value-Added Technology
Innovation has always been and will continue to be a driving force in the medical gas equipment market.  And it is our focus on innovation that has made us the industry leader in premium quality medical gas control products. That’s why we continue to bring new high quality, ultra-dependable products to the market that improve safety, control and productivity. Through advanced innovation, we will build our products to be, over their lifetime, the best value-for-money. We’ve done this by reducing the maintenance cycle by 50% with the use of cartridge technology. We’re even able to say that our products go 10 years “maintenance free.”  Plus, we were the first to deliver terminal units that can be quickly serviced without turning off the main gas supply. In the pipeline are products with next-generation user-intuitive design that helps caregivers correctly administer oxygen therapy. 

These are some of the key factors influencing the future of our industry. If you’d like to get additional insight and information, please feel free to contact me.