Nearly one in five smart pump customers say they would not buy their current pump again, with one exception, according to a new report from healthcare market research firm KLAS.

The recent survey elicited responses from 348 providers.

The report, Smart Pumps: Avoiding Buyer's Remorse, notes that roughly 20 percent of customers who purchased the B. Braun Outlook or the new Hospira Symbiq pump say they would not buy the same pump again, nor would 17 percent of those using the small Baxter Sigma pump, which is billed as user friendly.

In contrast, 99 percent of the customers interviewed who were using the CareFusion Alaris pump said they would buy it again.

"Providers feel that CareFusion is a well-rounded option that plays well in hospitals of all sizes," said Coray Tate, KLAS clinical research director and author of the new study. "In particular, CareFusion clients rave about wireless capabilities and do not typically complain about wireless issues, even in large hospitals over 500 beds where CareFusion is the only vendor with a significant client base.

Despite the loyalty of CareFusion's customers, the Alaris pump was not the highest-rated product in the large-volume pump category. That distinction belongs to the B. Braun Outlook, which has been the top-rated pump in KLAS' watch for three years running, earning a reputation as a solid, functional pump.

The Outlook was the highest-rated pump by a wide margin in hospitals with 200-500 beds, although the product scored lower than any vendor in the under 200-bed range, which includes more than 50 percent of the Outlook customers interviewed by KLAS.

The KLAS report also points out that, despite continued hopes of greater connectivity, most healthcare providers have not achieved smart pump integration with electronic medical records. Hospira is the only vendor that has achieved integration with an EMR, having done auto programming with the Plum A+/MedNet pump and Cerner's EMR at two hospitals.

"As a company, Hospira is ahead of the pack in terms of integration, but it is still very early in the game," Tate said. "Unfortunately Hospira also had the lowest performance score among the go-forward large-volume pumps; so that early success in integration hasn't yet translated into strong customer satisfaction."

The vendors highlighted in the Smart Pumps: Avoiding Buyer's Remorse report include Baxter, B. Braun, CareFusion (formerly Cardinal Health), Hospira and Smiths Medical.