Codonics Named a 2026 TAG Awards Winner for Connected Perioperative Medication Safety Platform
The Challenge of Disconnected OR Workflows
In an operating room, medication moves quickly. A vial is opened, a syringe is prepared, a medication is administered, and eventually any remaining medication has to be accounted for. The challenge is that the systems responsible for each part of that journey have not always been designed to work together.
Codonics set out to change that.
The company’s Perioperative Medication Safety Platform connects medication preparation, administration, inventory, electronic documentation, and controlled-substance waste into a more connected workflow. For its work advancing that approach, Codonics has been recognized as a 2026 TAG Awards winner for B2B Innovation.
The Safe Label System® at the Core
At the center of the platform is the company’s Safe Label System® (SLS), which starts with a simple action: scanning the manufacturer barcode on a medication vial or ampoule. From there, SLS verifies the medication and concentration against the hospital’s approved formulary and produces a standardized, machine-readable syringe label.
That single scan becomes much more than a label.
It can connect medication preparation with anesthesia cart inventory, electronic administration documentation through SLS-WAVE™, and, with Codonics’ Safe Waste System™ (SWS), controlled-substance waste and reconciliation.
The idea is straightforward: make the safer, more accountable action the action that fits naturally into the clinician’s workflow.
That matters because the operating room is not the place for additional complexity. Anesthesia providers are making time-sensitive clinical decisions while pharmacy, compliance, finance, quality, and IT teams need accurate information on the other side of the transaction. Codonics’ approach is designed to bridge those worlds without asking clinicians to stop what they are doing to create another data point.
Proven Impact and Clinical Results
The scale behind the platform is significant. Codonics reports that its technology is used in more than 1,200 hospitals and 16,400 operating rooms worldwide, with more than 23,000 SLS units sold. The platform has supported more than 281 million medication preparations and 70 million procedures, with the company reporting more than 2.1 million medication errors prevented.
The results at individual hospitals tell another part of the story.
At Children’s Hospital Colorado, SLS helped achieve 100% compliance across audited labeling requirements, along with a statistically significant improvement in charge capture and projected annual savings of more than $380,000 per 30,000 patients. At TriHealth, the implementation was associated with 50% fewer stock-outs, a 30% improvement in negative discrepancies, a 1,052-dose shrinkage improvement, and approximately $702,617 in annualized inventory-cost impact across 95 carts.
And Codonics is still extending the platform.
Its Safe Waste System is designed to bring the same point-of-care philosophy to controlled substances. In less than seven seconds, SWS is designed to identify the medication, measure and assay the remaining volume, render the waste non-retrievable, document the event, and create structured information for pharmacy reconciliation. The system is expected for commercial release in Q4 2026.
Recognition from TAG Awards Judges
That evolution was part of what caught the attention of the TAG Awards judges.
“Codonics demonstrates an impressive combination of thoughtful design, practical innovation, and measurable impact.”
That was the assessment of judge Anthony Lopez, who also highlighted the way Codonics connects anesthesia, pharmacy, inventory, and EHR data rather than creating another standalone process.
Judge Tim Parrish focused on another piece of the story: the timing and potential significance of SWS as hospitals face increasing expectations around controlled-substance accountability. He noted that the system could help close a longstanding compliance gap while saving time and reducing waste, while also pointing out that its full impact will become clearer after commercial deployment.
That combination is what makes Codonics’ work interesting. The innovation isn't simply about adding another piece of technology to the OR. It is about connecting pieces that already exist and turning routine clinical actions into reliable, useful data.
The TAG Awards recognize innovation that has substance behind it: thoughtful design, meaningful value, measurable impact, and execution that can stand up in the real world.
Codonics is a strong example of that philosophy in action.