Healthcare providers considering a reprocessing program for certain supply chain items have access to a new online tool to determine the potential cost savings and reduction in waste.
Ascent, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based division of the Stryker Corporation, has announced the availability of a online costs savings calculator calculator on its website. The new tool uses data from other Ascent customers to estimate the cost savings and waste reduction potential by adopting reprocessing as a best practice.
Reprocessing programs are in use in more than half of the top hospitals identified recently by the U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll. According to Ascent officials, they’ve been proven successful in the OR, the EP lab and with non-invasive, open/unused or expired medical devices.
“Hospitals across the country are closely analyzing supply costs for ways to improve bottom line numbers and quality of care. For a hospital that is looking for creative solutions to cut costs, the Ascent calculator offers tangible data that can be used to estimate the financial impact of reprocessing,” said Lars Thording, Ascent’s senior director of marketing and public affairs, in a press release. “The numbers speak for themselves. After using this tool, we hope more hospitals will see reprocessing as a smart way to improve supply chain operations, thus enabling resource diversion to support other quality care initiatives.”
Ascent officials say a reprocessed device can cost roughly half as much as a new, single-use OEM device. According to the calculator, a 250-bed hospital that implements a reprocessing program in its OR and EP lab could see as much as $1 million in savings (in purchase and disposal costs) in one year and reduce its waste output by 8,000 pounds.
“Some people might be surprised by the savings potential highlighted in the calculator. A facility’s ultimate savings potential takes time to realize. Savings for our customers typically increase each year as reprocessing is embraced as a cornerstone to supply chain strategy,” said Thording, while adding that the online tool “does not constitute a savings promise, nor does it show average savings for hospitals that reprocess.”
Formed in 2005 through the merger of the Alliance Medical Corporation of Phoenix and Vanguard Medical Concepts of Lakeland, Fla., Ascent is now working with more than 1,800 hospitals and health systems in the United States. Company officials estimate that Ascent reprocessing programs have helped hospitals divert 5.3 million pounds of medical waste from landfills each year.
Last year, Ascent became the sole provider of single-use device (SUD) reprocessing programs to 120 hospitals in VHA’s Upper Midwest Consolidated Service Center. And last month, the company made its sterile reprocessing services available to 120 members of the Premier healthcare alliance’s Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor (ASCEND) program.