By Brian White

In an era of unprecedented focus on the cost of healthcare, the pressure for hospitals to run more efficiently is at an all-time high. As the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act continues, many hospitals are facing declining reimbursements while trying to contain costs.

To address financial challenges, healthcare leaders are enrolling in various cost-cutting programs and attending industry conferences to learn about the latest strategies to improve operational efficiency. The search to find new ways to make every dollar go further can be daunting. There are, however, some tried and true methods that have simply gone unnoticed by some hospitals and health systems.
Overlooked cost-savings strategies

Huron Healthcare performed an analysis of its Performance Improvement Database to uncover untapped opportunities. The report, "Ten Overlooked Opportunities For Significant Performance Improvement and Cost Savings," identified a variety of cost savings strategies that ranged from managing purchased services, such as printing and banking, to improving ambulatory throughput in physician offices.

One of the top ten strategies that naturally caught my attention was reprocessing single-use medical devices (SUDs). Based upon the short history of third-party reprocessing, I'm not at all surprised that it made this list despite the big impact it is having at many of the nation's leading health systems.

According to the Huron Healthcare report, the average potential cost savings opportunity resulting from the purchase of reprocessed SUDs is 15 to 40 percent or $175,000-$315,000 annually (dollar figures based on a 350-bed hospital with $365 million net patient revenue).

Looking at the bigger picture, the cost savings add up quickly. Reprocessing safely saves healthcare systems hundreds of millions of dollars in supply chain expenses and prevents thousands of tons of medical waste from entering landfills every year. The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR) estimates that if just two percent of all medical devices labeled "single-use" by the manufacturers could be reprocessed, the healthcare industry would save almost $2 billion every year.

Because the impact of reprocessing can be so significant, it begs the question: why is this valuable cost savings strategy overlooked by some hospitals? Sometimes, lack of education on the science behind reprocessing and the strong safety record of third-party reprocessors may be the reason. The best way to address these misconceptions is through education. Stryker actively engages its hospital partners to thoroughly educate them on the facts supporting reprocessing. Many informed clinicians see the value in reprocessing. We often welcome our customers and prospective customers to tour our manufacturing facilities so they can see the extent to which process control and testing ensure the safety and efficacy of every device.

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