Today, more than 3 million Class II and III medical devices have UDI barcodes. With the right system, it is possible to scan UDI barcodes to draw information about expiration dates, lot numbers, and lots more into an inventory control system. This means the entire inventory count can be done in hours, instead of days, and afterwards, all inventory can be reviewed to evaluate the reality of a hospital’s supplies and identify problem devices and situations.

Last month, for example, SxanPro used its UDI-based scanning system to perform an inventory audit at a large hospital system in Colorado. We went through the supply rooms in three hospitals and scanned a total of 60,000 items. This is what we found:


● 1,112 expired items
● 369 recalled items from 17 recalls, including 23 percent implantable items
● Hundreds of devices that were no longer used

After examining these results with the hospital system:

● 369 recalled items were removed.
● $107,000 was paid in credits for recalled products from product manufacturers.
● $413,768 worth of devices with short shelf life were transferred to other facilities.
● And $401,000 worth of supplies were identified as no-move items that could be removed from the par location.

Expired and recalled items should never be found in a hospital supply room. When they are, there is a good chance they will be used on a patient. Current inventory management systems allow the hospital to record what devices they have and monitor supplies. What they don’t do is to perform the inventory control function that UDI-based scanning technology can provide. Given the reality of today’s hospital operations, this is critical both from a safety and a financial perspective.

About the author: Ashlea Souffrou is the founder and president of SxanPro.

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