Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

What's the Harm? - December 2015 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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2 9 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 2. Prune your supply kits Reviewing the contents of OR procedure kits and packs and elimi- nating items that largely go unused saves an average of $1,028 per kit, according to Practice Greenhealth's Healthier Hospitals 2015 Milestone Report (osmag.net/DK4Qej). At the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in Baltimore, staff monitored the contents of their packs and identified an unused or return rate of more than 10%. Since 2010, they have reduced the return rate to 1.2%, which resulted in savings in 2014 of more than $140,000. 3. Move (back) to reusables More than 80% of Practice Greenhealth's award-winning hospitals use reusable devices in the OR. According to Practice Greenhealth, UMMC moved to reusable textiles more than 15 years ago, and in 2010, diverted 138,748 pounds of waste and saved $38,850 in avoided waste disposal costs. The medical center also saved $39,000 in returned instruments alone. Kaiser Permanente reduced its regulated medical waste (RMW) by 3.8% and diverted 30 tons of medical waste by using reusable surgical gowns and basin sets. 4. Segregate regulated medical waste With minimal upfront or capital costs, you can save big on RMW. All it takes is education, benchmarking, staff training, appropriate receptacle size, color and placement, as well as regular auditing and data tracking. Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center achieved a 47% reduction in RMW, divert- ing 28,795 pounds of waste and saving $89,000. By diverting and recycling surgical waste, Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., decreased RMW in its ORs by 18.6% over a 6-month period, resulting in $15,000 in savings.

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