How Patients Are Being Coached To Question Their Hospital’s Scope Cleaning Practices

With the numerous reports coming out lately about the difficulty in cleaning endoscopes and ensuring complete disinfection, the mainstream media has started to coach patients on how to select a hospital that’s right for their scope-related procedures. With the concern for scope safety increasing every day, facilities must now prepare to answer tough questions about […]

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UDI One Step Closer To Reality

The United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and its European equivalents are currently conducting a real-world pilot aimed at bringing unique device identifiers (UDIs) one step closer to reality. UDIs have been a long-term dream for many in healthcare, who view the ability to track and trace medical devices using unique item-level codes as

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Cost Control Takes Top 2 Spots In Survey Of Priorities For Hospital Executives

The Advisory Board recently shared the results of its Annual Health Care CEO Survey. The survey asked hospital CEOs to rank their concern over a wide range of topics across the healthcare spectrum. In a break from prior years, both of the top 2 concerns revolved around cost structure and management. While growing their hospitals

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How A Periodic Evaluation Of Your Consigned Inventory Can Save Your Hospital Millions

There are many reasons why hospitals choose to consign the expensive implants and supplies that they use in surgical settings. However, deciding to consign a product without continuously analyzing that decision can be costing your hospital millions of dollars each year. Read on to find out some best practices when it comes to reducing the

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Caught In The Act: Can You Stop Dirty Scopes From Being Stored With Your Clean Scopes?

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Your hospital has a great set of processes and protocols in place when it comes to reprocessing your flexible endoscopes. You even have a great system for logging clean scopes in and out of your scope storage areas. You believe that your staff are properly trained, re-certified and

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Study Shows Bronchoscopes Still Dirty After Reprocessing

A new study has shown that flexible bronchoscopes that were reprocessed according to institutional standards at several US hospitals were still found to be dirty in a majority of the cases. The study was presented at the 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) Conference. The study on bronchoscopes now joins other recent studies

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The 4 Steps Of An Endoscope Risk Assessment

Flexible endoscopes continue to make headlines due to the risk of infection stemming from their use on patients. Many hospitals find themselves in the unenviable position of determining how they can perform critical endoscope-based procedures while minimizing the risk of infection. There is ample evidence showing that endoscopes can spread life-threatening illnesses when not properly

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Infection Rates From Colonoscopies Greatly Exceed Prior Estimates

A recent study conducted by Johns Hopkins reveals that colonoscopies performed at ambulatory surgery centers lead to post-procedure infection rates that greatly surpass previous estimates. The study, sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, studied the results of colonoscopies and upper-GI endoscopies (EGDs) performed

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How One Health System Negotiated Its Way To $1.5 Million In Annual Savings On Ortho Implants

HonorHealth, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based health system with over $1.7 billion in annual revenues, recently undertook a process to identify cost savings opportunities across the system. Early on, the joint-replacement service line jumped out as a prime candidate for cost savings. An early analysis by the five hospital system and their group purchasing organization pointed out

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Expensive Medical Supplies Stolen From Hospitals

A medical supply rep from Maryland was recently charged in the theft of expensive medical kits from area hospitals that he later sold on eBay.  Each of the medical kits were sold for approximately $33,000 each, netting the man nearly $200,000. As this article from The Washington Post explains: “Burke Slater, 52, of Gaithersburg, was

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