Blog | Mobile Aspects

How To Prevent Endoscopes From Spreading Covid-19

November 5, 2020Sri Mandava Hospital Management Infection Control Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance

As Covid-19 continues to spread across the US and other countries around the world, hospitals must do all they can to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks within their walls. One potential way that Covid-19 could spread undetected is through the use of improperly disinfected endoscopes on patients.

Cori Ofstead of Ofstead and Associates has been studying the effects of poorly disinfected scopes on patient safety for many years. The epidemiologist and researcher recently released some guidelines on how to properly reprocess bronchoscopes to keep patients free from any risk of Covid-19 infection. As this article by Judith M. Mathias at OR Manager discussed:

“Reusable bronchoscopes must be cleaned and disinfected or sterilized between uses. After a bronchoscope is used, the basic reprocessing steps recommended in standards include point-of-use precleaning, thorough mechanical or manual cleaning, high-level disinfection or sterilization, drying, and secure storage.

To ensure those steps work, basic quality checks must be performed. These checks are considered the five pillars of quality assurance and are recommended in national standards and guidelines:

visual inspections

leak testing

cleaning verification tests

minimum effective concentration tests or chemical or biological indicators for sterilized bronchoscopes

drying verification tests.

The problem, Ofstead says, is that reprocessing quality in the field is very poor. Audits performed at three sites found:

Site A did most of the steps properly, but their point-of-care precleaning and visual inspections didn’t meet the standards.

Sites B and C did almost nothing in accordance with minimum standards and the manufacturer’s instructions for safely reprocessing bronchoscopes.

Sites A, B, and C were handling patient-ready bronchoscopes with their bare hands.

Sites B and C had dirty reprocessing and storage areas as well as inadequate dirty-to-clean workflow.

Site B had intentionally disabled cycles in their automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) to save time. “They turned off the cleaning cycle because it saved them 20 minutes, and it saved them money because they didn’t have to use any detergent,” says Ofstead.

Site C skipped leak testing and manual cleaning and relied on their AERs to handle those steps.

Ofstead says in some cases, they saw nurses or technologists skipping a step. In one case, Ofstead took a bronchoscope out of a transport bin in the reprocessing area and found a thick, mucus-like residue all over the bin, and a closer look revealed blood clots amid the mucus.

“This did not bode well for reprocessing effectiveness because substantial blood and soil remained in the scope for a lengthy period of time after the procedure, potentially hardening in the channel and fostering the growth of biofilm,” Ofstead says.

She and her team also found the manual cleaning station in the reprocessing suite of a large urban hospital had multiple infractions, such as dirty sinks, puddles of pink fluid on the floor, discolored irrigation tubing filled with a brown substance, and faucets without foot pedals.”

Read the entire article here: Faulty bronchoscope reprocessing raises risks of infection transmission

As the article notes, hospitals must ensure staff are trained on general infection control principles and must adhere to reprocessing best practices. To ensure that your staff is following reprocessing best practices on every scope they disinfect or sterilize, install additional checks and balances into your workflow so that you can document that your staff is following the same process each time. Software systems such as iRIScope have been introduced in recent years to help hospitals and surgery centers ensure that each of their flexible endoscopes is reprocessed the proper way each time, and documentation of their reprocessing is kept electronically using advanced RFID technology. These systems safeguard the scope disinfection process by employing artificial intelligence to determine if scopes are adequately reprocessed before their next use. With these systems in place, staff and patients can be more confident that their endoscope-related procedure won’t result in a life-threatening infection such as Covid-19.

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Texas Health System Successfully Reprocesses N95 Masks Using Hydrogen Peroxide

October 29, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Infection Control Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

With the US projected to continue to have a shortage of N95 masks for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, several hospitals are testing various methods of sterilizing masks to enable multiple uses. Researchers at the Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center in Houston recently oversaw a series of tests where N95 masks were reprocessed using hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV).

In the study, the researchers first established a pilot using various N95 masks to test the validity of the HPV sterilization method. The researchers then established protocols for recapturing, reprocessing and redistributing masks across the health system. As the study published in the American Journal of Infection Control explains:

“The recapturing phase encompasses collection of N95 masks after use for return to the reprocessing location, the reprocessing phase encompasses the Bioquell decontamination, and the return phase is the process of returning masks to central supply or the original uses. These three phases constitute one cycle of N95 salvaging.

…Overall recapture rate [of masks] is approximately 86%. Most common reasons for not returning were inconvenient location of return bins. This has been addressed with smaller bins placed outside patients’ rooms and throughout the units

Results

Recapture Outcomes

Across all the hospitals within the system, total count of reprocessing cycles as counted by discrete number of reprocessed masks, is 45,554. Approximately 25% (average over multiple cycles) are soiled or damaged after visual inspection. Soiled masks are primarily due to staining with make-up. The communication department developed a “Bare to Spare” campaign which encouraged no make-up use below the eyes. Make-up remover wipes are also now included in the bag containing the N95.

Return Outcomes

Across the hospital system, 34,125 masks have been returned for reuse. At our campus, 8,995 masks have been returned to central supply to be allocated for reuse.

Cost and savings

Reprocessing cost per mask is approximately $1.47. The cost decreases as volume of masks to be reprocessed increases and at capacity would be 0.57-0.61 cents per mask. Commercial companies are now offering a similar service and cost to send masks out for reprocessing averages $1.65-$3.25 per mask. Cost savings for in house processing versus send out calculated by the numbers of masks reprocessed to date is $8,200 – 81,000.

Conclusion

Our study is the first to use HPV technology on a large scale to reprocess N95s within a healthcare system. Previous studies have reported this method of reprocessing on a smaller scale with similar results. Commercial companies are now offering HPV services for N95 masks. Hospitals must ship the masks to the company and then wait for mask return. Having the ability to reprocess masks within our facility allows us to return masks back in to circulation more rapidly. The success of the program hinged on collaboration across multiple hospital departments, and is an example of the collaboration needed to respond to an ever-changing environment. The SARS-CoV2 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to the healthcare system which can only be overcome with unique and innovative solutions.”

Read the full study here: Reprocessing N95s with Hydrogen peroxide vaporization: A robust system from collection to dispensing

For hospitals considering a process to decontaminate PPE to allow for multiple uses during the pandemic, they must have a reliable system in place to make sure they get maximum use out of the PPE without exceeding their internal reprocessing limits. Hospitals should also ensure that employees are only able to check out one mask at a time to ensure an adequate supply for all frontline workers. Mobile Aspects is working with select healthcare systems on a novel tracking system to track PPE including N95 masks to make sure that maximum usage is reached without exceeding published guidelines. Contact us via our website to find out more.

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Ensure Employee Accountability With A Vocera Tracking System

October 23, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency The Business of Surgery

Many hospitals have implemented Vocera smartbadges throughout their campus in order to improve communication between employees. These devices have become ubiquitous in some of the busiest areas of the hospital to help improve collaboration and reachability. However, due to the sheer number of smartbadges in circulation at some hospitals, tracking and maintaining the devices has become a logistical nightmare.

Employees at most hospitals are trusted to properly take and return Vocera batteries as needed. Batteries are typically placed in chargers at the end of the work day, and taken in the morning at the beginning of the next day. Most hospitals employ an “honor system” to track the whereabouts of Vocera batteries, while others employ a pen and paper log to track movement. However, these systems do not put enough accountability on employees and do a poor job of reducing the shrinkage of batteries. Due to this lax oversight, thousands of dollars are spent on replacement batteries every year. Additionally, these lost batteries cost many hours of labor time per month in employees tracking down missing batteries and putting in orders for new batteries as they go missing.

What hospitals are missing to ensure a higher level of employee accountability is a system that will automatically track batteries as they are checked in and out of storage. To that end, Mobile Aspects recently released a specialized system to effectively track the movement of Vocera smartbadge batteries while providing a convenient charging station for employees. iRISupply RE uses RFID-enabled cabinets that automatically detect when batteries are loaded or removed. Employees can only access the batteries after logging in to the cabinet using their hospital ID badge, so all batteries they remove are associated directly to them. This allows hospitals to monitor which employees are misplacing the most batteries for accountability purposes and re-train employees as needed. The cabinets are also outfitted with battery chargers so the batteries can recharge while being stored.

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Academic Medical Centers and IDNs Need To Invest In An Enterprise-Wide Supply Tracking System

October 16, 2020Sri Mandava Clinical Documentation Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Revenue Cycle Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

More than ever, today’s healthcare environment is calling for hospitals and health systems to rein in their costs. With all of the pressures of Covid-19 placed on top of prior concerns such as declining reimbursements and the shift to value-based care, hospitals are quickly looking to reduce costs while maintaining high standards of care.

One area that is ripe for extreme waste reduction is supply management. Supplies are the second highest expense bucket for hospitals after labor and they are often managed with inefficient processes and outdated technologies. Across a large hospital or a health system, these inefficiencies can result in tens of millions of dollars in waste each year. The waste can come from several factors including overstocked inventories, losses from product expirations, missed charge capture and labor inefficiencies, which combined can exceed 8 figures in value for larger healthcare providers.

Even if we know that large academic medical centers and integrated health networks are experiencing such losses each year, what can they do? The best solution is an automated supply tracking system that increases the quality of documentation while simultaneously reducing the effort required to complete that same documentation. Many hospitals and health systems today are evaluating RFID-based supply tracking systems for the following reasons:

They reduce the costs from overstocking. Smart, RFID-based supply tracking systems are able to track real-time inventories without reconciliations, and keep an accurate record of inventory usage. With this data, these systems offer up valuable insights that help to continuously improve PAR levels and optimize stocking levels. Hospitals typically suffer from overstocking or hoarding as a reaction to running out of stock when it is most needed. By having great data and planning properly, inventory levels can be minimized while ensuring stockouts no longer happen.
They improve documentation in EMRs. Because electronic medical records have been such a large investment for hospitals over the last decade, hospitals are always on the lookout for ways to improve the quality of their EMR documentation. Setting up an interface with the EMR will improve quality by electronically documenting supply usage in the patient medical record. This reduces the amount of time clinicians need to spend documenting supplies and also reduces human errors. This allows clinicians in the room during procedures to focus on patient care rather than manually documenting the supplies used.
They increase efficiency for materials management staff. Advanced supply tracking systems reduce the amount of manual work required to manage and re-order supplies. The biggest time savers are the elimination of reconciling inventory to produce an accurate on-hand inventory count and reduction in “eyeballing” inventory for daily re-orders. Additionally, setting up an interface with the materials management system will automatically re-order inventory and reduce the time employees spend managing inventory. As mentioned before, the right system will even recommend optimal PAR levels, saving staff even more time.
They capture more charges. With an advanced supply tracking system, billings for procedures will improve because of the highly accurate records of items being used for patients. This will increase charge capture and resulting reimbursements for supplies and provide a large ROI on the investment required to bring in the system. In fact, this will be the single biggest financial improvement from an advanced supply tracking system, as hospitals tend to miss billing for around 15% of their used supplies. After all, if an item is not documented then it cannot be billed for, and these systems greatly improve supply documentation.
They standardize processes and data. A large initiative that most large hospitals and health systems are currently undertaking is the standardization of their systems and processes. By moving to standardization, hospitals can eliminate differences from department to department and health systems can eliminate differences from hospital to hospital. These changes will reduce the time it takes to train and implement these systems once they are established. They will also standardize the data coming out of their system so that it becomes easy to compare performance across departments and hospitals. With this data in hand, hospitals can determine best practices and implement them across the board to constantly improve performance.

Implementing an enterprise-wide supply tracking system is one move large hospitals and health systems can make to improve their finances while standardizing processes and data. If your hospital or health system currently lacks the ability to reap the benefits mentioned above, consider a system such as iRISupply. The system uses RFID technology to keep a perpetually accurate count of inventory and captures patient to supply association right at the point of dispensing from the cabinet. The smart cabinets, when combined with interfaces to the EMR and materials management system, greatly reduce the documentation burden on clinicians while improving data flow throughout the hospital or health system. Additionally, the system’s powerful, built-in analytics allow for continuous improvement by providing real-time statistics about your inventory. For example, you can identify slow-moving or unused items that may need adjustments, leading to a more efficient and profitable operation.
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How To Improve Documentation Compliance With A Bloodbag Tracking System

October 14, 2020Sri Mandava Blood Management Hospital Management Infection Control Joint Commission Operating Rooms Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance The Business of Surgery

Emergency rooms are some of the most hectic workplaces in America. With daily arrivals of trauma patients and other patients in major distress, processes often break down in the face of life-and-death emergencies. In situations like these, hospitals must rely on their established systems to ensure that required documentation and other workflows are completed as designed to ensure the highest levels of patient safety.

One closely regulated supply that most emergency departments carry, and that they must document with high standards, are bloodbags. These are crucial supplies for extreme trauma cases where blood needs to be provided to the patient. During these trauma cases, processes are not always followed due to the extreme pressure placed on staff to move with speed in order to save the patients who come in. While that may be their reality, hospitals still have to keep accurate records of their bloodbag usage for accreditation and billing purposes.

Today, most hospital emergency departments rely on manual systems or cumbersome electronic systems to keep track of their bloodbag documentation. Due to the extra time required to fill out these manual logs or interact with burdensome electronic solutions, data may be captured in an incomplete manner or skipped altogether. This leaves gaps in bloodbag documentation that jeopardize a hospital’s ability to pass accreditation inspections, and may also lead to missed revenue or incomplete medical records due to missing data.

To adequately track usage information around bloodbags in a busy emergency department, hospitals need an electronic documentation system that gathers crucial information without requiring a lot of extra work from employees. This will ensure a high level of compliance by staff, improving the department’s accreditation compliance and charge capture. iRISecure – Blood Tracking was introduced to capture documentation around bloodbag usage with minimal effort from staff. The system utilizes “touch-free” RFID technology to capture pertinent information, such as serial numbers, blood type and expiration dates, at the point of dispensation from the blood storage refrigerator. The system automatically associates the blood information to the patient and interfaces with your electronic medical record (EMR) system to send that information directly to the patient record. With this system in place, accreditation surveys will be a breeze and you’ll capture 100% of bloodbags used while reducing the documentation burden on your staff.

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How One Hospital Increased Endoscopic Ultrasound Volume By Over 25 Percent

October 2, 2020Sri Mandava Hospital Finance Hospital Management Managing Endoscopes Operational Efficiency

Department managers in hospitals are under more pressure than ever to run an efficient, profitable operation. With Covid-19 wreaking havoc on hospital finances, each department is being leaned on to find efficiencies and eliminate waste in order to ensure a profitable operation for a post-Covid environment. One way that departments have sought to improve profitability is by generating more revenue without increasing the usage of fixed resources.

Many Endoscopy departments have undertaken efforts to increase their volume without significantly increasing costs in order to improve their bottom line. By increasing the number of cases using the same number of procedure rooms and the same staff, Endoscopy departments can quickly improve profitability. Recently a major academic medical center on the West Coast undertook a project to figure out how to increase their volume of Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) procedures that they were conducting weekly.

Prior to the project, the Endoscopy Department staff were continually disappointed about the number of EUS cases performed each week. Despite having the proper staff and procedure capacity, they often found themselves running behind and unable to complete their case load. As part of their EUS capacity optimization project, they analyzed the data coming out of their endoscope management software iRIScope. The department staff saw through the data that its EUS scopes were being over-used and reprocessing turnaround time was taking too long when compared to other endoscope models the department was using. This was causing a downstream effect of a reduced number of EUS procedures that could be completed day.

The conclusion of the project came with the recommendation that the Endoscopy department increase the number of EUS scopes that they kept in their fleet. By doing so, they would have enough scopes on hand to meet their case load while allowing the proper time for endoscopes to be reprocessed. Upon purchasing the new EUS scopes, the Endoscopy department was able to increase their EUS procedure volume by over 25% without significant investment. By making an upfront outlay in the tens of thousands of dollars, they are receiving an annual return on investment in the high six figures.

The power of reviewing real-time analytics coming from the hospital’s iRIScope system was the basis for the decision that is leading to an improvement of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the hospital’s bottom line. If your hospital relies on manual processes and paper trails to capture data around endoscope utilization and reprocessing, finding opportunities to improve your department’s operations will prove to be a challenge. iRIScope was introduced ensure hospitals follow a standardized reprocessing cycle for flexible endoscopes while automatically documenting each step along the way. In doing so, Endoscopy Departments gathers numerous data points that allow them to continuously monitor their workflows and make improvements to efficiency and patient safety, including producing volume improvements like this hospital did.
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Having Trouble Tracking Scopes That Are Being Repaired? This Technology Can Help

September 25, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Managing Endoscopes Operating Rooms Supply Chain

Endoscopes, as flexible instruments that frequently need to be repaired due to wear and tear, often become very difficult to track as they leave and enter the hospital. Managers of Endoscopy and PeriOperative departments may see a constant stream of endoscopes being sent out for repair and loaner scopes being sent back to them for “temporary” use. It is quite often a challenge for Endoscopy departments, especially busy ones, to track their scopes that are sent out for repair with the proper scrutiny.

Due to poor tracking of scopes out for repair, it is all too common for loaner scopes to become a permanent part of a hospital’s scope fleet – they are hard to track and without proper documentation it is hard to know when they’re due to be sent back to the vendor. They can be a source of unnecessary and frequent charges from your vendors.

Scopes sent back to the vendor for repair are typically fixed over varying and unpredictable time frames, depending on the severity of the damage. The loaner scopes that are sent back to the hospital are intended to be used while the original scope is out for repair. However, what often ends up really happening is that the repaired scope comes back from the manufacturer while the loaner scope remains at the hospital, creating excess inventory. The fees from keeping the loaner scope too long usually begin shortly after the original returns, and without proper oversight the fees from keeping loaner scopes can become significant. Additionally, loaner scopes can, and quite often do, get lost. It may be a temporary or permanent loss of the scopes, but either way if the loaner scope isn’t found when the vendor asks for it, you may get hit with an unexpected bill.

All of the complexities around scopes that go out for repair and the loaner scopes that come in to replace them require a team member to constantly watch over a hospital’s scope inventory. Many hospitals use a spreadsheet to track the scopes as they go in and out, but many others have no system and just hope for the best. However, several hospitals are currently in the market for a system that can better track their scopes both inside and outside of the hospital. Academic medical centers and large health systems especially require a solution due to the sheer number of repair and loaner scopes they have track at any given time.

Thankfully, a system called iRIScope includes a specific module to track scopes as they go out for repair, including the description of the damage, timestamp of when the scope was sent for repair and the time elapsed since the scope left the hospital. A newly released feature also helps hospitals manage their loaner scope inventory. When loaner scopes reach the end of their term, iRIScope can send proactive alerts to notify techs that loaner scopes need to be returned to the vendor. iRIScope tracks the usage levels of loaner scopes so you can make sure you keep loaner scope usage to a minimal level when possible. iRIScope also helps track down missing loaner scopes by recording a real-time chain of custody of scopes so missing scopes can be identified and tracked down immediately. iRIScope helps to mitigate all of the risks associated with loaner scopes as part of its best in class scope tracking capabilities. iRIScope will also help manage all of the usage, reprocessing and repair details of your entire scope inventory, and will offer up actionable analytics on how to improve the management of your expensive scopes. Built in patient safety features also minimize the risk from adverse health events caused by inadequately reprocessed scopes.

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PENTAX Medical Enters Into An Agreement To Distribute Scope Tracking Software and Cabinets

September 17, 2020Sri Mandava Hospital Management Infection Control Joint Commission Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance

PENTAX Medical, a healthcare industry leader in diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy solutions, announced today a distribution agreement with Mobile Aspects for its iRIScope software and iRIScope cabinets product line.

Under the terms of the agreement, PENTAX Medical will serve as a United States sales agent of iRIScope software and iRIScope cabinets.

The iRIScope system from Mobile Aspects is a flexible endoscope tracking system that utilizes barcode and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID). RFID can detect additions or removals of endoscopes without manual human input and identifies the endoscope that is used on each patient. The iRIScope system provides the benefits of regulatory compliance, decreased risk of cross-contamination, and increased efficiency by tracking endoscope usage. Additionally, Mobile Aspects offers iRIScope locking cabinets that meet endoscope storage guidelines via the use of HEPA filters, as well as positive pressure and optional channel drying. These iRIScope cabinets function as an optimal security system for endoscopes.

“Our commitment at PENTAX Medical is to provide our customers with solutions that help improve clinical outcomes and help efficiently manage healthcare costs while enhancing the patient experience. We are delighted to partner with Mobile Aspects, an organization that echoes this devotion,” said Gerald W. Bottero, Global President of PENTAX Medical. “The iRIScope system enables PENTAX Medical to provide a revolutionary endoscope safety and tracking solution to all hospitals and healthcare facilities in the U.S.”

“Mobile Aspects is proud to partner with PENTAX Medical to deliver the most comprehensive safety and endoscope management solution available,” said Suneil Mandava, President and CEO of Mobile Aspects. “We are excited to bring the expertise from both teams to deliver the best solution of this type to PENTAX Medical’s large customer base. iRIScope is the single truly complete endoscope management system that will work in a facility or across a health system to drive patient safety, meet regulatory requirements, and provide data for further cost savings.”

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Several Studies Take A Look At The Effectiveness Of Sterilizing N95 Masks

September 2, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Infection Control Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

As Covid-19 continues to persist in many parts of the country, many US hospitals find themselves struggling to keep up with demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees. Any expected surges of Covid-19 in the fall or winter of this year could potentially lead to hospital workers being put in needless danger of catching the extremely infectious coronavirus if PPE supplies continue to run low.

Masks, specifically N95 and similar masks, continue to be one of the most sought-after pieces of PPE that hospitals continue to stockpile. Some states, such as California, are even requiring hospitals to maintain a minimum amount of PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic. With all of these pressure points, some hospitals are getting creative in setting up re-use policies for N95 masks and other PPE. This article by Christopher Cheney at HealthLeaders takes a look at various studies that have been done on sterilization of N95 masks:

“Research on sterilizing N95 respirator masks for reuse includes four recent articles.

Viable alternatives to new N95 masks

Used N95 respirator masks treated with ethylene oxide or vaporized hydrogen peroxide maintain their filtration efficiency, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine. Steam sterilization distorted 1860 N95 respirator masks, rendering them unsuitable for reuse; however, steam sterilization of 1870+ Aura face masks was effective, with the masks retaining more than 95% fitted filtration efficiency after a single sterilization cycle, the study found.

The JAMA Internal Medicine study also found that N95 respirator masks as many as 11 years past their expiration date maintained their filtration efficiency.

Four N95 decontamination methods effective

A recent research article, which was published in JAMA Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, identifies four decontamination methods that can recycle N95 masks without compromising the fit of the masks or the filtering material. The sterilization methods identified are ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, vaporized hydrogen peroxide, steam treatment, and dry heat treatment.

Steam sterilization for N95 masks

Two recent studies show steam can effectively decontaminate medical masks including N95 respirator masks.

A research team in China published a study in the Journal of Medical Virology on using steam to sanitize surgical masks and N95 respirators. The sanitization process, which used avian coronavirus of infectious bronchitis virus to mimic the novel coronavirus, was simple. Contaminated masks were placed in plastic bags and steamed over boiling tap water in a kitchen pot.

Researchers at Houston Methodist Research Institute in Houston published a steam sanitization study for N95 respirator masks in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. The study featured five test subjects to verify mask fit after the decontamination process and a more sophisticated steam treatment method than the Chinese study.”

Read the full article here: 4 Research Articles on N95 Respirator Mask Sterilization Methods

For hospitals considering a process to decontaminate PPE to allow for multiple uses during the pandemic, they must have a reliable system in place to make sure they get maximum use out of the PPE without exceeding published guidance. Hospitals should also ensure that employees are only able to check out one mask at a time to ensure adequate supply for all frontline workers. Mobile Aspects is working with select healthcare systems on a novel tracking system to track PPE including N95 masks to make sure that maximum usage is reached without exceeding published guidelines. Contact us via our website to find out more.

How An Interface Between Your Inventory Management System and Electronic Medical Record Can Drive Serious ROI

August 27, 2020Sri Mandava Clinical Documentation Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Revenue Cycle Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

Many hospitals utilize inventory management software to track the usage of their implants and supplies in order to know when to re-order them. They can also mine this data to understand which products are overstocked or understocked and can update their PAR levels as required. This can lead to an effective and efficient inventory management program that minimizes stock-outs and maximizes inventory turns.

While the financial benefits from successfully carrying out an efficient inventory management process more than pays for the system, a lot of hospitals may be leaving a lot of additional ROI on the table. An interface between an inventory management system and a hospital’s electronic medical record (EMR) system can provide additional financial returns to hospitals that undertake such a project.

The integration of a hospital’s inventory management software to its EMR can have numerous benefits. The biggest one is the ability of the interface to reduce the manual documentation requirement placed on nurses and techs. When documenting implants and supplies during a procedure, clinicians in the room are asked to select each item used from a drop-down list in the EMR and then fill in specific details about each item such as time of implant and laterality. Some hospitals ease this documentation burden by using barcode technology to allow staff to simply scan in items that are being used. However, both systems are error-prone and can cause an undue burden on clinicians during a procedure when their attention should be on the patient in the room.

Additionally, this same interface with the EMR can also help reduce the billing documentation burden on your staff. By having supply information flow over to your billing system, which is often on the same platform as the EMR, an additional documentation requirement for clinical staff can now be automated. With these interfaces set up, clinicians will now be saved from having to double- or even triple-document implant and supply usage data across multiple systems.

In order to enable this interface, there are 2 major requirements. The first requirement is that your inventory management system allows items to be assigned to patients either at the point of removal from inventory or at the point of use. Without this crucial information being captured, the interface with the EMR will not be of any value. The second requirement is coordinating the work with your inventory management software vendor, your internal IT group and potentially your EMR vendor as well. Though there may be some upfront costs with your software vendors and some internal IT costs as well, the resulting reduction in work for your staff and increase in documentation quality will pay for this interface many times over.

If you are evaluating inventory management software vendors, or are having issues completing an interface with your current vendor, consider iRISupply from Mobile Aspects. iRISupply was built with the purpose of automating clinical documentation on top of providing all the standard benefits of an inventory management system. Using barcode and RFID technologies, iRISupply captures patient information about each item used at the point of dispensation or the point of use. With this data then automatically sent over to the patient record and billing systems, much of the manual work being done by clinicians can be eliminated.

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