FDA Clears Pentax Duodenoscope With Disposable Cap To Advance Safety

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently cleared the first duodenoscope with a disposable distal cap.  It is believed that the new feature will improve access for cleaning and reprocessing of duodenoscopes, leading to improved patient safety.  The Pentax model ED34-i10T duodenoscope is being released following a field correction issued earlier in 2017 […]

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Are Public Inspection Reports Coming?

Following the Wall Street Journal article that questioned the validity of The Joint Commission’s accreditation practices, the government has stepped up inquiries into the hospital accreditation process. The Joint Commission, as the largest accreditation agency, is now under increased scrutiny and hospitals may be exposed as a result. Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) has sent a

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Hospital Supplies– A $23 Billion Savings Opportunity?

A recent study by Navigant Consulting concluded that the average hospital could achieve supply savings of nearly $10 million annually, or 17.8%, by pursuing some basic strategic initiatives.  With hospital margins often hovering near breakeven, that is an additional $10 million in savings that can flow directly to the bottom line. The other key finding

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How to Set a Consignment Strategy

Consignment items have been a frequent subject of conversations we have with inventory managers in procedural areas of hospitals.  Many hospitals that we’ve visited have a mix of consigned and owned products in their inventory. However, when you dig deeper you’ll find that many supplies were added to inventory as consigned or owned for inconsistent

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How Much Is Consignment Costing Your Hospital?

In a walkthrough of a major academic hospital in the Northeast US, the Chief of Surgery was lamenting how little space she had for new operations. The new hybrid Operating Room she was planning was going to be larger than their typical OR, making the issues even worse. As we walked through the ORs, a

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Do You Hear Too Many Footsteps?

Today, most hospitals are starting to understand what items and supplies they use by looking at data coming out of their documentation or materials management systems.  Maybe they even go a step further to standardize on certain products (it seems like every hospital has a “Product Standardization Committee” and/or “Value Analysis Committee”). But does your

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Insights From a Scope Pro – Jhmeid Billingslea

This is part of a series of interviews being held with professionals who have deep expertise in the requirements and protocols around endoscope reprocessing in hospitals.  The goal is to learn about and educate on existing and emerging best practices in endoscope reprocessing.  I had a chance to sit down with Jhmeid Billingslea, the Director

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Minimizing Patient Risk Through Automated Inventory Management

For those directly involved with patient care, supply management for patient procedures or risk assessment, how does your team effectively manage the inventory of implantable items that are about to expire? Or more importantly, the items that are already expired? When we look at how the procedure areas in hospitals – ORs, Interventional Radiology, Cath

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Insights From a Scope Pro – Andy Young

This is the first in a series of interviews being held with professionals who have deep expertise in the requirements and protocols around endoscope reprocessing in hospitals.  The goal is to learn about and educate on existing and emerging best practices in endoscope reprocessing.  I had a chance to sit down with Andy Young, the

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The Importance of a Supply Chain Technology Strategy For Hospitals

The US Healthcare system lags behind the rest of American industries when it comes to using their supply chains as a competitive advantage.  Looking at Amazon, and its strategic use of its supply chain as a primary competitive advantage, highlights the differences between other industries and healthcare.  Amazon has invested billions of dollars to build

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