How Your Medical Devices Can Tell You When They’re About To Expire

A recent survey conducted by Cardinal Health showed that 24% of hospital staff have seen or heard of an expired product being used on a patient during a procedure (original article here). This comes as no surprise, as we have witnessed the usage of expired inventory at hospitals first-hand.  Without the proper processes and vigilance […]

How Your Medical Devices Can Tell You When They’re About To Expire Read More »

How To Make Your Scopes Tell You When They’re Missing

All successful endoscopy practices within private practices and hospitals face the same dilemma – how do I track down scopes that have gone missing? With numerous docs, interns, techs and nurses all having access to all the scopes in your facility, it’s a near impossibility to keep track of all of your scopes with 100%

How To Make Your Scopes Tell You When They’re Missing Read More »

Be Transparent With Physicians on Pricing to Drive More Value

One of the biggest obstacles to value analysis teams within hospitals is physicians who are reluctant to switch devices or vendors.  Physicians often grow attached to certain medical devices, with good reason – they have been proven to work for them and their patients.  Often times, showing evidence that a substitute item with similar functionality

Be Transparent With Physicians on Pricing to Drive More Value Read More »

How To Make Your Scopes Tell You When They Need To Be Washed

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the number of days a flexible endoscope can safely be in storage before another cleaning is required. Different medical societies like SGNA, ASGE, AORN and APIC have come out with guidance on what the appropriate hang-time limits are. Some hospitals that we’ve talked to have listened

How To Make Your Scopes Tell You When They Need To Be Washed Read More »

The Dangers Of Copy-And-Paste In Your Medical Records

With the seemingly endless amount of information clinicians are required to enter into medical records software each day, it comes as no surprise that doctors and other hospital staff are looking for short-cuts to reduce their documentation burden.  At our customers, we’ve seen copying and pasting of data from templates or other patient records to

The Dangers Of Copy-And-Paste In Your Medical Records Read More »

The Risk Of Improperly Trained Staff In The Endoscopy Suite

A recent incident in the Philadelphia area reminds us of the dangers that can result from improperly trained staff in the endoscopy area of a hospital.  In the incident, an elderly patient undergoing a surgical procedure had an improperly cleaned endoscope used on them during their procedure.  The incident occurred at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, outside

The Risk Of Improperly Trained Staff In The Endoscopy Suite Read More »

Why Patient Outcomes Improve During Joint Commission Surveys

A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that mortality of patients during Joint Commission surveys was reduced by 6% compared to before and after the surveys.  The study, authored by Andrew Olenski, Michael Barnett and Anupam Jena, attributed the improved patient outcomes to the “Hawthorne Effect.”  The “Hawthorne Effect” suggests that people actively

Why Patient Outcomes Improve During Joint Commission Surveys Read More »

How Big Data In The OR Saved One Health System Nearly $10 Million Last Year

Big data has been a buzzword in the healthcare industry for the past few years, but more often than not, the benefits of big data have been hard to quantify. Not so for St. Louis, Missouri-based Mercy health system.  Mercy has recently turned big data findings in the perioperative area of their hospitals into savings

How Big Data In The OR Saved One Health System Nearly $10 Million Last Year Read More »

Why Case Mix Index Matters To Your Hospital And How To Maximize It

In talking with our hospital customers, case mix index (CMI) often comes up as a source of confusion and misunderstanding by clinical staff.  CMI is widely tracked by employees on the financial side of the hospital, but not monitored nearly as closely on the clinical side, so its impact is widely misunderstood.  CMI is an

Why Case Mix Index Matters To Your Hospital And How To Maximize It Read More »

Are You Able To Inspect What You Expect?

In hospitals, endoscopy, perioperative, sterile processing and infection control teams have done a wonderful job of teaming up together to implement solutions for effective flexible endoscope management. This area has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest, area of scrutiny by Joint Commission and other surveying agencies in the past 1.5 years. We

Are You Able To Inspect What You Expect? Read More »