By Erin Broeske

Single-use device (SUD) reprocessing is utilized by more than 3,000 hospitals to help drive down the cost of supplies and reduce medical waste sent to landfills.

With the industry still ripe for growth, many health systems are setting goals to grow their savings year-over-year, in order to gain more value from their reprocessing program. This focused effort has helped Stryker customers grow their savings over 57 percent over the past six years. Growth will continue to rise, as a recent Global Medical Device Reprocessing market research report projects the industry will grow by 16.6 percent in the next five years.



Growing savings isn’t as simple as adding new devices to a facility’s mix of purchases, it takes a dedicated commitment from the health system and their reprocessing partner to achieve sustainable growth. In the last year, the reprocessing industry has focused on investments and innovations that make it easier for health systems to reprocess. Here are the most proven and effective ways for health systems to grow the value of their SUD reprocessing program.

Collections
Pulling back the curtain on some of the most successful reprocessing programs shows that increasing device collections is key to realizing value. Simply put, collections are critical to having reprocessed inventory available for purchase, and likewise, to sustaining and growing the value of SUD reprocessing. Not to mention, with every device collected, health systems minimize waste that ends up in landfills, ultimately reducing their environmental footprint and helping achieve sustainability goals. Even with all of the positive impact this program can have, health systems across the country continue to uncover opportunities to improve their collection performance. For instance, a 116-bed hospital in the Northwest turned its focus to increasing collections in 2017. To achieve this goal, they worked with their reprocessing partner to educate staff and increase collections on the general floor and in the electrophysiology (EP) lab. In one year, they have tripled the number of devices collected, helping them to save more than $460,000 and divert 27,309 pounds of waste. Educating staff on which devices can be collected and where they should be placed is one simple and effective way for health systems to improve their device collections. In support of this goal, some SUD reprocessors are taking it one step farther by providing incentives to reward customers who improve their collections. Focusing these programs on high volume devices, like pulse oximeters, can create a deeper sense of importance among staff about the greater impact collections and waste diversion can bring to their community.


Buyback
Collections are only one part of driving SUD reprocessing value. Another crucial function is buyback, which is where a majority of the savings are realized. To achieve the most value, health systems should aim to minimize the gap between collections and buyback – often referred to as reprocessing compliance or efficiency.In 2015, Practice Greenhealth reported that hospitals participating in its Greening the OR Initiative achieved a 57 percent reprocessing compliance rate, leaving a large margin for improvement. To help close that gap, some SUD reprocessors are helping create avenues to ensure more predictable and sustainable savings. Some SUD reprocessors help health systems reach their savings goals by meeting up to 100 percent of a hospital's annual usage for a product on select devices. This allows hospitals to maximize reprocessing value above and beyond what they are able to capture through their device collections.

Another avenue some SUD reprocessors have taken is partnering with OEMs to sell a blend of new and reprocessed devices so that hospitals have one, consistent source of inventory, creating a simpler procurement process. All orders are filled with reprocessed SUDs first and supplemented by new devices, as necessary. Hospitals can simply order devices through one purchase order instead of going through two vendors, which also reduces the time commitment needed for purchasing reprocessed devices. These types of partnerships align with health systems’ interests in device programs that deliver meaningful value.

Independence
Maximizing value means using reprocessed SUDs as often as possible. Utilizing reprocessed devices can sometimes be challenging when some OEM representatives have refused to support cases where reprocessed devices are used. This can limit the value hospitals can realize from their reprocessing programs – particularly in the EP lab, where some of the highest-cost devices are used. Health systems whose savings have suffered in recent years due to OEM pressure have asked for educational programs to teach them how to operate certain devices without OEM support. Some SUD reprocessors now offer educational programs to give health systems more independence and control over their supply chain decisions.

Maximizing the value of your SUD reprocessing program requires short- and long-term commitments, so engage as many team members as possible to help share that commitment. Don’t be afraid to get creative. Instead of simply looking for new devices to add, challenge your SUD reprocessing partner to help you reach your goals.

About the author: Erin Broeske is senior marketing director for Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions division