ProtectOurSavings.com

Posted May 15, 2012

SterilMed and Stryker Sustainability Solutions, founding members of the Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR), were recently selected to be founding members for yet another groundbreaking group: Practice Greenhealth’s (PGH) Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Business Leadership Coalition. As part of the overall Greening the Supply Chain™ initiative, this coalition is comprised of 15 leading businesses in the health care sector that have been brought together to provide greater accountability for products and processes – made or purchased – that negatively impact the environment.

…AMDR is proud of both its member-companies for their stewardship to the environment and commends the other 13 members for their commitment to advocate and employ environmentally-friendly business practices. In an effort to continue its role as a flagship organization for environmentally preferable purchasing, AMDR has pledged unanimous support for the Practice Greenhealth Greening the Supply Chain™ Initiative and the work of the EPP Business Leadership Coalition. If you are a business or organization involved in the manufacturing or purchasing of equipment within the health care industry, we highly encourage you to visit the Practice Greenhealth website and join their efforts.

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In this episode of ennTV, learn how Johnson & Johnson companies approach corporate citizenship and caring for the world environmentally, economically and socially with profiles on earthwards™ recognized Neutrogena® Naturals, our partnership with the United Nations Population Fund, and sustainable reprocessing with SterilMed®.

9 May 2012

John Brennan, Director of Regulatory and Technical Affairs for Eucomed (the European medical device trade association), posted the following blog entry in regards to the revision of the medical device directive. Here are a few predictions from the final section “So Where Are We Now?”:

First expected in June 2012 the Commission has extended its estimated publication date for a proposal to the Council and European Parliament until September 2012.

…The Council and European Parliament will then discuss the proposal and no doubt bring amendments in order to agree upon a common text. This process is called the ‘Ordinary Legislative Procedure’ in EU law-making.

This process can either be quite quick if there is agreement in what’s called the ‘first reading’. As short as six months is possible. Eighteen months to two years could be said to be more typical.

…So this means that we might see an agreed new revised framework for medical devices in either 2013 or early 2014. But there’s a subtlety about 2014 that might stretch things even longer – even if there is broad agreement. In 2014 we have the European Parliamentary elections. This will either mean that Parliament and Council will try to clear the legislative decks before the end of 2013 or, depending on the state of progress or will to continue, leave the debate for a new Parliament. This adds yet another six months to a year at least if it happens.

Once published, and we are expecting Regulations, not Directives, the law will be immediately applicable in all Member States.

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The following is re-posted from ProtectOurSavings.com, a Stryker Sustainability Solutions-sponsored blog dedicated to advancing the discussion about efficient financial and environmental resource management.

Published by Caryn Humphrey, RN, BSN, MBA, Product Manager at Stryker Sustainability Solutions.

While some manufacturers have embraced reprocessing as a solution that healthcare organizations are seeking, some others might remain committed to a business model that promotes new devices and discourages reprocessing, which may inhibit cost savings in the healthcare industry. These days, even some of the most advanced surgical devices labeled “single use” are able to be safely and legally reprocessed, reducing O.R. waste and saving hospitals significant dollars.

Stryker Sustainability Solutions recently began reprocessing the Ligasure™ Impact (Hand Activated Sealer/Divider) device. Let’s consider the facts: the measures a third-party reprocessor must legally take to ensure safety and efficacy prior to releasing a reprocessed device on the market are lengthy, rigorous, and overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The reprocessed Ligasure™ Impact (Hand Activated Sealer/Divider) device underwent several months of research, as well as validation and performance testing in order to obtain the 510(k) clearance that allows Stryker to legally reprocess and market the device. Stryker’s reprocessed Ligasure™ Impact (Hand Activated Sealer/Divider) device cost an average of 45% less than the average original manufacturer’s pricing, providing many healthcare organizations with substantial savings in their operating rooms.

Innovations in the SUD reprocessing industry are sometimes met with OM resistance. All businesses must protect their bottom lines, reward their sales reps, and continue investing in R&D to develop new technologies. However, in our current healthcare climate, vendors of healthcare products and services should be focused on delivering solutions that help their customers improve their ability to deliver high quality patient care. Purchasing power for supplies and services is shifting toward hospital administrators, who are demanding products that fit within budgetary constraints and align with organizational sustainability goals. Many physicians have embraced reprocessing as a pragmatic way to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as a measure to strengthen their employers’ operational performance without affecting the care they deliver to patients.

Attempts by certain manufacturers to lock reprocessors out of the market have become transparent to some customers, many of whom have embedded reprocessing into their cultures. Stryker understands the current healthcare climate and associated challenges and has adapted its business model to meet customer needs. As long as healthcare providers are asking for financially and environmentally sustainable products, Stryker and other third-party reprocessors will continue delivering them.

Please visit sustainability.stryker.com or www.amdr.org for more information about third-party “single-use” medical device reprocessing.

AMDR President Daniel J. Vukelich, Esq. will address the 87th Japanese Society of Medical Instrumentation in Sapporo June 9th, 2012 at the Sapporo Convention Center.  Mr. Vukelich will present on “International Developments in the Reprocessing of ‘Single-Use’ Medical Devices.”  During the presentation, Vukelich will introduce participants to the current regulatory landscape for reprocessed medical devices  in the United States, Canada, European Union, and others, followed by a discussion on where international regulations are headed in the months and years ahead.

The Japanese Society of Medical Instrumentation is an industry-academia collaboration aimed at contributing to the development and improvement of medical care.

For more information, visit: http://www.jsmi.gr.jp/connection/exhibition-1-3.html

UC Davis Health System received a 2012 “Partner for Change” Award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s premier membership organization for health-care facilities committed to environmentally responsible operations. The award is one of the organization’s Environmental Excellence Awards given each year to honor outstanding environmental achievements in the health-care sector.

The Partner for Change Award recognizes health-care facilities that continuously improve and expand upon their mercury elimination, waste reduction and source-reduction programs. At a minimum, facilities applying for this award must be recycling 15 percent of their total waste, are well along the way to mercury elimination, and have developed other successful pollution prevention programs in many different areas.

The award was presented on May 2 in Denver, Colo., at CleanMed 2012, a major national environmental conference for leaders in health-care sustainability….

John Danby, Sustainability Administrator at the health system, said that many of the sustainability achievements recognized by Practice Greenhealth are associated with the health system’s cost-containment strategies. One notable example is the reprocessing of single-use medical devices, a program that keeps the devices out of the medical waste stream.

Once the devices are reprocessed to a level where their quality equals a new product, the health system can purchase them back at a fraction of the cost of a new device, Danby said…

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Naval Hospital Bremerton’s Sustainability Team has recognized its main operating room staff on Earth Day April 20 for implementing and maintaining sustainable practices, according to Waste Management World:

One such sustainability plan put into place by the Main OR staff involved medical supplies involved in laparoscopic usage during a procedure. Much is disposable and not reusable. But the instrumentation once used is recyclable. Plastic parts can be grinded and/or melted down; metal components of copper and steel can be separated, recovered and reused. “Due to our case load, we might use a dozen specific devices a day and instead of them now ending up in a landfill, each is recycled,” said Stevenson….

…The Main OR used to throw away three, 30-gallon bags of garbage per total joint surgery case. Now they recycle three, 30-gallon bags of plastic and have just one 15-gallon bag that is now thrown away.

Business Wire

April 30th, 2012

Stryker, a leader in medical device reprocessing, has co-founded a coalition of 17 elite healthcare suppliers with Practice Greenhealth to advance the purchase of products and processes that are less hazardous to the environment. The Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Business Leadership Coalition was developed in response to hospital leaders’ requests for an increasing number of products that support their sustainability goals.

“Hospitals can lower their environmental footprint by saving water or reducing greenhouse gas emissions, for example; but, they depend on suppliers when it comes to the environmental impact of the products they purchase,” said Brian White, President of Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions division. “Hospitals are asking suppliers to step up and become partners in this effort. It is critical that as suppliers, we begin working towards more environmentally responsible products and solutions. In addition to developing new products, this coalition is about increased transparency and accountability to drive outcomes that lead to a more environmentally and financially sustainable industry.”…

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Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions division is the leading provider of reprocessing and remanufacturing services for medical devices as well as comprehensive recycling and redistribution initiatives. For more information about Stryker’s commitment to the smart, efficient delivery of healthcare, visit sustainability.stryker.com or protectoursavings.com.

Healthcare Purchasing News

April 26th, 2012

Three respected Sterile Processing managers today launched a new online forum for CS professionals, “Reprocess This!”

The new blog was developed to create “a medium for sterile processing managers to network and discuss the hard-hitting issues that are facing the industry,” said Jennifer Burrell, BS, CRCST, CSPDM, one of the three SPD professionals writing regularly for the forum.

Burrell, a microbiologist, is Director of Education and Clinical Compliance for IMS, the nationwide surgical instrument management and consulting provider that is hosting “Reprocess This!” IMS provides SPD management and clinical consulting in the OR, repair for surgical and endoscopic equipment, instrument and device inventory management; real-time online data and tools to track instruments, tissue, and implants…  

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To visit this new online forum, go to www.reprocessthis.com.

For more information about “Reprocess This!” write to info@reprocessthis.com.

Practice Greenhealth‘s Greening the OR News (volume 2)  highlights the Greening the OR session at AORN.  At the Stryker/Pfiedler dinner held in conjunction with the AORN annual conference in New Orleans, over 1,000 attendees listend to a panel of clinicians — an OR nurse, an anesthesiologist and a surgeon — on why sustainability in the OR makes sense.  In addition, volume 2 of the newsletter highlights savings come hospitals have incurred due to reprocessing!

Dominican Hospital of Dignity Health (Santa Cruz) saved nearly $59,000 in 2001 and prevented over 3 tons of medical waste from going into landfills…

St. Anthony Hospital of Franciscan Hospital System of Catholic Health Systems prevented 2.03 tons of medical waste from going to landfills by reprocessing in 2011 . . . and save $34,142 at the same time.

St. Joseph Hospital, part of Covenant Health System, reduced their OR waste by 1.48 tons and saved $42,608…. and

Bon Secourts Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY saved $13,575 by reprocessing!

Congrats to these hospitals for their Greening the OR accomplishments!