Cost Savings of Standardization of Thoracic Surgical Instruments

This study demonstrates the power of instrument tray rationalization in providing immediate and downstream cost savings. The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UAB Hospital was able to reduce the number of instruments on four commonly used trays by 44-75%. Eliminating the non-value add steps and equipment resulted in immediate cost savings of $69,000 and reduced the instrument tray weight by 70%.

We have found that conducting a similar process in a data-driven manner based on actual instrument usage will yield significant cost savings across all surgical specialty/service lines.

Publication link: https://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(17)30966-9/fulltext