The Vendor Tray Solution

As the last installment in this series of posts on vendor instrument tray optimization, we will focus on our approach and the value it generates.

The OpFlow platform, in partnership with STERIS IMS, provides a solution for each of the factors involved in the vendor tray problem, rendering significant cost savings and efficiency gains for the hospital and vendor.

The actual instrument usage data collected intraoperatively by the vendor representative via OpFlow is aggregated for each facility and able to be compared to a national standard, enabling perpetual improvement in efficiency and cost savings for the vendor and hospital system.

OpFlow also facilitates communication between the hospital and vendor representative through a vendor portal within the software platform. This enables the representative to define and manage their tray configurations remotely, while having visibility into peer and hospital-specific tray configurations.

The recurrent issue related to on-time assembly and transport of the vendor trays is also alleviated by the OpFlow-STERIS IMS process, as the vendor trays are incorporated into the existing workflow for instrument processing and transport between the hospital and off-site reprocessing center.

In summary, there are benefits for all parties involved in the process:

· For the hospital, significant storage space is made available by relieving the need to house inventory on-site, while also reducing the expenditure on sterile processing costs.

· For the surgical services staff and patients, there is improved OR set-up and decreased turnover time as a result of fewer instrument trays after streamlining with a data-driven lean approach.

· For the vendor and device manufacturer, there is significant CapEx savings given centralized management and fewer overall instruments. As well, the process facilitates R&D focus on instrumentation and devices based on actual intraoperative usage, driving future innovation.

UncategorizedOctober 18, 2019