New Online Tool Allows Hospitals to Identify Cost Savings Potential of Reprocessing

Ascent, a division of Stryker Corporation, continues its commitment to supporting quality healthcare delivery with the introduction of a new tool that calculates the financial and environmental impact of reprocessing.  The first-of-its-kind calculator, available on the Ascent website, estimates the cost savings and waste reduction potential for a hospital if it focuses on reprocessing as a best practice. The tool is designed to help hospitals understand the potential results reprocessing can deliver based on their size and program utilization.

Hospitals across the country are closely analyzing supply costs for ways to improve bottom line numbers and quality of care.  For a hospital that is looking for creative solutions to cut costs, the Ascent calculator offers tangible data that can be used to estimate the financial impact of reprocessing, says Lars Thording, senior director of marketing and public affairs at Ascent. The numbers speak for themselves. After using this tool, we hope more hospitals will see reprocessing as a smart way to improve supply chain operations, thus enabling resource diversion to support other quality care initiatives.

With a reprocessed device costing approximately half that of its equivalent single-use OEM device, reprocessing offers significant cost savings. As the calculator illustrates, a hospital with 250 staffed beds that implements a reprocessing program in both the operating room (OR) and EP lab could save as much as one million dollars and divert roughly eight thousand pounds of waste from landfills each year if the hospital makes a strategic and organizational commitment to reprocessing. 

Hospitals that are already implementing reprocessing programs can utilize the calculator to understand the potential for additional savings. For a hospital that is only reprocessing in the OR, for example, the calculator can estimate how much more could be saved if the program were expanded to include the EP lab, non-invasive devices, or open/unused or expired devices.  Reprocessing programs are currently employed by more than half of the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll hospitals.

Savings and waste estimates provided by the calculator are based on averages achieved by actual Ascent reprocessing customers that have identified reprocessing as a targeted program and achieve the highest savings among hospitals that reprocess. Some people might be surprised by the savings potential highlighted in the calculator.  A facilitys ultimate savings potential takes time to realize. Savings for our customers typically increase each year as reprocessing is embraced as a cornerstone to supply chain strategy, Thording adds.  The calculator does not constitute a savings promise, nor does it show average savings for hospitals that reprocess.