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T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 2 1
A
cardiac procedure is on the schedule and
there are eight different-sized stents — at
$80 a pop — that could be used. Your surgi-
cal team opens all eight, even though seven will
likely be thrown away. That's $560 worth of sup-
plies they're about to trash. All too often this sort of
waste is baked into supply management practices.
What if there was a better way? Assigning staff
members to review surgeons' preference cards,
track use of supplies and change the cards to reflect
actual supply usage can help you shave six — or
even seven — figures off of case costs. At Stanford
Health Care, where I used to work, updating the
preference cards used in pediatric ORs reduced
supply costs by more than $1 million, an 8%
decrease. Achieving and sustaining this level of sav-
Stay Current to Control Supply Costs
Maintaining updated preference cards leads to significant savings.
Business Advisor
Johannon Olson, RN, MBA
POINT PERSON Surgical techs are perfectly positioned to track supply usage and make inventory-trimming suggestions.
