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INFECTION PREVENTION
REDUCE CASE COSTS
5 Easy Ways to Save on Surgical Supplies
N
ext to
staffing,
surgery's
biggest cost is supplies. Unlike staffing,
supplies are the one
BASIN SET It's more economical to use basin sets than to stock
each individual item.
true variable in the fixed-cost business of surgery. Supplies typically
account for 19% of case costs. The per-case supply cost will vary, but the
industry average is about $300. Here at Golf Surgical Center, we incentivize
our employees to find ways to reduce our case costs. Some of our best
ideas:
1. Use basin sets. We switched from opening individual items to lessexpensive basin sets. Basin sets include a sterile basin, 2 light handles, needle counter, ROPs (radio-opaque pads), quart bowl, kidney basin and sterile
towels.
2. Prune your procedure packs. We pulled unused supplies from our
packs and replaced pricey items with less expensive options. For example,
our packs came with a pack of medication labels and a marker. We
weren't using the $1 marker, so we asked to have it removed.
3. Reprocess. Our carts would typically include all sorts of supplies that
were opened but went unused, such as shaver blades and phaco tips. We
now send those items to a reprocessor so we're not wasting them. We
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J A N U A R Y 2013
