Sharp Memorial Hospital (SMH), part of Sharp HealthCare, San Diego’s most comprehensive healthcare delivery system, reduced supply waste in its cardiac catheterization (cath) lab by 83%, saving over $210,000 over the course of two years.
This was made possible by QSight, Owens & Minor’s perpetual inventory management solution, which enabled the SMH team to identify root problems and correct them, including excessive PAR levels, product expiry and items opened for a procedure but unused.
By taking proactive control over the items in its inventory, QSight transitioned the SMH cath lab from being Sharp HealthCare’s biggest source of cardiac supply waste to its greatest generator of cardiac savings.
“QSight has been a game changer for Sharp in lowering our costs and improving our efficiency in the cath lab,” said Colin Ramsey, Business Consultant, Cardiovascular Service Line, Sharp HealthCare.
After implementing this transformative solution, the SMH team achieved seven notable benefits:
- Streamlined inventory management: QSight made it easier for the SMH cath lab team to manage inventory by eliminating manual tasks through product barcode scanning and integration with the health system’s materials management information system (MMIS). QSight alerted users to products below PAR, which the team reordered within the solution rather than having to log into the MMIS to place the order.
- Complete item data capture: With a scan into QSight, the SMH team captured all the needed information on items used in patient care, including descriptions, serial and lot numbers and expiry dates. This critical information enhanced patient safety through faster and more accurate expiry and recall management.
- Inventory visibility: Through the QSight dashboard, users quickly and easily saw critical supply information and made informed decisions based on this real-time and comprehensive data source: using items ahead of expiry, adjusting PAR levels to reduce waste, shifting excess inventory to other departments/facilities for use, and more.
- Enhanced patient safety: Using QSight, the SMH team identified products before they expired, used them or otherwise safely removed them from on-hand inventory. If an expired item made it to the patient’s bedside, QSight alerted clinicians to the issue. This vastly reduced the risk of “never events,” or using expired products on patients.
- Streamlined documentation: Through integration with SMH’s electronic medical record (EMR) system, scanned product data from QSight populated the patient record with no manual keying of data required.
- Informed decisions: QSight’s analytics and reporting capabilities provided the SMH team with actionable insights they leveraged to make informed and meaningful decisions (e.g., expiry trends, physician supply usage, wasted products, etc.). Customized reporting enabled the team to build reports to meaningfully meet their needs.Because the reports were based on timely, accurate and complete data, the cath lab team trusted their credibility, and in turn, presented the information to stakeholders (e.g., physician, finance, value analysis teams) with confidence to drive change.
- Strategic contract negotiation: SMH used QSight analytics to inform contract negotiations for supplies, support value analysis efforts and manage physician requests for new products. For example, QSight’s analytics identified suppliers of products owned by the health system – helping the team to manage inventory and convert to transition these items to consignment. With this transition, Sharp HealthCare did not have to carry the inventory on their books or on their floors.