Smart Surgical Instrument Purchasing Saves OR Personnel Time, Money

PHILADELPHIA, June 8, 2011 -- Hospital ORs and ASCs (ambulatory surgery centers) face staffing cuts, reduced hours and shrinking budgets. One solution is to delegate non-care related tasks such as instrument purchasing to an educated partner. Here's some advice from Millennium Surgical, a 20+-year provider of high-quality specialty surgical instruments, on saving time and money by using an informed supply partner:

Surgical instruments have gotten more complex and specialized over the years. Hospitals typically hold multiple surgical instrument contracts, which change frequently. Individual instruments are often discontinued. Acquisitions and vendor name changes abound. A knowledgeable supplier can navigate the latest industry changes to locate the instruments you need.

Facilities feel the pressure to add high-profit services, such as spinal procedures. This often requires the staff to assemble unfamiliar, complex sets of instruments. E.g., an ACS in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, devised a cost-effective way to add a lucrative spinal specialty by leasing part of an existing building on limited days per week. But to stock the new center, the administrator had to obtain $60,000 worth of specialty instruments within 30 days.

The purchasing agent knew only some of the brands and details on the required instruments. She sent pages and pages of requests to suppliers. The case would be a challenge for most companies, but not for an educated consultant whose job it is to do research on the customer's behalf. Millennium identified 100% of the eight-page request list in a day.

"In a complex industry, administrators don't have the resources to focus on identifying and sourcing instruments," said Robert Edelstein, CEO of Millennium Surgical. "They need a partner that can leverage its own expertise to make cost- and time-effective purchasing decisions. A dedicated supply partner can save many valuable hours."