Creating a More Cost-Effective Supply Chain with Better Inventory Management
To enable successful and timely surgeries, ambulatory surgery centers need good inventory management. You have to have the right surgical supplies, tools, medical devices and other assets on-site, in the operating room, and ready when they’re needed.
But this is a big challenge in an industry where smaller physical footprints and demands for bottom-line cost control do not allow for carrying excess inventory. There may be nowhere to store excess supplies or other inventory, and, even if you have storage space, it can be cost-prohibitive to order and maintain extra supplies or assets to protect against a possible inventory error, loss, or misplacement.
Ultimately, surgeons and clinical staff need to have the right inventory available, in the right place and the right time, to get their jobs done quickly and effectively. IT needs to help create a lean and efficient inventory management system that minimizes waste, errors and excess costs. And surgery center owners want to see more same-day surgeries conducted on-time, without rescheduling, delays, or potential patient risks due to the right supplies or assets not being available.
Fortunately, better and more cost-effective inventory management is readily achievable with advancements in intelligent inventory management software and data capture technologies. At Stratix, we’ve worked with many healthcare clients to implement inexpensive and efficient inventory management software that leverages artificial intelligence and algorithms to create predictive inventory replenishment and control.
Instead of having to manually track and replenish inventory at the right time to avoid cost and space overruns, the whole process can be automated based on digital data capture, tracking, history, and predictive analytics.
For example, entire cabinets of medications can be identified and tracked using radio frequency identification (RFID) labels and tags along with RFID readers and antennas. Using a handheld RFID reader, the surgery center staff can read the whole cabinet’s worth of inventory remotely, without needing to scan barcodes or have line-of-sight access to a label. The reader uses wireless radio waves, similar to how Wi-Fi works, to send signals to the RFID labels or tags, which contain tiny micro transmitters that wake up and send their identifying information, location and status to the reader.
When coupled with RFID-enabled inventory tracking software, the status, location and quantities of any supply, tool or asset can be tracked wirelessly, remotely and seamlessly, with ranges depending on the type of RFID tag you’re using. And with the software’s historical tracking, AI and predictive algorithms can automatically determine how much inventory has been used, how much needs to be replenished, and when.
The same technology also allows staff to quickly locate the right assets or supplies when they need to be retrieved and moved into an operating room, examination room, or any other area. For example, instead of wasting time manually searching for a missing cart, tool or device, they can check the inventory software to find out its last known location to within a few feet.
RFID can be combined with barcoding to create complete inventory visibility and traceability, all without the burden and risks of having to manually track inventory with paper, spreadsheets, and less efficient technologies. And you can deploy a complete inventory solution through a managed services agreement with your technology provider, who can recommend and deploy the right solutions for your needs, assist with training your staff, and handle all maintenance and support of your inventory technology and software.
Doing this helps ensure that there are no expired or wasted supplies, and that there are no delays to surgical procedures or medical errors due to inventory issues. And patients, surgeons, staff and surgery center owners are all happier due to smoother running inventory and more prompt and efficient care with less cost and risk.
