What’s inside:
Point of use systems (POU) include tools to document product consumption during surgery.
This blog looks at why so many traditional tools struggle with surgical supply data collection.
- Capturing product usage in OR and procedure rooms
- The significance of the Item Master for prompt surgical recording.
- The value of point of care usage data
- Achieving full item and charge capture during surgery
- POU system using image capture and AI – the future of point of use documentation consumption.
In an ideal world we’d get the basics right. For OR and Procedure Rooms this would mean that all medical devices and implants used in surgery would be recorded.
Digitally documenting the usage of high-dollar medical inventory is not only a regulatory requirement, it’s a financial necessity too.
Yet despite all the reasons to get this right, the fact is that most POU documentation tools struggle to cope with the wide range of items used in surgery and routinely under-report usage.
The end result is that far too many OR and Procedure Rooms are falling short on compliance and leaking dollars.
This article will take a look at the POU itemization fails that many hospitals are experiencing and discuss the importance of achieving a full, digital record of usage. Plus we’ll introduce a simple tool that delivers 100% item and charge capture at the POU.
Hospital inventory management systems
Most medical inventory supply chains are powered by software that manages inventory across clinical areas.
Automated hospital inventory management systems track stock items on their journey from delivery, through storage, until their usage at the point of care. These systems aim to achieve accurate stock visibility and control, resulting in an automated, perpetual inventory that puts an end to surpluses or stock-outs.
Data is key for the effective tracking of medical devices, implants and consumables. If there is a data gap then the system cannot deliver a balanced inventory
Many hospitals are discovering that their systems are struggling in one particular area, and that is to gain insight into item usage in their surgical spaces.
Capturing usage in OR and Procedure Rooms
Tracking usage at the point of care is not straight-forward due to the complex nature of procedural rooms. The reality is that automated supply systems are limited to tracking hospital stock – but procedure rooms use a wider variety of items
Items may be:
- Hospital stock that appears on the item master list
- Hospital stock with a UDI code that differs to the one stored on the item master list
- Consignment stock
- Last minute items
- Trunk stock
The battle that surgical rooms face is trying to record items that are not on the Item Master List
Medical devices, implants and consumables used in surgery don’t all originate from hospital stock and so documenting these items in hospital systems is not straight forward. Most procedure room RFID and barcode systems are NOT able to deal with non-listed stock. They are reliant on the master catalog list being accurate and up to date.
The Item Master List
The item master list is a crucial element for successful medical inventory management. When any item is scanned, whether by RFID or barcode, it needs to find a match against this central list in order to be digitally recorded. The fact is that circulatory nurses regularly struggle to successfully record all items used in surgery
Whether due to the item catalog list being out of date or the product not being a stock item – the lack of data match between the product and the item master prevents digital documentation.
Master catalog lists are extremely hard to keep up to date due to continual SKU changes made by vendors. In addition to this the disrupted supply chains of the post-COVID world have made the maintenance of item lists even harder. As alternative suppliers and a wider range of products are sourced – the number of SKUs increases and the item list needs to keep pace with the changing stock.
So there are two issues:
- The SKUs on hospital supplies do not always match the item master list
- Procedure rooms often use stock that is outside of hospital systems.
Taking account of this reality, how can hospitals ensure 100% itemization at the point of use?
Why documenting usage is important
Documenting usage is important and results in the following:
- Medical implants and consumables recorded in the EHR
- UDI compliance and patient safety
- Full charge capture and optimized reimbursement
- EMR/ERP/MMIS updated to ensure the hospital materials management supply chain runs smoothly
- Gaining visibility of FULL usage, enabling accurate re-stocks
As we have said, the problem with the point of use data capture systems used in most hospitals is that they rely upon the Item Catalog Master.
But what if there was a way to record every product used, even those not listed on the item master list?
How to achieve full item capture during surgery
IDENTI Medical has developed the award-winning Snap & Go, providing a complete point-of-use data capture solution.
Snap & Go uses patent-protected image-recognition technology to ‘read’ product packaging and then stores key data on the EHR, ERP, and MMIS.
It taps into a global item database for quick SKU identification.
In the event of a match not being found, IDENTI’s back-office springs into action so that every SKU ‘snapped’ ends up itemized.
Perioperative Nurses simply need to take a quick ‘snap’ of each product to:
- Achieve full digital recording of ALL items used – including consignment, trunk stock, and even completed manual count sheets
- Log UDI details in the EHR
- Record usage on the ERP/MMIS system
- Capture full charges for billing
- Receive real-time expiry/recall alerts
Snap & Go enables circulatory nurses to achieve effortless image capture – freeing up their time to focus on patients, not products.
This perioperative software for data capture is nurse-centric and solves the problems many hospitals have charting usage during surgery.
ITEM capture made easy
Snap & Go’s POU data capture technology makes it easy to record all items and it just takes 3 seconds.
- No barcodes
- No repeat scanning
- No key-in information
- No workarounds
- No admin burden on nurses.
Snap & Go gives perioperative teams 100% item capture at the point of use.
CHARGE capture and billing
Snap & Go captures the full cost of surgery, providing accurate, timely data so that hospital billing can be efficiently handled.
- 100% charge capture recorded in hospital systems
- Accurate, timely billing to optimize reimbursement
It’s much quicker and easier to get things right the first time than to fix billing or charge capture errors after the event. Accurate and timely billing results in easier, optimized reimbursement.
USAGE Data is an organizational issue
Snap & Go provides a full account of usage at the point of care.
This data is used to:
- protect patients
- ensure UDI compliance
- inform the supply chain
- produce accurate billing
Snap & Go helps to streamline hospital inventory, reduce costs and improve billing and reimbursement.
Hospitals can save $7.3M by using Snap & Go in OR and Procedural Rooms!
This vital, easy to use tool enhances patient safety, protects organizations against non-compliance and makes a significant impact to the hospital’s bottom line.
Usage data matters. To patients. To nurses. To organizations.
Snap & Go provides your perioperative nurses with effortless item capture at the point of use.
Contact us for a demo today!
