Laniado Hospital moves to a consignment inventory model
The challenge
Laniado Hospital, a private healthcare institute with a demanding cath lab unit, could not purchase its medical supplies under a consignment agreement. The reason was a miscalculation as to what the hospital believed they carried on the stock, and the actual stocks at hand. The records’ inaccuracies occurred due to the manual inventory counts by the nurses and other staff. This meant that Laniado was forced to base its inventory calculations on an estimated number of items used per procedure, and assume that if a particular product was not recorded as used (by the nurses), it was still in stock. The reports were therefore inaccurate, expired items were constant along with overstocks.
Medial suppliers felt they couldn’t manage their high-value assets under such conditions, while Laniado was left without a choice but to purchase inventory in advance and put a great strain on its budget.
The mission
To develop a system that enables the hospital and its suppliers maximum control and security over their high-value inventory, allowing a consignment purchasing model.
The process
IDENTI’s team had to initially assess the difficulties by speaking with the hospital’s staff, specifically Shoshi the Head Nurse, as she was first to notify of the struggles. In addition, the technical team had to examine the Cath-Lab and the computerized control room space availability. Once agreed by all, 3 Smart Cabinets were installed; including a unique RFID based access control system with an e-lock device that enabled everyone to see which item was used by which personnel.
Following the installation, and connectivity to the IDENTI Platform cloud server, the nurses, IT, and materials managers received a short and simple training.
The results:
- Automated, no maintenance, RFID inventory management system
- Eliminated manual counting, expired items, overstocks
- Real-time reports, with drill-down capabilities, accessible and e-mailed to pre-approved persons
- Security for medical suppliers over their high-value assets
- Migration to consignment inventory purchasing model
“When using IDENTI’s SmartCabinet I am in control of the inventory, can monitor consumption and review expiration dates with a few clicks. Not only that, but the system can automatically update the vendors about the consumed items so that if the inventory levels are down, they will quickly replenish the items. For me, the system is like a miracle!”
Shosh, Laniado’s Cth-lab Head Nurse
