What is Snap & Go image recognition?

Snap & Go is an easy-to-use system that enables medical product identification and charge capture through image recognition technology . Full UDI information is digitally populated in the hospital’s EMR/ERP/MMIS systems: manufacturer’s name, ref no., batch\lot no., expiration date, and serial number as required by FDA regulations. SNAP&GO™ Patent-protected image recognition technology Snap & Go helps reduce sentinel events by providing safety alerts of expired and recalled items at the point of care, including external inventory. Visual proof of use is documented automatically as part of the charge/data capture process. The platform, powered by AI and machine learning, maintains a daily-updated global manufacturer catalog list database including UDI and UPN raw data, which enables the automatic charting of items used during a procedure. When the system cannot identify an item a remote human back-office team updates the missing information and corrects “bad data” on the fly, to enhance the integrity of items registered in the hospital item master and to provide more than 99% reading accuracy. Relieving the clinical team of time-consuming data entry and obtaining more precise surgery costs means capturing lost revenue through accurate charge-capture, better forecast planning and timely reimbursement.

What is a Kanban system for inventory management in hospitals?

Kanban for Healthcare offers a reliable and efficient supply management method that helps hospital replenish their medical inventory while reducing waste and avoiding counting errors. When the method is applied, RFID technology is incorporated to provide automatic re-order. There is a wide range of solutions that differ in the amount of involvement required by the medical staff. The most autonomous solution is the wireless and smart weighing bin by IDENTI Medical, which offers a portable scale with a digital display that automatically creates an inventory order according to the weight of the items inside the bin.

What is The New GS1 standard for Item Identification?

The GS1 (Global Standards 1) recently adopted a new standard for item identification that permits for the use of one of two methods to obtain GS1 compliance: barcoding or UHF RFID . Several multinational medical suppliers, including Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific, have opted to use UHF RFID and are now in the process of tagging all their products accordingly. IDENTI Medical provides a complete solution for the next generation of Smart Cabinets that includes advanced UHF RFID embedded in the cabinet and a seamless connection to cloud services and business intelligence-based management software, connecting all stakeholders in the medical supply chain.

What is RFID Smart Cabinet for hospitals?

RFID Smart Cabinet for hospitals is an automated inventory system developed to helps cath labs, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, EP labs, orthopedics, plastic surgery, gastro and many more operation rooms with their medical inventory management. The technology tracks at individual item level tagged items stored inside the cabinet, including batch numbers and expiration dates. The most advanced smart cabinets incorporate a new generation of ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID tags that are capable of transmitting longer and can be covered by multiple antennas. This enables every stocked item to be read, no matter the size or placement of the items within the cabinet. TOTAL-SENSE-smart cabinet Specialization in such technology requires in-depth knowledge of RFID technology, its capabilities, and applications. IDENTI Medical is one of a few companies that has managed to provide the high level of accuracy required in the medical sector.

How to capture UDI data?

The UDI system was intended to provide easier traceability of medical devices, reduce safety errors, to fight against falsified devices, and eventually significantly improve the effectiveness of operational inventory management and waste. There are many options to record UDI data in hospitals, but today, many medical centers chose to capture UDI information through image recognition technology. The technology, which is fully utilized in various industries, has proven to be efficient and accurate because it decodes a digital image of the product without the need to rely on external tagging or a limited barcode structure. Hence the technology can pull all the relevant information—manufacturer number, serial number, batch number, expiration date—directly from the product label without human involvement, and to populate all the hospital’s software systems.

What is a healthcare inventory management system?

Healthcare inventory management, or supply chain management is an inclusive term for the group of processes by which healthcare providers are able to perform perpetual inventory tracking, purchases, orders, payments, and more. The main goal in implementing such systems in large and decentralized organizations is the ability to manage medical inventory in a single centralized management software that can synchronize all internal inventory management processes automatically, to save human resources and avoid revenue losses. One of the biggest problems in recent years is the amount of time and effort required from clinical teams. Today the goal is to develop semi-autonomous systems that do not burden the medical staff with these administrative tasks.

Why manage implant and tissue tracking with a smart cabinet?

Smart cabinets are an automatic method for managing medical inventory in healthcare organizations, which enable digital tracking and full transparency of implants, tissue and medical devices. Smart cabinets, which are based on RFID technology, can manage inventory at the item level and therefore becomes the most appropriate method for transitioning into consignment stock management. UHF RFID is the most up-to-date and accurate technology for this task due to its ability to accurately read the tags on the product regardless of the angle, orientation, or type of product.

What is automatic expiry management?

Expiration date management is a protocol which is used to ensure that surgical inventory is safe and proper before being used on a patient. Expired products have the potential to harm or cause detriment to a patient’s health. While the importance of removing expired products and supplies from hospital inventory may seem obvious, 7% to 10% of products expired sit on hospital shelves. Hospitals over the years have tried to address the problem by applying automated expiration date solutions, but the real problem begins when expiring products that were not in the original inventory planning and do not undergo validation reach the operating room theatre—emergencies that require immediate products, products that come directly from the supplier, products taken from other kits are most likely to use expired products. It is therefore important to implement an expiration validity solution that addresses these cases as well. Expiration date management is a problem for many hospitals because they continue to rely on manual processes that slow down their staff and leave too much room for error.

Solutions for Operating Rooms

Instant insight into your OR inventory.

An end to uncertainty

Operating rooms are your major revenue driver, while medical supplies are your second largest expense. Having clear visibility of your utilization and costs is crucial in the OR setting, yet sub-par systems fail to deliver accurate and timely data, impeding management and operational decisions.

While others focus on the symptoms… we address the root cause.

Common OR challenges:

The operating room is a difficult data collection point for healthcare providers but it’s worth finding the right solution. Capturing and recording accurate OR data has an impact across the organization.

Revenue reconciliation:

The complexity of the OR setting, combined with the use of such broad range of inventory, make documenting product usage a common challenge. Busy nurses simply don’t have time to focus on difficult documentation when their main priority is the patient.

The cost: The frantic OR environment means that when surgeries end. the EHR records are often incomplete and charges aren’t captured. US hospitals lose $1.5 billion a year due to uncaptured medical products (HFMA).

Providers commonly try to rectify revenue leakage in OR – initiatives include an additional nurse brought in just for documentation purposes, post-surgery documentation by the circulating nurse, and internal OR data reconciliation audits – but all of this comes at a cost.

The fact is that new technology can provide a simple solution for this problem, achieving full and accurate charge capture before the end of surgery. Using advanced technology ensures full reimbursement using minimal effort.

Patient safety and audit-proof documentation:

Technology provides protection as well as profits. Having a digital audit trail enables healthcare providers to meet regulatory requirements, such as UDI, and quality standards, like the Joint Commission.

Digital, end-to-end implant tracking at the point of care, using advanced technology, safeguards patients and providers by:

Preventing unsafe items from being used in surgery
Ensuring all relevant data on every consumed item is recorded in the EHR

The cost: Getting it wrong can ruin lives, as well as the organization’s reputation – and the price of patient safety lapses are high. The average cost of a medical malpractice case relating to the usage of an expired or recalled item is between $5-7 million. (AMA)

When organizations operate compliantly, they can protect patients, speed through audits and avoid expensive medico-legal litigation.

Balancing the Inventory:

Regardless of the documentation method used, providers report difficulties recording the diverse mix of products used in OR – a mix of inventory, consignment products, and bill-only items. One common breakdown point is when the system fails to recognize items entered. It is reported that successful OR documentation can be as low as 60%.

The cost: When consumption data is incorrect, procurement is based on guesswork not facts, resulting in high costs, surpluses, stockouts and wastage. The average US operating room loses $1.3M annually due to supply chain inefficiencies (HFMA).

When providers have full inventory vision and real-time utilization data they can finally gain control of their inventory, making informed decisions, improving their negotiating power with vendors and reducing their costs. Data-driven management powers efficient healthcare management.

Other inefficiencies that inflate costs:

Lack of timely and accurate data make it difficult to tackle known areas of inefficiency in hospitals and surgery centers, such as:

Preference card variance
Item Master maintenance
Payer contracting
Regulatory compliance
Nurse satisfaction/retention
Consignment inventory
Supplier contracting
Wastage
And more…

Take off the blindfold

To address these challenges and achieve data integrity in the OR setting, a new approach is needed.

Out-dated systems are labor-intensive and inefficient, hindering management by providing unreliable data and partial vision. At last, next-generation technology is delivering the dream – accurate, timely, labor-lite OR data that fuels organizational efficiency.

Now you can control your inventory with full visibility of the medical devices, implants, drugs and narcotics that need to be so carefully managed.
The point of care finally became transparent. Imagine having real-time OR inventory vision and achieving accurate usage documentation during surgery, even for bill-only items.

Robust OR data is the key to minimized costs and optimized revenue.

Automated point of care documentation

Discover the operational and management benefits of using the Snap & Go image recognition sensor for the instant digital recording of every reportable item, straight into the patient file on your EMR, including SKU/lot/batch and expiry date.

Snap & Go tightens up your supply chain management, revenue capture and compliance, and has a direct impact on margins. Just look at the benefits of using Snap&Go in the operating room:

95%

Charge Capture

70%

Documentation Time Reduction

100%

Compliance with FDA Recalls Regulations

$1-2M

saved on expired inventory

Automated implant tracking

Real-time stock visibility and item-level tracking supports full stock control and lean inventory management.

Total Sense UHF-RFID smart cabinets are designed for use in core surgical areas – they make it easy to locate items, rotate stock and reconcile the inventory. Enjoy the benefits of automated inventory management in your supply spaces – Total Sense Mobile uses hand scanners to transform storerooms into virtual cabinets.

See the benefits of the Total Sense RFID automated inventory management system:

97.3%

Reduction in value of expired items held in stock

66%

Wastage reduction

$2-3M

Reduction in the cost of excess inventory

5-6 RN hours

Saved daily now hunting around for stock is no longer required.

Automated decentralized dispensing

Centralized dispensing means that clinicians spend way too long in the busy hospital pharmacy. The constant running between the OR and pharmacy is a time burden that continues even after the surgery ends – when wastage and returns all need to be carefully logged back at the Pharmacy.

Decentralized dispensing brings the pharmacy to the OR. Clinician dispensing is a more integrated way of working that allows real-time decisions to be made, depending on how the patient is responding to surgery. As well as enabling clinician-lead OR dispensing, our Narcotics Cabinet keeps the pharmacist firmly in control via automated item and user tracking. Data metrics, reports and analytics all help to optimize stock management, monitor utilization and reduce costs.

We have diverse custom solutions for your OR:

SNAP & GO

TOTAL SENSE SMART CABINETS

NARCOTICS CABINET

KANBAN & PAR

IDENTI PLATFORM

What the right technology delivers:

4 patient safety boosters

Identify expired or recalled stock items. Use real-time, pre-consumption alerts to minimize litigation risks. Achieve full UDI capture in the EMR. Robust recall-readiness via a searchable batch history database. Enjoy the added protection of your new compliance shield.

Seamless system integration

Automated, audit-proof usage documentation is assigned directly to the patient file. Data flows freely into the hospital’s ERP/EMR/MMIS, supporting timely administration. Accessible by vendors for easy replenishment.

All types of inventory

The system is able to manage and track all types of inventory, including consignment, ‘off-contract’ and ‘bill-only’ items. Digital recording of usage is possible without RFID tags or preloading into the Item Master.

Inventory insights

Full inventory vision, real-time metrics, management reports and data insights enhance decision making, supporting a streamlined inventory, lower wastage, reduced preference card variance, and minimized costs.

Billing and revenue reconciliation

Timely consumption data supports accurate case costing, revenue cycle integrity, optimized reimbursement and higher margins. Accurate inventory data boosts your bargaining power, opening the door to improved terms with vendors and payers.

Patient and staff satisfaction

Quick item location, simpler workflows, and an end to post-procedure admin, all reduce the supply chain burden on nurses, and increase the time available to support patients. The result? Improved patient care and happier staff!