Subscribe to Blog ContentDoctors Go Green beyond Scrubs
And the articles on finding savings in the medical field keep rolling in. The latest from The Wall Street Journal discusses hospitals recycling medical devices. Medical devices previously identified as single-use tools now go through the rounds to help another patient. These include scissors, pneumatic tourniquet cuff, ultrasound catheter, and sharp saw blades that cut bone.
It's all legal providing the hospital follows Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Guidelines. After use, the hospital sends the tools to reprocessing facilities for a super bath, but the makers of such devices say their devices should not be reused.
Even with shipping costs and the cost of the super cleaning process (sterilizing and testing), hospitals spend 40 to 60% less than they would had they tossed the devices after one use. The VA testified it could save $30 million in 2008 by using reprocessed devices.
However, a report -- based on eight years of FDA data -- by the Government Accountability Office says there is no evidence supporting that reprocessed one-time use devices increase the risk of exposure to hepatitis B and C, and HIV.
Despite the report's findings, device makers are pushing for legislation that would require patients to sign a consent form indicating they're aware the doctors will use reprocessed devices. The Las Vegas Sun supports this legislation.
About $31.5 billion of single-use medical devices are sold annually in U.S. hospitals and surgery centers, of which around $150 million are recycled, according to Ascent Healthcare Solutions, a leading reprocessing company.
About 100 single-use devices, only 2% of all one-time use devices, undergo reprocessing. So it becomes a battle of increased health risk and cost savings vs. growing landfills. "And although single-use medical devices add thousands of tons of trash to landfills each year and increase the cost of health care for everyone, this is an issue that obviously deserves more scrutiny to make sure that doctors and hospitals aren't unwittingly putting their patients at risk," writes the Las Vegas Sun editor.
