Inova Health System in Falls Church, VA, has targeted recycling, with great success. At one hospital alone, Inova Fairfax, recycling saved about $37,000 in 2008, according to Seema Wadhwa, LEED AP, sustainability engineer at Inova.
Stanford (CA) Hospital & Clinics has saved more than $14 million by evaluating 20,000 items bought from 6,000 vendors and dozens of standard operating procedures, and much of that savings has come from the hospital's ambulatory surgery facilities.
(In this first part of a two-part series on innovative care and pricing plans being used for outpatient surgery, we tell you how Geisinger Health System has used a checklist of best practices to save money, plus implemented a price guarantee for members of its health plan. Next month, we'll tell you how another facility has used a price guarantee effectively.)
Jersey Shore Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) in Summer's Point, NJ, reduced wasteful supplies and inventory by more than $80,000 in six months by taking a few simple steps that could be replicated by most outpatient surgery programs.
There are many cost-saving ideas, salary information, and ways to enhance revenue in this issue of Same-Day Surgery more value that SDS is bringing to you. But what really is value? How do we measure it?
Good news! Jobs at hospitals (public and private) and ambulatory health care services rank Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, among the best recession-proof jobs, according to a recently published book.
In next month's issue of Same-Day Surgery, we'll include our annual special focus on cost savings.
Do you think surgical fires happen a lot less often than wrong-site surgery or retained instruments? Think again.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is considering a revision to its glutaraldehyde recommended exposure limit (REL) and has issued a Federal Register notice asking for information on glutaraldehyde research, use, safety training, and manufacture (edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-22299.htm).
An Austin, TX, orthopedic surgeon has agreed that he and his staff will not deny or withhold medically appropriate treatment from patients solely because they are HIV-positive, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
