Healthcare Sees $138M Benefit From Environmental Stewardship

Ascent Healthcare Solutions, a leader in the medical device industry, announced that their medical device remanufacturing/reprocessing eliminated 4,300,000 pounds (2,150 tons) of waste from local landfills in 2008. Additionally, these practices saved Ascent’s 1,800 hospital partners around the country a record $138,142,000 in supply cost and waste savings.

There are over 16 billion injections administered worldwide each year.

The company works to reprocess (clean, test/verify, package and sterilize) and remanufacture (disassemble, repair, and manufacture) delicate, expensive devices that are marketed in North America as “single use” by the original manufacturer and often thrown away when they could be reused.

How to Save $1 Billion

Remanufacturing and reprocessing of medical devices is the cornerstone of these hospitals’ sustainability initiatives, not only because of its direct impact on cost savings, but also the environmental stewardship that goes along with it. The savings from these programs makes it easier for hospitals to use their resources more effectively for the environment and their patients. According to Ascent, reprocessing and remanufacturing medical devices is the single most impactful sustainability initiative currently undertaken by hospitals in the U.S.

“Providers are waking up to the fact that healthcare delivery is one of the largest contributors of waste in the U.S. There are successful strategies available which make it possible for hospitals to be both patient care focused and responsible stewards of our environment. Among these, remanufacturing and reprocessing stand out as remarkably impactful, representing a new model for sustainability in healthcare,” said J. Michael Jones, director of clinical education and sustainability, Healthtrust Purchasing Group.

In 2008, Ascent’s customers increased their utilization of medical device remanufacturing/reprocessing programs by 20 percent, according to John Grotting, Ascent’s CEO. “Hospitals are already responding to economic conditions by pursuing Ascent’s programs more vigorously and relying on the results to enhance their survivability,” stated Grotting.

Over the last two decades, hospitals working with Ascent have collectively reduced in excess of $1 billion in supply costs and eliminated an estimated 24 million pounds of waste.