Hoosier Health Organizations Continue Partnership
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe state's largest health care provider has announced an agreement with a Columbia City-based company. The deal with IU Health involves expanded use of Solstice Medical LLC's inventory management software. November 5, 2013
News Release
COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. – Solstice Medical, LLC (Solstice), a leading provider of advanced surgical supply chain (SSC) software solutions for the healthcare industry, announced today that Indiana University Health (IU Health) is expanding the rollout of its OR1 Surgical Inventory Management Solution and the Dock-to-Doc enterprise SSC platform statewide throughout their health system.
“Our first-year savings and cost avoidance exceeded our expectations, and we are pleased with the operational and clinical efficiency impact,” said Joe Arruda, Vice President for Statewide Supply Chain at IU Health. “Achieving surgical supply chain efficiency and simplicity remains a significant opportunity to leverage the strength of IU Health's statewide commitment to innovation and improved patient care,” continued Arruda.
Indianapolis, IN-based IU Health has more than 18 hospital locations and nearly 36,000 employees. The IU Health management team challenged Solstice to implement a comprehensive, unified solution to improve their surgical supply pick and returns process. All items were in scope. This included various high volume inventory items such as syringes and bandages. It also included drugs and surgical devices, expensive implants and related surgical instrumentation.
“The process used to be manual. A paper surgical supply ticket was generated for each patient. Sometimes, over 100 surgical items were picked per patient, depending on the type of procedure being performed,” said Mike Thompson, Regional Manager Statewide Supply Chain Operations. “The Solstice software is a real leap forward for us, as IU Health works to streamline care and reduce cost,” continued Thompson.
Solstice Medical has created a breakthrough industry solution. It allows hospitals and large integrated delivery networks (IDNs) like IU Health to reduce surgery delays, eliminate excessive inventory, and minimize labor-intensive inventory returns. The software also enables real-time performance monitoring throughout the supply chain for the management and clinical teams.
“Through insightful collaborations over several months with IU Health's supply chain and information systems team, OR1 integrates with host enterprise information systems such as EMRs, while delivering unprecedented ability to harmonize surgeon preference with supply chain efficiency,” said Daniel Sands, Founder and CEO of Solstice Medical.
For IU Health, the initial implementation of OR1 resulted in the reduction of on-hand inventory levels by 15 percent and the reduction in supply returns time by 60 percent, saving $362K within the first 3 months of implementation.
The initial deployment included the health system's downtown Indianapolis hospitals: IU Health Methodist Hospital, IU Health University Hospital and Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. “OR1 helps deliver surgical supplies to 68 operating rooms at these locations with 99.98 percent accuracy,” said Thompson. “After conducting a year-long study, this accuracy has eliminated 12,000 supply delivery errors that has translated to impressive annual savings and cost avoidance for IU Health. As you can see, the results are clearly dramatic.”
“In a fast-paced surgical environment, OR1 has allowed OR nurses to spend more time taking care of patients,” said Arruda. “Because of this and the savings and cost avoidance results achieved through implementing OR1, IU Health is expanding the solution statewide.” continued Arruda.
About Indiana University Health
Named among the “Best Hospitals in America” by U.S. News & World Report for 16 consecutive years, Indiana University Health is dedicated to providing a unified standard of preeminent, patient-centered care. A unique partnership with Indiana University School of Medicine – one of the nation's leading medical schools – gives our highly skilled physicians access to innovative treatments using the latest research and technology. Learn more at www.iuhealth.org.
About Solstice Medical LLC
Solstice Medical delivers real-time business intelligence to optimize surgical supply chain operations and surgical workflow productivity. Solstice Medical's healthcare information technology platform, DOCK-to-DOC, enables customers with unprecedented visibility that reduces supply chain cost, improves clinical efficiency and improves patient satisfaction. Learn more at www.solsticemedical.com.
In 2008, Solstice Medical was named “Innovator of the Year” by the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly, and in 2010, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation named Solstice Medical one of Indiana's “Companies to Watch.”
Source: Solstice Medical LLC