Over 12 months, Blue.Point worked closely with a 250 bed hospital system to assess their usage of disposable patient transfer devices. The hospitals’ objective for this project was to tackle escalating expenditures while ensuring patient and staff safety, reducing waste, and achieving cost savings through improved utilization of disposable patient transfer devices.

With Blue.Point's utilization study and custom action plan, the hospital’s task force team initiated a kickoff meeting to ensure each department completed an assessment of their areas of responsibility, reviewed provided purchasing data, and all policies and education was provided. Information was then cross-walked with clinical best practices. This prep work allowed the hospital task force team to confidently walk through a table-top exercise of product utilization starting from patient admission. The exercise revealed:

• Disposable transfer sheets (88% of the yearly spend) were not included in any educational materials or staff training
• Staff were using these products for bed setup without considering the patient's ambulation status or whether the patient would be transported with a device from the ER
• There was no consistent way to communicate changes to clinical staff

Through the use of Blue.Point’s resources and by closely examining the utilization of disposable patient transfer devices, the hospital’s task force team was able to identify areas for improvement which in turn diverted over 10 thousand pounds of waste and achieved savings totaling $132,241.

Critical Success Factors Identified

• The project must be spear-headed by the appropriate facility SME.
• Follow the product from the lens of patient flow.
• Prior to the meeting, gather and review all materials related to the project

If you want to learn more about utilization and how Blue.Point can identify savings opportunities, please reach out to info@bluepointscs.com.