Becker’s Hospital Review reports on the partnership between the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle and Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions division to save on medical device purchases and divert waste from landfills by reprocessing single-use medical devices.
“SUD reprocessing is the FDA-approved practice of inspecting, cleaning, function testing, sterilizing and packaging SUDs so that they can be safely used again, only at a fraction of the original device cost. To maximize savings from SUD reprocessing, UWMC created a reprocessing task force, including representatives from all four hospitals that participate in monthly meetings to identify new opportunities to grow their savings. This has allowed them to expand the number of reprocessed devices in the EP lab and OR and increase the number of reprocessed devices they buy back.”