The 2013 Environmental Excellence Awards Sustainability Benchmark Report, is now available for download by Practice Greenhealth Members. In addition to reporting on metrics, the report shares sustainability trends and areas of interest where winners have saved millions of dollars.
Single-Use Device (SUD) Reprocessing
As reprocessing of single-use devices (SUDs) continues to grow, hospitals continue to save money. New this year, Table 21 presents the top ten devices most commonly reprocessed. Pulse oximeters top the list, closely followed by the ultrasonic scalpel. Interestingly, the data suggests that smaller hospitals are significantly more likely to reprocess the top three items in this list, and somewhat more likely to reprocess most of the items on the list.
Savings from diverted disposal costs and purchasing reprocessed devices is reported in Table 22. Hospitals in the data set saved over $3 million dollars from SUD reprocessing and prevented 680 tons of waste from going into solid waste or RMW disposal. On average, hospitals saved $184 per staffed bed. Smaller hospitals tended to save more per bed, per patient day and per OR.
Members can log in and download the full report including tables here