Case Studies
Standardizing Sterile Processing Across 190+ Acute Care Hospitals
A $350M Program that Turned 190+ Separate Sterile Processing Operations Into One Playbook
Client’s Challenge
Disparate Processes, Systems, & Procedures
Every one of our client’s 190+ acute care hospitals processed surgical instruments its own way, on different equipment, systems, and procedures. They wanted one standard the entire system could run on.
Our Solution
Streamlined Operational & Technology Procedures & Systems
Our client built a Shared Services department for sterile processing. We supported the standardized playbook, the technology RFP, IT and operational assessments at 16 pilot hospitals, and the equipment rollout.
Value Realized
Improved Processes & Patient Care
With our help, this client was able to create a Shared Services department and equip it with a standardized playbook, one technology platform, and equipment that matches from site to site, improving both the day-to-day work environment and patient care.
Project Details
A Major Hospital System Needed to Streamline a Critical Process Across the Organization
Our client, one of the largest healthcare management organizations in the United States, runs more than 190 acute care hospitals. Every surgical instrument used in their hospitals passes through a Sterile Processing Department where it is prepped for surgery, a process that is crucial to patient safety.
Each hospital performed sterile processing differently. Disparate processes, systems, storage methods, repair arrangements, and ways of training technicians complicated staffing, inventory, and more.
Instrument inventory was uneven, with trays sitting unused at some facilities while other facilities were short on what they needed. Instructions for Use (IFUs) came from hundreds of different instrument manufacturers and were mostly completed by memory.
Our client wanted one standard for the entire system. Their goal was for a surgical instrument to be processed according to the manufacturer’s IFUs, which can change over time.
They committed $350 million over a 2-year program to get there.
InfoWorks Helps Through Process Alignment, Technology Selection, and Project Management
Another group at the company recommended InfoWorks as a partner to assist with standing up a Shared Services department for sterile processing. We supported them in five areas:
- They wanted one way of working, so we helped centralize the processes, technologies, and procedures for sterile processing into a single standardized playbook the whole system could follow.
- They needed a technology partner, so we led the RFP team that ran the selection. The technology they chose uses AI to pull Instructions for Use directly from the surgical instrument manufacturers, taking this manual research task off the technicians’ to do list entirely.
- They needed to understand current operational capabilities and resources at their pilot facilities, so we conducted IT and operational assessments at each of them. At those facilities we also ran an inventory of surgical instruments and reviewed the repair system and the storage method. Instruments that were not needed at the facility got cleaned up and relocated to other hospitals in the system that did need them.
- They needed the physical infrastructure to match the new standard. We managed the rollout of new Critical Water Treatment Systems to all 192 acute care facilities using Chem Aqua, replaced sterile processing equipment at 75 acute care facilities, and added incremental equipment at 50 more using Steris, including washers, sterilizers, sinks, cart washers, and autoclaves.
- Some sterile processing departments did not have room for the equipment they needed. We worked with the hospital construction and buildout team to estimate and manage renovations so the equipment would fit.
Improved Processes and Technology Lead to Immediate Reduction in Training Time and Improved Patient Care
Our work produced immediate value for the hospital system, which now operates from a single sterile processing playbook instead of multiple/disparate offline versions.
The selected technology, which lets them pull Instructions for Use directly from the manufacturer, shortened training time for Sterile Processing Technicians from 6+ months to a few weeks. In a department that competes for scarce technical labor, that is the difference between a hole in the surgery schedule and a functioning team.
Critical Water Treatment Systems were rolled out to 192 acute care facilities. Additionally, 125 facilities received new equipment to bring them up to standard: 75 through replacement and 50 through incremental additions.
Equipment is being utilized more efficiently, with surgical instruments that had been sitting unused at pilot facilities now in service at hospitals that need them.
With our help, our client took 16+ pilot hospitals that were each conducting sterile processing by standards set at the facility level, and gave them a unified process. Backed by a Shared Services department, a standardized playbook, one technology platform, and equipment that matches from site to site their teams are now able to serve patients at a higher level of care.
We are glad to have supported them on such a critical project.
