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 them with a standardized playbook, one technology platform, and equipment that matches from site to site. Rewarding work that improves both the day-to-day work environment and patient care.
Project Details
Our client is one of the largest healthcare management organizations in the United States and runs more than 190 acute care hospitals.
Lack of a Centralized System for Processing Tasks
Every surgical instrument used in their hospitals passes through a Sterile Processing Department first, where it gets decontaminated, inspected, sterilized, and put back into a tray for the next case. It is one of the quietest departments in a hospital and one of the most important, because a tray that is processed wrong follows a patient into surgery.
Sterile processing looked different at every one of those hospitals. Each facility had its own processes, its own systems, its own storage method, its own repair arrangements, and its own way of training technicians. Nothing matched, so a technician trained at one hospital could not walk into another one and work. Instrument inventory was uneven, with trays sitting unused at some facilities while other facilities were short on what they needed. Instructions for Use came from hundreds of different instrument manufacturers and were tracked by hand.
Our client wanted one standard for the entire system. Their goal was for a surgical instrument to be processed the same correct way whether it was in a small community hospital or a large urban one, and for a Sterile Processing Technician to be able to move between facilities without relearning the job or incorrectly doing their job. They committed $350 million over a 2-year program to get there.
Standing Up a Shared Services Department and Supporting Processes
Our client asked us to help them stand up a Shared Services department for sterile processing, and I served as Project Director on the program. The recommendation came from another group at the company that I previously worked with. 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 I 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, which took a manual research task off the technicians entirely.
They needed to know where they stood, so we conducted IT and operational assessments at each of the 16 pilot facilities. 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 rolled out 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 renovate those departments so the equipment would fit.
An Efficient and Streamlined System That Saves Time, Reduces Waste, and Improves Patient Care
Our client now has one sterile processing playbook instead of multiple/disparate offline versions of the same job.
The technology change showed up fast in staffing. It normally took a new Sterile Processing Technician at least 6 months to get up to speed before they could work in the department. With Instructions for Use pulled straight from the manufacturers, a new technician could start working in 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 are in place at all 192 acute care facilities.
125 facilities are running on equipment that matches the standard, 75 through replacement and 50 through incremental additions.
Surgical instruments that had been sitting unused at pilot facilities are now in service at hospitals that needed them.
Our client took 16+ pilot hospitals that were each solving sterile processing on their own and gave them one way to do it, backed by a Shared Services department, a standardized playbook, one technology platform, and equipment that matches from site to site. We were glad to support them on a program where getting the small details right is what protects patients.
