Author: Brittni Straseske

Insourcing or Outsourcing Interpreter Services, Which Option Is Best?

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: January 23, 2019
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: Insourcing, Insourcing vs Outsourcing, Interpreter Services, Outsourcing

Q&A with HBI Principal Director Tina Williams. HBI Principal Director, Tina Williams, spent three years overseeing the interpreter services program for a 1,000-bed academic medical center. During that time, she gained significant insight into the pros and cons of outsourced and insourced interpreter service models, owing to the demand for services, the culture of the […]

What’s on the Horizon for Supply Chain Departments in 2019?

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: January 10, 2019
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: Capital Spend, Finance Integration, Product Standardization, revenue cycle integration, total cost of care, Utilization

As the supply chain has shifted from a transactional support role to more of a strategic, decision-making role, supply chain is interacting with other departments with greater frequency. Multidisciplinary collaboration at an organization creates opportunities to implement significant, impactful initiatives that bring meaningful improvements to the organization. This holistic approach to complicated questions is the […]

What Role Can Supply Chain Play in Environmental Services?

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: December 18, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: environmental services, HAI, Healthcare-Associated Infection, UV Disinfection Robots

According to a 2016 HBI supply chain survey, environmental services falls under the supply chain umbrella at nearly half of all hospitals and health systems, with the practice being most common in organizations with 100 beds or fewer. As this is an ancillary service new to many supply chain departments, several questions have been floated […]

Responding to Frequent Drug Shortages

By: Brittni Straseske, Rachel Gerlach
Date: November 16, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: Drug Shortage, Drug Supply, Pharmacy

Drug shortages continue to pose challenges for provider pharmacies in the final quarter of the year. While the causes for drug shortages can vary from natural disasters to voluntary recalls, one thing remains consistent: provider organizations need to have the ability to react to the inevitable shortages. Hospitals and health systems that are unable to […]

Observing Best Practices in Healthcare Sustainability Efforts

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: October 30, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: Envision, Gundersen Health System, Sustainability

One of the leaders in healthcare sustainability efforts has been Gundersen Health System, located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The organization has a centralized sustainability program called Envision that is tackling environmental stewardship from several angles. HBI recently visited Gundersen’s main campus to learn about Envision and observe the program’s operations firsthand. Gundersen originally began exploring […]

How Provider Supply Chains Can Prepare for Extreme Weather Events

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: August 30, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: Disaster preparedness, Extreme weather events, Supply chain readiness

According to the National Climate Assessment, a team of experts working under the Federal Advisory Committee, extreme weather events have been increasing in frequency, particularly over the last several decades. Floods, hurricanes, snow storms, droughts, and massive wildfires pose a significant health threat and can cause serious disruptions in the production and logistics of medical […]

Recent Supply Chain Survey Highlights Issues with Customer Service

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: June 26, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: Clinician satisfaction, Customer satisfaction, Expired devices, Recalls

In March, Cardinal Health published “Hospital Supply Chain Survey,” a document detailing the results of a survey the company conducted in November of last year. The survey’s respondents were 305 hospital workers; 128 of which were clinicians, 100 were OR-specific supply chain administrators, and the remaining 77 were general supply chain administrators. Results of the […]

FDA Makes Updates to AccessGUDID Database

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: April 24, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: AccessGUDID, GUDID, UDI, unique device identifier

As the unique device identifier labelling requirement compliance dates set by the FDA continue to roll out, the agency is providing support for stakeholders by hosting the GUDID, or global UDI database. GUDID, which acts as a catalog for all medical devices containing a UDI label, is publicly accessible through AccessGUDID. In the past few […]

Point-of-use Cleaning in the OR: What Does Supply Chain Need to Know?

By: Brittni Straseske
Date: February 27, 2018
Category: Supply Chain
Filed under: OR, Point-of-use cleaning, scrub technicians, Supply chain

Point-of-use cleaning, recommended by numerous industry organizations, is an OR process of rinsing instruments during the operation and preparing them for transportation to the decontamination area or sterile processing department after the procedure concludes. A number of industry organizations advise that all reusable instruments should be wiped—and any lumens flushed—with sterile water between uses during […]