EP Lab Digest - January 2008 - (Page 26) 26 INSIDE THE EP LAB JANUARY 2008 box is tagged with an RFID tag that serves as a “license plate” to that individual product, capturing its lot and serial number, as well as expiration date. The intelligent cabinets have built-in RFID antennas that read tagged items on the shelves every 18 minutes and feed the data to the WaveMark server. This provides a full physical count of products in those cabinets with no manual effort and 99.999% accuracy. When products are used in a procedure, they are waved in front of a Point-of-Service (POS) reader that confirms usage and simultaneously feeds into our EP lab’s clinical documentation system.With this level of automation, our staff no longer needs to barcode or use pull-down menus to capture usage of these items, saving clinical resource time. By waving tagged items in front of the POS readers in the labs or control areas, WaveMark CIMS automatically decrements the item from inventory without any manual entry or barcode scan. The application then sends the information into the open encounter in the clinical documentation system chosen by the hospital. If the item is not used, it is put back on the shelf and read automatically back into inventory. WaveMark CIMS does not replace the hospital’s legacy systems, yet it augments it by feeding accurate, real-time information. In addition, EP in particular has many long, thin items that cannot fit into the traditional five-shelf RFID cabinet. To accurately track all products in the lab, WaveMark provided special RFID bins that hold the long, standing boxes used for diagnostic and ablation cases. Items in the bins are now more visible, and our staff can remove items with ease. These items can be stored in their boxes or can be taken out depending on the preference of the customer. Immediate Returns The staff in our EP lab is relieved to have a solution that automates some of the workload while at the same time allowing us peace of mind that we will always have what we need for a case. Inventory levels were re-assessed after one month, based on utilization data provided by WaveMark CIMS. In particular, WaveMark CIMS identified a reduction in inventory of selected highvolume, high-cost items by 38% in the first month. An additional 3% reduction was recognized the following month. This significant reduction is not only a “one-time hit,” but will be sustainable over time since the system uses the lower target inventory levels and on-hand counts to create requisitions. As part of inventory visibility, WaveMark CIMS can also easily identify missing items, so the number of lost or missing items has decreased dramatically. Our inventory manager simply logs into WaveMark CIMS via Internet Explorer and can see the time and location of an item that was taken from a WaveMark CIMS shelf, whether the case was at midnight or 3 in the afternoon. This approach to inventory manIn this one-day snapshot, it is easy to differentiate the usage of OEM and agement has decreased the reprocessed items. amount of time spent on hunting down missing items and made requisitioning guess free. In addition, UMass uses a reprocessing company for diagnostic EP catheters. Before WaveMark CIMS, it was difficult to determine what was on hand from the reprocessing company and what was on the shelf from the OEM.While our staff was able to manage OEM products according to set par levels, it was almost impossible to keep track of what was coming back from the reprocessing company. Prior to WaveMark CIMS, UMass would Usage-based reporting identifies adjustments in target inventory levels. submit an order to the original manufacturer for an ablation catheter, and at the same time receive an order from their reprocessing company for the same item. This cycle would put some items well over par every month. Using WaveMark CIMS, our EP lab has been able to separate the two types of product while keeping them under the same target inventory. With all products now tagged and tracked by the cabinets and bins, we can better manage the inventory coming from the reprocessing company, reducing Item-level tracking allows for efficient inventory management. the more expensive items from the manufacturer, which is sometimes three times the price of reprocessed. able to more efficiently manage our not need to be installed on hospital Bulk buying is also a common prac- inventory, which will help us increase servers, requiring only a data jack, an tice in most EP labs, including ours.The benefits in the form of financial as well AC power outlet, and a static IP address “Bulk Buy Calculator” feature in as productivity gains. Utilizing for each cabinet. WaveMark CIMS shows us exactly WaveMark CIMS has provided us with WaveMark CIMS is also currently in what was used over a period of time, access to information that was previous- use in the Interventional Radiology and and creates a shopping list of targeted ly not readily available. Special Procedure labs at UMass. products based on those usage patterns. WaveMark CIMS is offered on a subWe will no longer need to rely on man- scription basis and does not require a ufacturers’ input for order quantities, capital purchase. As part of the solution, For information on WaveMark, thus ensuring that the items ordered WaveMark provides all hardware, tags, please visit their website at: will be used. training and support. Our install of www.wavemark.net seven cabinets and two POS readers Summary happened overnight with no disruption Now that UMass has access to accu- to our lab’s busy schedule. As a hosted rate information, our EP lab has been web solution, WaveMark CIMS does http://www.wavemark.net
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