Medical Devices
Business Wire | October 30, 2023
GE HealthCare and reLink Medical announced a collaboration to deliver asset management solutions to healthcare providers to help reduce medical device waste, increase operational efficiency and maximize their equipment utilization. This collaboration features a standardized medical equipment disposition solution involving selling, recycling or donating equipment that is no longer needed.
Each year, healthcare providers retire approximately ten percent of their medical assets from use.2 Attempting to manage medical device waste independently can often require staff time and create cumbersome processes filled with hidden costs. As providers continue to face cost pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, managing budgets and uncovering cost savings is a priority.
said Mohamed El-Demerdash, President, U.S. & Canada Service, GE HealthCare.
A potential and often overlooked source of expense for providers is medical device waste, which includes aging, or end-of-life, medical devices that sit idle in a healthcare provider’s inventory. With this collaboration, GE HealthCare will help healthcare providers manage their clinical devices for the full lifecycle of their equipment, a true wing-to-wing solution, from capital planning and purchasing to maintenance and final disposition of the equipment.
[Source:Business Wire]
When the disposition solution entails selling the medical equipment, a percentage of the revenue from that sale is returned to the healthcare provider in the form of credits that they can use to purchase equipment or parts, invest in training for their technicians and engineers, purchase On-Demand services including deinstallations or specific hospital modernization projects, or redeem the revenue via a wire transfer or check from reLink Medical.
Sustainability is an important consideration for the management of end-of-life equipment. More than six million pounds of medical waste are kept out of landfills each year through reLink Medical’s processes.3 This collaboration between GE HealthCare and reLink Medical is aimed at supporting healthcare providers in disposing medical equipment in a safe, compliant and environmentally responsible manner and it further advances GE HealthCare and reLink Medical’s commitment to sustainability.
Efficiency Gains Through Managing Equipment Surplus
In addition to managing the disposition of end-of-life medical devices, as part of this collaboration GE HealthCare and reLink Medical can transport equipment for redeployment between clinical sites and provide long-term storage of equipment for healthcare providers at offsite locations through a smart warehouse solution.
This solution will manage logistics to simplify pick up of medical devices from a healthcare provider’s site and catalog every device so providers have a clear understanding of where their assets are located, helping to ensure they have the medical equipment they need without bearing the burden of storing and managing surplus inventory.
“This collaboration signifies a significant step forward in revolutionizing asset management solutions and empowering healthcare organizations with the tools and technologies needed to optimize their equipment utilization,” said Jeff Dalton, CEO, reLink Medical. “It leverages reLink Medical’s expertise in equipment disposition, surplus management and inventory optimization to complement GE HealthCare’s comprehensive suite of healthcare solutions.”
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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare
PR Newswire | October 06, 2023
Ricoh USA, Inc. announces the launch of RICOH Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Enablement, the newest end-to-end managed services offering for health systems that is designed to help fuel more efficient and sustainable RPM workflows that can lead to improved patient and care delivery team experiences. RICOH RPM Enablement comes at a time when health systems are grappling with a simultaneous monumental shift to virtual care delivery and an unprecedented shortage of healthcare workers. This care worker shortage has reached a nationwide crisis level where there aren't nearly enough healthcare staff to fill vital RPM management roles, leading to alarming care gaps impacting the most vulnerable patient populations. RICOH RPM Enablement is designed to help health systems close this gap and to help lead to improved patient experiences by integrating into existing virtual care programs to support the deployment of remote patient monitoring system devices, inventory tracking, logistics, and device returns.
The healthcare worker burnout and staffing shortage – most recently worsened by COVID – is putting extraordinary constraints on health systems to staff RPM management roles, which limits their ability to scale virtual programs and impacts the standard of patient care. According to the Surgeon General, 98% of healthcare workers worry about their own burnout1, which is likely accelerating nurse retirement, fueling a shortfall of 1.1 million registered nurses1. The Mayo Clinic's research has also revealed that U.S. doctor burnout has reached an all-time high of 63%2. Additionally, 98% of clinicians are concerned that burnout can reduce quality of care and 82% of the public believes that a worker shortage will impact their health3. Technology can be the difference maker in systemic change – and clinicians agree as 50-70% welcome the change to use technologies in their work4.
"Clinicians currently spend over 50% of their working hours using EHRs5. That's their reality and a massive contributor to burnout, so our mission is centered on pivoting that time back to patient care through supporting the modernization, automation, and enablement of the care workflows that are most critical to health system's success,"
said Rory Fitzpatrick, Vice President, Industry Vertical Marketing, Ricoh North America.
RPM Enablement is the latest demonstration of our commitment. In this period of burnout crisis, the healthcare industry has an opportunity to commit to workers' emotional and physical wellbeing – and Ricoh is dedicated to supporting positive systemic change with sustainable, scalable solutions.
[Source: PR Newswire]
RPM is often considered one of the largest value drivers of virtual care with applications from primary care through chronic disease management. In fact, when RPM is part of a care plan, the Mayo Clinic has shown that 72.5% of remote patient monitoring patients comply with the care plan's tasks, including taking medications and monitoring vitals6. Further, only 9.4% were readmitted within 30 days versus 20% of patients not using RPM6.
Ricoh is uniquely positioned to help address workflow challenges resulting from the qualified healthcare worker shortage due to its large footprint and depth of managed services experience in the industry. Ricoh currently supports thousands of healthcare organizations with various aspects of their business, including 9 out of 11 of the largest for-profit hospital systems and 22 out of 32 of the largest nonprofit hospital systems, with about 3,200 facilities under its support – and is also responsible for managing over 1 million devices in the United States through more than 2,100 U.S. field technicians across various industries.
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Healthcare Analytics
PR Newswire | October 26, 2023
Walgreens and Hartford HealthCare will add health clinics to select Walgreens locations in Connecticut, advancing a unique retail health model based on convenience, access to care, affordability and health equity. This is Walgreens first retail clinic collaboration with a health system in New England.
Under a clinical collaboration agreement, five clinics operated by Hartford HealthCare medical providers will be added to Walgreens locations, including 340 Flanders Road, in East Lyme (at Flanders Four Corners); 2 Shaker Road, in Enfield; 235 Main Street, in Norwalk; and 203 Kennedy Drive, in Putnam. One additional location will be announced in the coming months. Hartford HealthCare at Walgreens clinics are scheduled to open within a year and will offer primary care, screenings, vaccinations, confidential telehealth services and more, seven days per week by appointment or walk-in.
The collaboration is based on the organizations' shared vision to improve access to care, reduce healthcare costs and offer convenient access to essential primary care and pharmacy services. The locations will offer consumers a convenient destination to access both Walgreens experience in community retail health and pharmacy operations and Hartford HealthCare's expertise in delivering patient care, employing highly qualified medical professionals, and operating health centers.
Hartford HealthCare at Walgreens will combine in-person care from a medical professional and, when needed, confidential in-store virtual care. For ease of access, an employee of Hartford HealthCare Medical Group will provide patient registration and point-of-care services, while a Medical Group primary care provider will offer private virtual care visits, including referrals as needed. Rounding out the experience, patients will have convenient access to Walgreens pharmacy and retail services.
said Jeffrey A. Flaks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hartford HealthCare
Hartford HealthCare is intent on changing the way healthcare is delivered, and this collaboration with Walgreens is another example of the variety of convenient offerings and care settings we are adding. Our organizations are working together to combine resources and best practices to create an innovative retail health environment that meets consumers' needs and exceeds their expectations.
[Source:PR Newswire]
"Walgreens is committed to providing patients the care they need when and how it is most convenient for them," said John Driscoll, executive vice president and president, U.S. Healthcare, Walgreens Boots Alliance. "Through this special collaboration with Hartford HealthCare, we can help keep patients more connected to high-quality care and foster long-term relationships and behaviors that help patients get and stay healthy."
Together, Walgreens and Hartford HealthCare will provide one-stop convenience — a community health destination offering a health clinic, pharmacy services and retail all in one location. Patients can see their provider, pick up their medications and go shopping at their neighborhood Wcapitalalgreens. Nearly 80% of Americans live within five miles of a Walgreens store.
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