"The Case for RFID & Lean Supply Management" AVIR Conference March 25, 2012

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Mobile Aspects is proud to have been in attendance at this year’s AVIR (Association of Vascular and Interventional Radiographers) conference in San Francisco, CA.  2012 marked Mobile Aspects’ first appearance at the AVIR Annual Conference as we supported Robert Sheridan of Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA), during his presentation to fellow AVIR members about RFID & Lean Supply Managemement within Interventional Radiology.

In Case you missed Rob’s presentation we have included an overview below …

Title:

The Case for RFID & Lean Supply Management: A First Hand Account of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Path to Automation

Speakers:

Robert M. Sheridan

Director, Interventional Radiology @ Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA)

Suneil Mandava

President, Mobile Aspects (Pittsburgh, PA)

Background:

The foundation of this presentation is derived from a study published in the March 2011 edition of the Journal of American College of Radiology (JACR). The study provides a detailed review of Mobile Aspects iRISupply RFID enabled inventory management system within IR at MGH.  Specifically readers can see the impact of RFID systems compared with that of a previously installed bar code based system (Hi-IQ), receive a firsthand look at the successful implementation of a fully integrated RFID system as well as identify operational and clinical workflow issues solved with the technology.

The Big Picture:

Bringing “Lean” philosophy to hospitals

  1. Moved from a “PUSH” to “PULL” based inventory, this includes leveraging FIFO (First in, First Out) & JIT (Just in Time) inventory management techniques.
    1. Streamlined Manual Workflows
    2. No more manual inventory counts
  2. Automated billing, reordering & documentation of medical devices & implant

Goals when deploying RFID technology

  1. Increase Charge Capture
  2. Interface with existing scheduling, materials management, patient billing & EHR systems
  3. Streamline inventory management workflows for staff
  4. Optimize On-hand inventory

Massachusetts General Hospital RFID Implementation: A Tri-Phasic approach

Phase 1:

  • Initial Deployment: January 2008
  • Getting a “win”: Focused on getting a “win” by successfully implementing  5 iRISupply units in one Neuro IR Suite.

Phase 2:

  • Expansion into a second IR Suite:  An additional 8 iRISupply units were added into a second IR suite
  • Peoplesoft (ERP) Interface:  Once users became comfortable with the RFID technology & the accuracy it was able to provide, Mass. General completed an interface to its Peoplesoft Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

Phase 3:

  • Integration with RIS (Radiology Information System) for patient billing automation
  • Interface with physician documentation

The Results:

  • Increased charge capture by over $1.2 Million (20%) over six months (On top of the previous barcode based system)
  • 8% Reduction in product expiration
  • 30% Reduction in clinical FTE’s related to inventory management
  • 70% Decrease in supply stock outs

iRISupply Units installed at the State-Of-The-Art “Lunder Building”

As a direct result of the ROI achieved with iRISupply Mass General has since expanded from 13 to 70 Units.  Most notably the units have been selected for placement in their state of the art Building for the 3rd Century (B3C).

Featured Technology Video: iRISupply

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