How one hospital group reduced clinical inventory by 1.2 million dollars

by Keith Gifford
Vice President, Marketing
SpaceTRAX -- InnerSpace Corporation


One of the goals of the InnerCircle Blog is to provide an open forum for our clients to tell their stories. Robert Chavez, Interventional Radiology Department Manager for Sutter Memorial and Sutter General in Sacramento, CA has a story about how spaceTRAX helped reduce his inventory costs by $1.2 million in just two years.

“We were keeping track of more than a million dollars worth of inventory with essentially a clipboard, paper and pencils. I'm responsible for more than 1,500 non-stock supply items valued at about $1.4 million."

Early in 2003, Chavez evaluated several supply management tools, looking for simplicity and accuracy. "I was looking for a simple solution, something that would be easy to implement and very user friendly."

Chavez chose spaceTRAX, our web-based inventory clinical inventory supply management system. This system helps keep track of non-stock inventory by scanning manufacturer barcodes already printed on the packages. Because spaceTRAX is a hosted internet based service, Chavez didn't have to buy or install software or even build or manage a database.

"By using spaceTRAX, we’ve been able to stop what I call ‘comfort buying' Everyone does it to avoid running out of something. I knew we could do a better job of managing our supplies. I just wasn’t able to quantify it until we started using spaceTRAX. The proof is in the numbers.

My Department was saving money within two months of implementing spaceTRAX and after two years, inventory at Sutter Memorial and Sutter General was reduced by an amazing $1.2 million."

There are a lot of professionals like Robert Chavez who have discovered that the best way to eliminate excess inventory, is never to buy it in the first place.

How the bar code is changing the medical community

by Keith Gifford
Vice President Marketing
spaceTRAX-Inner Space Corporation

It's all began with chewing gum.

In June of 1974, a U.P.C. scanner was installed at a Marsh's Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The first product to have a barcode scanned was a packet of Wrigley's Gum. Today, the bar code has evolved into one of the most powerful cost saving and inventory management tools ever developed.

Fast forward to today. Did you know that nearly 50% of all clinical supplies will go unused in the next 12 months? And almost 33% of that excess inventory will expire? What a challenge. There's no question, clinical supplies is the fast growing line item in hospital budgets. And reimbursements are declining. It's the perfect storm.

There's no question, clinically managed supplies are among the fast growing line items in hospital budgets today. Add that to the fact that reimbursements are declining and you've got the perfect storm.

Our goal with spaceTRAX was to create a new kind of clinical supply management system – one that would put you in control of your inventory.

It uses barcodes on clinical supplies to continuously track how many of each item you have in stock. Users simply scan the barcode as items are used, and again when they are replenished.

But the really big news is ROI. Many of our customers have seen a return on their investment exceeding 400%. That's 400% in the first year. A major benefit of spaceTRAX is that there are no big startup costs or capital expense. Customers pay as they go, just like a telephone service.

It's been a long time since that first pack of Wrigley's gum, but the future of bar code technology is limitless. Want to learn more? Just click here: spaceTRAX.

A Blog dedicated to Flexible Medical Storage and Clinical Inventory Management

by Keith Gifford
Vice President, Marketing
SpaceTRAX - InnerSpace Corporation


Recently, a good friend of mine spent a day filming a teaching video in the cardiac cath lab of a major hospital. He came away with a renewed admiration for the teamwork of the doctors and technicians.

But he also told me that the back room was organized but "chaotic." In a very small space was a sizeable inventory of clinical supplies including; catheters, stents, guide wires, balloons and introducers.

Could the space be managed better? Is there a way to collect product data that would minimize inventory costs and increase charge capture? Is there a faster way to get the job done? These are questions we ask ourselves everyday at InnerSpace.

And it's the primary reason we created the InnerCircle Blog.

It's a blog that gives us the opportunity to share our insights and have a real dialogue with people who could benefit from our technology and services.

In the coming weeks, other members of the InnerSpace Family will give you some perspectives on the latest ideas and trends in clinical supply management and flexible storage.

Our clients will be talking too. Sharing their stories and their ideas. So please visit us from time to time.

Stay tuned, because soon we'll be introducing some exciting new technology that takes clinical supply management to a whole new level.

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