In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, driven by changes in regulations, insurance guidelines, and advances in knowledge, hospitals and their surgical teams face the dual challenge of improving patient safety and outcomes while reducing costs. These imperatives prompt a thorough examination of every aspect of patient care to identify potential savings.

A key area of opportunity is the operating room (OR), a significant revenue generator and a major expense for hospitals. A survey conducted on 58 neurological procedures revealed that, on average, 13% of surgical supplies went unused, resulting in substantial waste and financial losses. The survey estimated $653 in wasted surgical supplies per case, totaling $2.9 million annually for the studied surgical suite.1 Effective management of items, ranging from low-cost supplies like gloves and sutures to highcost items like implantable screws and medication, has the potential to yield a 20% reduction in costs related to unused supplies.

The extent of OR waste varies significantly among surgeons, with research indicating up to a 20% difference in waste between surgeons performing identical procedures in the same facility. Manually understanding and managing this waste is a challenging task. PREFcards emerges as a software solution with the ability to analyze each surgeon’s unique preference card for every procedure, comparing it with similar cards from other surgeons to identify opportunities for supply savings and standardization.

Managing and editing surgeon preference cards has been a manual and labor-intensive process requiring a full-time effort and often results in delayed edits and mistakes. Many facilities struggle to keep preference cards current due to these challenges. PREFcards intuitive and digital card creation and editing tools decrease preference card editing labor time by up to 50%.

PREFcards continues to transform and improve this process through close collaboration with inventory software partners, eliminating much of the manual labor involved in editing cards. With PREFcards, OR teams can efficiently compare costs across surgeons and update multiple preference cards or inventory items with just a few clicks. This efficiency translates into more labor spent on patient care, shorter operative time, and lower surgical supply costs.

Customers utilizing PREFcards tools experience labor savings, enhanced card accuracy, reduced waste and inventory spend, and improved surgeon satisfaction. PREFcards is setting a higher standard for OR efficiency with its tools, including integrated reports and a customizable card builder. PREFcards stands as a superior solution for healthcare teams dedicated to achieving savings and accurate surgeon preference cards.