From the August 2021 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Naturally, design choices made by the OEM can often discourage reprocessing. Thinner materials, cheaper plastic, and dissolvable threading are all examples of design decisions that make it difficult to reprocess SUDs. Of course, most engineering decisions are not made specifically to remove the option to reprocess. Factors such as patient safety and unit cost often take priority when OEMs are designing SUDs. This prompts the question: what would an easily reprocessable device look like?
New partnerships between OEMs and reprocessors may provide answers. I look forward to medical devices designed with product circularity in mind. Building a circular medical device economy requires buy-in from both the supplier and the hospital; OEMs may make an easily reprocessable device but it will not matter if hospitals are unwilling to purchase reprocessed equipment, as is the case with VA hospitals under VHA Directive 1116(2).
Julian Narvaez looks on as a technician at RENU Medical Inc. inspects reprocessed pulse oximeter cables, in Everett, Washington Courtesy, RENU Medical Inc., an ARJO Company, June 2021
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The need for supply chain resiliency
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant room for improvement in the supply chain. The benefits of reprocessing medical equipment and product circularity are particularly visible in context of the supply chain. President Biden’s recent executive order on America’s supply chains calls for “More resilient supply chains [that] are secure and diverse — facilitating greater domestic production, a range of supply, built-in redundancies, adequate stockpiles, safe and secure digital networks, and a world-class American manufacturing base and workforce.” Medical device reprocessors are poised to meet this need. Reprocessors offer a domestic alternative to purchasing medical equipment; the majority of SUD reprocessors represented by the AMDR are located within the United States. Reprocessed medical equipment can reduce device procurement costs as well; reprocessors helped save an estimated $471 million across hospitals in the U.S., Canada, and Europe in 2018 alone. SUD reprocessing can help strengthen the domestic supply chain and increase medical equipment supply by keeping SUD out of landfills.
