About North Kansas City Hospital
North Kansas City Hospital is an acute care hospital located in north Kansas City, Missouri. This metropolitan medical center offers an extensive range of inpatient and outpatient services, including excellence in cardiac, cancer, orthopedics, emergency, and women’s health.
The Challenge
North Kansas City Hospital found that prior to the implementation of the TrackCore software with integrated RFID enclosures there were 10 or more tissues missing from inventory on a monthly basis. In addition to the missing tissue, there were up to 5,000 tissues unaccounted for from a patient billing perspective. On an annual basis North Kansas City Hospital realized that the financial impact of the missing tissue amounted to approximately $35,941. In addition, they concluded that the software and technology implementation would lead to significant staff savings and improved savings with less unaccounted for inventory.
The Solution
North Kansas City Hospital went live with Terso Solutions’ automated inventory management system by installing RAIN RFID-enabled intelligent cabinets and integrating with TrackCore, Inc.’s tissue and implant tracking software, TrackCore Operating Room. This fully automated solution provided North Kansas City Hospital real-time visibility to all inventory on-hand, meaning no more multiple tracking systems or manual reconciling. Using Jetstream, the cloud-based platform from Terso, along with the RFID enclosures and TrackCore’s software, North Kansas City Hospital now has the unique ability to integrate with the hospital EHR, which provides instant real-time accessibility to inventory records. This fully integrated solution has allowed North Kansas City Hospital to be compliant with all joint commission standards, tracking tissue and implants from vendor to receipt to patient. This means a secure chain of custody, giving the hospital complete control over who has access to inventory. Since the implementation of Terso Solutions’ technology and TrackCore’s software solution, North Kansas City Hospital has had no instances of missing tissue and continues to optimize the entire inventory management process.
North Kansas City Hospital plans to grow their automated inventory management system in the coming years by adding RFID-enabled refrigerators and freezers.
About St. Dominic Hospital
St. Dominic Hospital is a 502-bed, not-for-profit general and surgical center located in Jackson, Mississippi. Offering a broad range of services including cancer care, cardiovascular care, and health education.
The Challenge
For St. Dominic Hospital, a similar backstory led to the implementation of a streamlined solution for automating tissue and implant tracking in their surgery center. Prior to the implementation, St. Dominic stored tissue and implants in a separate area of the hospital, and with over 200 pieces of stored tissue on any given day, making trips to find needed inventory was time consuming, often creating more work for nurses and staff during critical procedures. Plus, on a monthly basis numerous pieces of tissue were considered lost or missing which required nurses to spend hours attempting to reconcile stock.
The Solution
St. Dominic determined that the best solution to this critical problem was Terso Solutions’ RAIN RFID-enabled technology integrated with TrackCore Inc.’s tissue and implant tracking software, TrackCore Operating Room.
Now, if any questions should arise on a particular piece of tissue the process for identifying and locating that inventory is seamless. A report is run and immediately communicates to St. Dominic anyone who touched that tissue – from the moment it arrived on the receiving dock to the moment it was implanted in a patient. A large benefit for St. Dominic is the access to regulatory data and FDA documentation provided in the tissue and implant tracking software, TrackCore Operating Room. Jason Merrill, the Materials Manager at St. Dominic Hospital says “there are now no questions as to which vendors are FDA-certified, plus all patient charges are captured in real-time and automatically sent directly to the vendor through the software.”
The automated solution simplifies the entire inventory management process by tracking expiration date,
recalls, and location of inventory. The accountability of employees throughout the entire chain of custody provides St. Dominic with critical operational information and nurses no longer spend time reconciling inventory, which has greatly increased staff morale and contributes to better patient outcomes. With the success of this program in the OR, St. Dominic has implemented the same solution in their wound care center to track tissue, and is assessing other opportunities within the hospital.
About TrackCore, Inc.
TrackCore, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI. TrackCore began with a vision and commitment to improve patient safety surrounding tissues and implants. TrackCore Operating Room was launched in 2006 and is now the industry leading, flagship product of TrackCore, Inc. designed to eliminate the need for arduous manual processes surrounding tissues and implants. TrackCore Operating Room is now in over 425 hospitals nationwide. TrackCore, Inc. continues to invest in its products and has expanded the product offering to include TrackCore Interventional and TrackCore SameDay. TrackCore Interventional is a product designed to control costs and improve patient care through consumable tracking. TrackCore SameDay automates the bill-only process for consigned special-order implants.
