Custom Packs Deliver Value Through End User Convenience, Transparency and Cost Savings

In 2009, Mercy and ROi began operating the first provider-owned Customer Procedure Tray (CPT) manufacturing facility in the U.S. The 6,000-square-foot facility, which is regulated by the FDA and housed within the Consolidated Services Center (CSC) in Springfield, MO, produces custom packs containing up to 70 percent of all supplies needed for a surgical procedure.

Across Mercy, ROi builds 234 unique packs that are used by physicians 225,000 times per year. Even with over 150 percent growth of CPT usage in the last two years, demand for new packs continues to increase daily.

"Using custom packs manufactured within your own health care system provides us with a degree of control that we would not have with an outside vendor," explains Mark Richardson, Director of Perioperative Business Services, Mercy Hospital St. Louis. "We have flexibility with less than half the turnaround time. I can send an email to change our packs and not have to wait six months for this to be accomplished, which is a typical time frame for a third-party custom pack manufacturer."

Richardson adds that even more important is ROi's clinical expertise and approach to work with the end users to customize the surgical packs based on their input and unique specifications.

"It is fascinating to watch the involvement from staff and surgeons, and the excitement they have in customizing their packs at the front end," says Richardson. "The custom pack manager from ROi is the same manager who actually comes to the operating rooms to work with our clinicians and have conversations to design the layout of the packs. The collaborative process allows products to be selected that bring the most clinical and financial value to the organization. ROi's custom pack solutions are built for us with our specs, so when they arrive we have what we need while seeing significant cost savings."

Richardson explains another benefit is ROi's transparency in pricing.

"From a financial perspective, we can customize our packs and not be concerned with additional percentage mark ups associated with items," he says. " ROi's activity-based pricing model provides pricing transparency and places cost control in our hands. We know up front the cost for each product, the labor associated with placing the product in each pack and the cost for sterilization and transportation. There are no surprises, and we do not see substitutions for products that are common throughout the CPT industry. Also, as ROi negotiates product cost reductions, the savings flow right through to our bottom line. Everyone's incentives are aligned in this model, which builds trust and teamwork."