The important role SUD reprocessing brings to healthcare continues to make news. 

First, I am thrilled to announce NEScientific Inc. and ReNu Medical, Inc. are the newest members of AMDR!  NEScientific, of Waterbury Connecticut, brings unique product offerings to the AMDR table, including reprocessed RF ablative catheters.  ReNu Medical, of Everett Washington, employs High Level Disinfection (HLD) as part of its unique 100% green process which results in reprocessed devices with no residual or harmful chemicals or air emissions.  AMDR is proud to welcome these companies to our Association.

Second, the buzz words here in Washington are “healthcare cost control.”  That has largely meant a focus on the high cost of prescription pharmaceuticals and the drug industry’s efforts to increase profits.  So far, the medical device industry seems to have received a pass, and the result is that many device makers are not aligning their focus with hospitals’ effort to provide better care at less cost. Single-Use Device (SUD) reprocessing, like generic drugs, provides a check and competitive market pressure to device costs and medical waste. See the story below “Maximizing the Value of Your SUD Reprocessing Program” for tips on how hospitals can bend the cost curve my maximizing the value of their existing assets through reprocessing.  In the coming months AMDR will be focused on making sure leaders know the critical role reprocessing has had in the healthcare market, and underscoring the huge untapped potential!

Third, I want to highlight two new peer-reviewed articles from Europe in the last quarter.  Both address the safety and cost savings associated with SUD reprocessing. A December 2018 Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology article looked at remanufactured circular mapping catheters and noted that a “carefully regulated system” of SUD remanufacturing “could provide significant economic benefits without compromising patient safety”  (article available HERE.) Similarly, the Portuguese Journal of Public Health article from February 2019 about the reprocessing of single-use laparoscopic devices “confirms the economic advantages of reprocessing.” The article reported a study including two different devices and noted that, “these results are in line with the published literature, proving the validity of using [single use medical devices] after professionally certified reprocessing”  (article available HERE.)  AMDR believes rapid adoption of the new regulation by individual European Union member States gives hospitals the tools to stop unsafe and inappropriate hospital reuse of SUDs and promote safe, regulated and financially and environmentally sustainable SUD remanufacturing.

Thanks,

Dan Vukelich, Esq., CAE
President & CEO
Association of Medical Device Reprocessors
www.amdr.org