For most of the over 20 years AMDR has advocated for regulated medical device reprocessing, questions of sustainability have been, at best, secondary concerns. But in the last four years – with rising awareness of the gravity of climate change and a global pandemic that revealed vulnerabilities in the healthcare sector – the appreciation of our industry has exploded. And we are thankful.

Just last week, the Commonwealth Fund released a survey finding overwhelming support for sustainability among U.S. healthcare workers: Four in five clinicians believe that it’s important for their hospital to address climate change and that doing so is aligned with their organization’s mission, while six in 10 indicated that a prospective employer’s policies and actions on climate change would impact their decision to apply for a job. These heartening results validate prior studies finding similar results among European surgeons and physicians.

This quarter, for the second time, the National Academy of Medicine endorsed reprocessing repeatedly in a new tool outlining various sustainability solutions – relying heavily on AMDR resources to do so. The American Medical Association likewise endorsed commercial reprocessing (from page 112). In a groundbreaking move, the government of France, which has long prohibited reprocessing, announced the launch of a pilot program to demonstrate the merits of the practice as a potential step towards legalization and regulation.

None of these tremendous gains would be possible without the work of AMDR and our member companies. We celebrate Medline’s expanding reprocessing program. Innovative Health recently scored a victory for the entire reprocessing industry, as a U.S. federal court ruled that their allegation of anti-competitive – and anti-reprocessing – practices by Biosense Webster was substantiated enough to proceed in Innovative Health’s lawsuit.

AMDR provides resources to help journalists and advocates tell the story of our industry with accuracy and impact. This quarter, I personally advocated for reprocessing in a brief column, an article, and a podcast. In a testament to our growing profile, our LinkedIn page surpassed 4,000 followers.

On the research front, a life cycle analysis of reprocessed IPC sleeves, published with support from AMDR member Cardinal Health, found that reprocessing reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 percent and waste disposal costs by 90 percent. Also, just recently, Practice Greenhealth’s 2023 Sustainability Benchmark Data revealed more than $50 million in cost savings associated with reprocessing and more than 1.6 million pounds of waste diverted from landfills.

Each quarter, we greet all these positive headlines with gratitude, and know that they help plant the seeds for more good news in the next quarter. Thank you for your commitment and interest that has helped us get to this point.Best Wishes,

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