PHOENIX - (Business Wire)
Ascent Healthcare Solutions, a leader in the medical device industry delivering efficiency and sustainability in healthcare, announced today that its 2,000+ hospital and clinic partners throughout North America and beyond eliminated 841 tons from already overtaxed landfills by safely using nearly 3 million of Ascent
’s reprocessed medical devices in the first half of 2008. This represents an increase of 233 tons (38 percent) and 700,000 devices (31 percent) over first-half 2007 results. Ascent
’s reprocessing program has helped make the company a pioneer in environmental stewardship in the healthcare industry and has saved hospitals and clinics approximately $65.2 million in medical supply and disposal costs in the first half of this year, up 38 percent from the same period in 2007.
Ascent has FDA clearance to reprocess 84 medical device types at typically half their original cost. Since its inception, Ascent’s partners have saved more than a half-billion dollars in supply and waste management costs, and eliminated more than 10,000 tons from local landfills. Providing the means for both financial and environmental benefit with no loss of safety or quality, Ascent works with all leading national group purchasing organizations, as well as numerous nationally recognized hospital integrated delivery networks, including most of U.S. News and World Report’s “Honor Roll” hospitals. In the first half of 2008, Ascent renewed agreements with the following recognized organizations:
- Amerinet, Inc., a healthcare purchasing organization that serves more than 24,000 acute and non-acute healthcare providers nationwide;
- Banner Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit healthcare systems;
- HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HealthTrust), a group purchasing organization that supports more than 1,400 not-for-profit and for-profit acute care facilities;
- Premier Inc. (Premier), the largest healthcare alliance in the United States, with 1,700 members;
- ProvSource, a customized group purchasing program of VHA and University HealthSystem Consortium that manages contracting for the entire Providence Health & Services organization; and
- University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), an alliance of 101 nationally recognized academic medical centers and 178 of their affiliated hospitals representing approximately 90 percent of the nation’s not-for-profit academic medical centers.
“Ascent enables our hospital and clinic partners to participate in an exemplary environmental sustainability initiative while simultaneously safely reducing supply costs,” said Ascent CEO John Grotting. “We’re proud to have a positive impact on how healthcare’s finite resources are used. Our partners contribute to a ‘greener’ world and support more efficient and effective operations by redirecting their supply-cost savings to patient care initiatives and the latest medical technologies.”
The actions of the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the U.S. Government Accountability Office surrounding reprocessed devices have led to the development of some of the highest standards available today in the medical device industry.
About Ascent Healthcare Solutions
Since its inception, Ascent Healthcare Solutions, a leader in the medical device industry delivering efficiency and sustainability in healthcare, has safely reprocessed more than 50 million single-use medical devices (SUDs). This has saved its customers in excess of $500 million in supply expenses and eliminated more than 10,000 tons from local landfills, while maintaining high quality and safety standards. Ascent has been recognized as a “Champion for Change” by Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) in recognition of the dramatic environmental benefits its reprocessing programs provide to U.S. hospitals and surgery centers. Ascent’s 2,000+ hospital partners include most of the U.S. News and World Report “Honor Roll” hospitals. The company has agreements with all leading national group purchasing organizations as well as numerous nationally recognized hospital integrated delivery networks. For more information about Ascent Healthcare Solutions, visit www.ascenths.com.
Amendola Communications
Jan Shulman, 480-664-8412 ext. 12
jshulman@acmarketingpr.com
