The Trakker™: A Cash Register for The Operating Room
In a well-documented story, a seminal moment occurred in the retail industry on June 26th, 1974, in Troy Ohio, a suburb of Dayton Ohio. Sharon Buchanan, a checkout clerk at a Marsh’s Supermarket, passed a 10 pack of Juicy Fruit gum under a barcode scanner and for the first time in history recorded a consumer purchase using barcode scanning. Despite some initial bumps in the road, the retail industry has never been the same. Barcode scanning, or scanning at the Point of Sale (POS), has benefited all of us through improved efficiencies and better supply chain data management – particularly lower prices and greater product selection and availability for all retail consumers.
The POS Retail Scanning “Chicken or Egg” Deployment Dilemma
What history teaches us about the “bumpy” roll out of retail POS barcode scanning is that there are two essential ingredients needed for widespread adoption: standardization of the actual code printed on the product itself (making the product universally “scannable”), and deployment of information technologies to read the barcodes at the POS (scanning directly where the product is consumed, in retail that being the cash register). Both require investment: the manufacturers must invest in labeling their products for scanning (printing their labels with barcodes) and the retailers must invest in the scanning technology to read the barcodes at the POS.
Let’s switch from retail to healthcare, specifically the operating room (OR). In the OR, two types of products are used: devices (and supplies) that are pre-packaged by manufacturers in sterile packaging already labeled with a unique device identifier (UDI) barcode, and devices (and supplies) which are delivered in non-sterile packaging and are subsequently placed in racks and trays and sterilized at the hospital before their use in surgery. To re-iterate: we have pre-packaged (“sterile”) and “non-sterile” products that comprise everything consumed during surgery.
The Healthcare OR “Chicken AND Egg” POU Scanning Challenge
In the interest of brevity, simply stated barcode scanning at the Point of Use (POU) in the OR has proven to be universally problematic. Product labeling on sterile items is inconsistent, and non-sterile products are often not barcoded because of technical limitations on marking them (imagine having to barcode label and then scan a millimeter-sized screw). And there are literally millions of non-sterile devices in the field with no marks on them. Comprehensive marking technology hasn’t been available for all OR products used in surgery, so deployment of scanning technology in the OR for documentation and tracking of devices and supplies is largely nonexistent. The resulting morass leads to huge cost burdens on healthcare, both from manufacturer and end user (hospital) standpoint.
The Summate Trakker System
Summate has introduced a revolutionary technology for healthcare which enables true POU scanning of ALL products used in the OR. The Trakker is a roll-in solution that unifies workflows for managing both pre-packaged and “non-sterile” devices and supplies. Our partnership with Symmetric Health Solutions advances package identification accuracy through label imaging rather than relying solely on barcode scanning, and then automatically matches the data in the label - product ID, brand attributes - to products in the hospital item master. It even saves an image of the label for auditing purposes Through Set Mapping* and Summate’s unique microchip-based laser scanning technology**, we have introduced for the first time the ability to scan “non-sterile” device usage directly from inside the surgical field. Set Mapping is deployed at the set/tray level, which eliminates the need for direct part marking of the individual implants. The Trakker system can document everything used during surgery, and do it faster, more accurately, and more efficiently within current OR workflows*.
Importantly, the Trakker does not need IT integration to deliver real value though comprehensive OR product usage documentation*. It is truly a “roll and go” solution - just roll in and start scanning.
Looking back at history, Summate has solved the final piece of the OR POU scanning dilemma with the ScanTrakker technology by offering TRUE point of use (edge of field) * scanning technology for ALL products used in every operating room. With 60% of a hospital product spend going to the OR, and an even higher proportion at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), the ROI for investment in OR scanning technology is inarguable and factually demonstrable to any CFO. The Summate ROI calculator proves this using individual hospital metrics and published data. The Trakker is the critical “pull” technology which will develop the OR POU market and unleash all its benefits. And as a “cash register” for the OR, it makes sense for hospitals to control their OWN data (and potentially monetize it). Look what it did for Walmart in retail.
Every day without the Trakker is a day of lost profit for a hospital or ASC.
The Trakker system will also lead to more accurate and timely demand information and field inventory control for device and manufacturing companies that supply the healthcare industry. It is truly a “win-win-win”- for manufacturers, for healthcare providers, and for consumers through providing greater supply chain efficiency and lower costs.
History doesn’t lie. The time has come for OR POU scanning to do for healthcare what it did for retail. It’s time for Summate Technologies, the Trakker, and Better OR Data.
Summate is open for business through partnerships and licensing. For more information, please contact us at info@summate.net or go to our website contact page.
* Summate patents issued/pending
** p-Chip Corporation, Chicago, IL