$286,386 saved in just FIVE MONTHS…
That’s the progress our Omnicell Efficiency Team has currently made as our union continues to implement innovative, cost-saving ideas to help Jackson Health System survive its financial crisis.
And those figures are steadily increasing as our team continues its unit-by-unit project of readjusting the amount of supplies in Jackson’s Omnicells.
Local 1991 member Roberto Blanco, RN, who works in Trauma ICU, presented his preliminary findings at a recent Joint Labor/Management Efficiency Task Force meeting where task force members were stunned at the amount of money that Jackson is saving through the work of the
Omnicell team. He also reported that 5-year costs of Omnicell usage at Jackson is expected to decrease from $305,000 to $88,000.
“This is much more monumental than I expected it to be,” said Blanco, a 17-year RN who has been working on the Omnicell project since July. “Nurses are just not aware of the costs involved.”
For example, in just one unit, the amount of inventory cost Jackson about $90,000, but after the Omnicell team readjusted and reorganized the amount of supplies in the machine, the cost of inventory was reduced to $65,000— a total savings of about $29,500!
The Omnicell team has so far completed 13 areas in Jackson, but still has 300 areas left to go!
“This work is just beginning,” Blanco said.
In addition to Omnicell work, Blanco, who works closely with Jennifer Cook, Jackson’s Omnicell supervisor, is re-training nurses and managers on the correct way to retrieve supplies from the machines. Blanco said Jackson employees have been very receptive to their ideas.
“The real challenge is, after all of this labor-intensive work, how do we maintain it?” he said.