OASC | LOGISTICS
IOL Inventory Strategies
ASCs can avoid inventory headaches with agile tactics for ordering, stocking, tracking, and billing
By Erin Murphy, Contributing Editor
Maintaining the proper inventory of standard and premium IOLs can be time consuming and expensive. Whether your ASC is large or small, there are strategies and tools to help you streamline your process. This look at how one high-volume practice handles IOLs offers adaptable strategies for practices of all sizes.
Handling High Volumes of IOLs
Cincinnati Eye Institute is an all-ophthalmology surgery center with six operating rooms, where more than 20 surgeons handle all types of ophthalmic cases. Of the more than 12,000 surgeries performed each year, about 7,500 are cataract procedures, and 22% of those patients receive premium IOL implants. For this volume and mix, the facility needs a smart, strategic inventory plan that meets changing needs with ease and agility.
Todd D. Albertz, the center’s director of surgical & pharmacy services, says a manual approach isn’t a viable option for many ASCs.
“I talk to colleagues at other practices who are still using a manual approach for IOL inventory. For us, that would require two full-time staff members doing the work that smart inventory and purchasing systems now handle very quickly. We couldn’t function without those systems,” he explains. “Even at a smaller surgery center, I think staff time is better utilized doing work that requires a human skill set — not work that software can perform more efficiently.”
Leaving Manual Inventory Behind
In the past, the staff at Cincinnati Eye Institute tracked IOLs by hand. One person was responsible for writing out a patient implant card for each case, ordering the IOLs, and managing the inventory.
“This staff member spent an inordinate amount of time tracking IOLs,” Albertz says. “So 12 years ago, we started with an independently produced barcode-based system that we liked very much. After that system was sold, I worked with a developer to create a similar system, which is now embedded in McKesson’s SupplyManager software. McKesson doesn’t sell IOLs, but it uses use this open-platform vehicle to drive commerce through its website.”
In Albertz’s surgery center, lenses are delivered and scanned into inventory. On the day of surgery, a staff member scans the appropriate IOL, the patient’s barcode, and the barcode for the surgeon. The inventory system automatically links the three. At the end of the day, the staff can easily send a batch of records to the preferred lens company so it can bill the center, replace the lenses, and register the lenses to the patients.
The system follows lenses from delivery to the center’s final inventory steps, according to Albertz. “The system lets us run a report at any time to reconcile our inventory with our lens company’s records for us. And on the back end, our accounting department uses the reports to reconcile our work — the IOLs that were actually implanted — with the associated invoice.”
Getting the Right Mix of IOLs
If you’re in charge of IOL inventory at your surgery center, you know that it can be a challenge to create the right balance. You must have the number of standard and premium IOLs surgeons need — when they need them —without tying up too much money in inventory that sits on the shelf.
Albertz points to consignment inventory as a key part of that balance. “We use our IOL inventory on consignment, so we don’t pay until we use the lens. Right now, we have close to 800 lenses, and that number continually increases.”
Many IOL manufacturers offer consignment payment. This system helps limit the amount the practice pays for inventory up front and eliminates paying for IOLs the practice doesn’t use. However, it does require a change in approach to inventory. Instead of doing all the purchasing up front, practices must interact with the manufacturer virtually every day of surgery to pay for IOLs. This is another reason an automated inventory system makes sense.
Selecting the Right Software
In addition to the online ordering and inventory management system used at Cincinnati Eye Institute, McKesson SupplyManager and ScanManager, other online inventory and ordering tools are available to meet practices’ specific needs. Several IOL manufacturers offer options to keep track of their respective lenses.
Simplify Inventory With a Few Custom Cataract Packs
Custom cataract packs allow ASCs to bundle a surgeon’s preferred products into a single item on the inventory shelf. But if you have several surgeons using a variety of IOLs, you might have to stock several different cataract packs.
To avoid that problem, Todd D. Albertz, director of surgical & pharmacy services at Cincinnati Eye Institute, worked with surgeons to get uniform buy-in on a limited number of custom packs. He worked with the ASC’s preferred lens company to develop two types of packs for his ASC: core surgery packs and cataract packs.
“The surgeons agreed on two core surgery packs, which include gowns, gloves, and other items,” he explains. “Cataract packs include about 10 items for surgery, including phaco tips and other small instruments that meet a specific surgeon’s preferences. With some agreement between our more than 20 surgeons, we managed to limit the number of cataract packs to 10.”
On the day of surgery, a staff member at Cincinnati Eye pulls a core surgery pack, a cataract pack, the IOL associated with the patient’s bar code, and the viscoelastic indicated on the surgeon’s preference card. According to Albertz, this process makes the center more efficient. “By limiting the number of items we need to purchase, inventory, and assemble for each case, we save a tremendous amount of time.”
Independent software companies have inventory management solutions as well, which they typically offer as part of larger business packages. Some examples are DavLong Business Solutions practice and inventory management software, Mednet MIRA inventory management system and SourceMedical AdvantX ASC management system.
The range of choices is large. The right fit for an ASC may depend on its size, inventory usage, and existing software, such as electronic medical records and business management systems. To get some direction, consider starting a conversation with reps from your IOL manufacturers. By investing some time in a new inventory process now, your staff could save a great deal of time in the future. ■
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