Case Study: Sanford Health achieves 90%+ preference card accuracy and $1.4M in inventory savings with Tecsys

Sterile Processing Department Achieves 90%+ Preference Card Accuracy with Tecsys Software

Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the U.S., faced a costly disconnect between its Sterile Processing Department (SPD) and the Operating Room: nearly half of items sent for procedures returned unused or went undocumented, driving wasted labor, excess inventory and patient safety risks. Without reliable point-of-use data, SPD leaders couldn’t prove the scope of waste or gain OR buy-in to rationalize physician preference cards.

Sanford partnered with Tecsys to deploy a point-of-use inventory solution integrated with Epic, formed a Maintain Gains team, and introduced automated “Green” and “Blue” reports and governance to engage OR staff. That data-driven approach — plus POU scanning and ongoing clinician ownership of cards — delivered a 90%+ preference card accuracy rate, about $1.4M in on-hand inventory savings, reduced waste, improved efficiency and full visibility to supplies at the patient level.

Sanford Health

Susan Pfeifer

Director of Sterile Processing