Facilitate and Innovate: Ensuring Speedy but Safe Product Reviews

Surgeons are the biggest factor in any effort to streamline and standardize the purchase of new surgical devices—and thereby lower costs. But surgeons often balk at getting involved in product review and selection because of the additional demands on their time.

“Almost every time the field of surgery has brought in a new innovation, it has harmed patients,” says Thomas Aloia, MD, head, Institute for Cancer Center Innovation at MD Anderson. “It’s almost a universal principle. The learning curve represents the time it takes to build experience with the new way to do something,” he says.

Geisinger achieved much greater product standardization through its process revisions, along with more effective communication among physician leaders. Both organizations approached their product review processes in different ways, but engaging physicians was the common key to success—and something other facilities may wish to emulate.