A Medical Device Daily

HealthTrust Purchasing Group's (Brentwood, Tennessee) acute-care facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices and alternate-care sites, can continue to benefit from device reprocessing services provided by Ascent Healthcare Solutions (Phoenix), the companies reported Monday. HealthTrust said it has renewed its contract with Ascent.

According to Ascent, HealthTrust members will save roughly $57.9 million in device costs and about $477,000 in waste management expenses, as well as divert 907 tons of products from landfills, throughout the course of the three-year agreement. This is an increase over the savings achieved since HealthTrust first contracted with Ascent in 2005, the company noted.

Ascent provides reprocessed cardiovascular, endoscopic/laparoscopic, general surgery/OR, orthopedic/ arthroscopic, gastroenterology, respiratory and ophthalmology devices. Reprocessed devices typically cost about half as much as a new device, Ascent said.

HealthTrust is a group purchasing organization that supports more than 1,400 not-for-profit and for-profit acute care facilities, as well as ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, and alternate care sites.

Ascent reports that it has reprocessed more than 50 million devices since its inception, saving its customers more than $500 million in supply expenses and eliminating more than 10,000 tons from landfills.