So when one of our physicians requested some urological products from Bloomington, IN-based Cook Medical, the staff wasn’t prepared for same-day service and a personal visit from a Cook district manager. But that’s the kind of support we received. The call ultimately resulted in a full-fledged conversion to Cook urological products that is bringing state-of-the-art medical technology to Gordon at a fraction of previous operating costs.

We first contacted Cook to inquire about a kidney-stone extractor that Urologist Jason Crane had requested. Dr. Crane had trained with Cook urology products during residency. As a result, when a difficult case presented itself, he immediately thought of the Cook device as part of the optimal course of treatment for his patient.

"Having used Cook’s urology devices in the past, I was well aware of the quality and efficiency of their products," said Dr. Crane, noting in particular their ease of use.

The Gordon Hospital team responsible for the conversion from left: Dr. Jason Crane, Deanna Carter, April Bell, Debbie Barlow and Pat Aaron.

Gordon Hospital is an award-winning facility with a state-of-the-art care center and one of the most progressive programs in the region. But out in Calhoun, GA an hour outside of Atlanta, its location had proved to be a challenge in the past.

"It has been difficult for us to get medical device companies to send representatives to our location," said Cory Reeves, CFO of Gordon Hospital.

We asked Cook’s local sales representatives how quickly they could get the extractor onsite. To our surprise, Steve Clemmer, district manager for Cook Medical, brought the device to the hospital that same day, and Dr. Crane was able to alleviate his patient’s discomfort within hours.

"When Cook sent a representative out to our facilities so quickly, it made a big impression," said Reeves. "We also knew how well-regarded Cook products are by our physicians. It made sense to explore working with them more closely."

Gordon discussed with the company, the feasibility of converting to all Cook urology devices. Through the Premier healthcare alliance (the group purchasing organization for the Adventist Health System to which Gordon is a member), the hospital began exploring the conversion process and determined that the conversion would not only save a substantial amount of money on inventory but also supply the medical technology necessary to provide the same care as a urology "center for excellence." Both of these benefits could significantly improve overall patient care.

Once the decision to go with Cook was made, we began the daunting process of converting existing inventory to Cook products. Conversion can be a costly and time-consuming effort riddled with bureaucratic roadblocks. Without a high degree of both internal and external collaboration, the process can often grind to a halt.

At the onset of the conversion, Cook worked closely with our administration and clinicians to ensure that the entire team was comfortable with the Cook product set, features and functions. The Cook team visited physicians at the hospital multiple times for training sessions, and was quick to respond when the hospital’s staff needed more background on a particular device.

"The most important part of the conversion process is ensuring our physicians have the information they need to understand and be comfortable with the products," said Reeves. "That means giving them the opportunity to interact with the products, test them and become familiar with all their intricacies. Cook recognized this and went out of its way on multiple occasions to ensure our physicians had exposure to the product line as we finalized the cross-over."

Once trainings were complete and Cook began shipping its devices to us, the question arose regarding our existing inventory. How could we make space onsite for the new stock? How could we re-coup the dollars we had already invested?

"Without a good strategy to remove the existing inventory, Gordon would have been sitting on thousands of dollars of unused medical devices," said Clemmer, Cook Medical. "Holding on to these materials would have been costly and would have taken up significant storage space at Gordon." Under Clemmer’s direction, Cook stepped in to help. "We arranged for sister hospitals to take some of the inventory and donated portions to missionary groups. This process freed up significant space onsite for the new Cook products and also gave Gordon some financial return."

The next challenge was coding the technology so it could be integrated into Gordon’s system. Coding ensures easy product identification for physicians and seamless billing procedures for the finance department. But the process is often frustrating, time consuming and confusing for hospital administration. Once again, Cook offered support by introducing an easy-to-implement, easy-to-use label and coding process for our administration team that drastically cut the time it took to get Cook products in the system.

Specifically, the Cook team created laminated labels for each of the new products being introduced at Gordon. These labels included pictures of the device, the product names, the GPN reorder number and Gordon’s internal matching numbers, making the devices easy to identify and to re-order as necessary. And, to further eliminate confusion and reduce stress for our team, Cook also provided an indicator of what former product was being replaced by the new Cook devices, therefore, the clinical staff could quickly and easily locate the products they needed in the store room, without the need for a lengthy comparison process.

"Transitioning new products into the system is usually the biggest headache in the conversion process," said Deanna Carter, Gordon’s operating room materials manager. "The Cook team developed a seamless process that reduced the time and costs associated with this type of project. They spent countless hours helping us re-label each individual product in the new inventory."

We are now converted to Cook’s entire line of urology products and experiencing a significant return on investment, as well as a marked improvement in patient care. Equally important, the hospital has experienced a 50 percent cost reduction from the conversion, due in large part to the durability of Cook’s products. In many instances, we are using only one Cook product for procedures that otherwise would have required two or more devices from other manufacturers.

The standardization to Cook also reduced the number of vendors and the amount of inventory kept in stock by 75 percent combined with a 24-hour turnaround commitment. Cook’s free shipping program has also allowed for fast, cost-effective access to devices brought on by quicker delivery time. As a result of the devices arriving in a timely manner to Gordon, the clinicians are able to speed-up treatment times and lower procedure costs from lengthy waits.

"This was by far the easiest conversion we have ever done," said Reeves. "Steve and the team at Cook went above and beyond what we would have expected from a vendor, and we could not be more pleased with the results. Our organization is saving a significant amount of money, and we pass those savings on to our patients. Further, the quality of care we are able to provide has only improved since we began using the Cook technology."