Skip to contents
In This Issue:
Do you know how many exam gloves are snapped onto the hands of employees and staff throughout the Partners system each year?
110 million.
At BWH, physicians, nurses and other medical staff use about 37 million exam gloves annually. The gloves come in more than 220 types and sizes, with the total cost adding up to $8 million each year.
About 80 percent of the gloves were purchased from one vendor, and when the contract came up for renewal, the vendor indicated a significant price hike was coming. So, a team of Partners employees, including clinicians, formed to evaluate exam gloves from other vendors. The team sponsored two-week product trials in more than 20 departments across the system, with staff testing nearly 1,000 cases of gloves.
A better exam glove was agreed upon, and a new vendor was selected. The switch is expected to save Partners $1.2 million annually and BWH approximately $300,000 per year.
The exam gloves project is part of Partners' ongoing Patient Affordability strategic initiative, aimed at finding and implementing $300 million in savings over three years. If you have ideas for cost-savings in your area or suggestions for Partners as a whole, email patientaffordability@partners.org.