Medical supplies abstract
A method for integration of the institutional supply chain for
medical products utilizing a nested bill of materials on a care
event level of a clinical pathway for one or more medical procedures.
The medical supplies appropriate for use in a care event are expressed
as a bill of materials. Each item of medical supply is assigned
a unique identifier which includes at least identification of the
item itself, identification of the supplier of the item, and identification
of the care event with which the item is to be used. Portions of
the supplies are provided by multiple vendors to a unitized container
sequencing center where the supplies are bundled by care events
and packed into a unitized container. This container is then shipped
to a customer or distributor for further shipment to a customer.
Medical supplies claims
What is claimed:
1. A method for the collection, assembly and distribution of medical
supplies in an integrated institutional supply chain comprising
the steps of:
expressing a list of medical supply items appropriate for use in
a medical procedure as a nested bill of materials on a procedure
level which includes at least one care event along a clinical pathway
for a given medical procedure; wherein medical supply items for
use in the at least one care event are associated on said nested
bill of materials with that care event;
providing at least a Portion of the information on said bill of
materials to a plurality of medical supply vendors;
each of said medical supply vendors shipping supplies from at least
a Portion of said nested bill of materials to a unitized container
sequencing center;
assembling a unitized container containing items of medical supplies
provided in said nested bill of materials; and
shipping said unitized container to the location where the care
event is to be performed.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of expressing a list
of supplies as a nested bill of materials further comprises:
expressing a medical procedure as a clinical pathway;
identifying care events along said clinical pathway, said care
events comprising discrete portions of the medical procedure to
be performed; and
associating at least a portion of the supplies to be used during
the medical procedure with at least one care event in said clinical
pathway.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing unitized
container sequencing instructions for use in assembling said unitized
container at said unitized container sequencing center.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said step of providing unitized
container sequencing instructions further comprises including unitization
instructions for the assembly of medical supplies in bundles to
be placed within said unitized container.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein said step of providing unitized
container sequencing instructions further comprises including packing
order instructions for directing the order in which items are placed
in the unitized container.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said clinical pathway comprises
a plurality of care events and in which said nested bill of materials
comprises a listing of supplies to be used in all of said plurality
of care events comprising the additional steps of:
identifying the items of supply associated with each care event;
bundling items of supply associated with each care event together
to create discrete care event bundles; and
during said step of assembly of said unitized container, packing
said care event bundles in the reverse order of use such that the
bundle associated with the care event to be performed last is placed
near the bottom of said unitized container and the bundle associated
with the care event to be performed first is placed near the top
of said bundle, wherein said bundles may easily be withdrawn in
the order needed during the performance of the medical procedure.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the supplies from more than one
medical supply vendor are placed within at least one of the bundles
during the step of bundling items of supplies.
Medical supplies description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the supply of medical supplies to patient
care institutions, and particularly to methods for the assembly,
transport and storage of disposable medical supplies.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the medical care industry, constant vigilance is maintained
over the cost of the care provided to patients, with particular
attention being given simultaneously to assuring the well-being
of the patient. One method currently being practiced by some health
care institutions, particularly hospitals, is centered around the
concept of clinical pathways. As used in this environment, the concept
attempts to bring to bear upon the care afforded a patient all those
resources of the institution which are dictated by the nature of
the patient's illness and which will provide the dictated care,
and result in the patient being restored to that state of health
that permits proper release from the institution after a minimum
length of stay. The use of the clinical pathway concept has been
demonstrated to reduce the length of stay in an institution of a
patient. It has further been demonstrated to reduce the overall
cost of the treatment of the patient while in the institution by
ensuring that no ill effect associated with the patient's stay in
the institution caused the patient to require more than a standard
regimen of treatment for a specific illness. For example, through
proper care, the patient is prevented from developing decubitus
ulcers which could require that the patient remain in the institution
for an extended period of time, just for treatment of the ulcers.
In health-care institutions employing the clinical pathway concept,
there is developed within the institution a protocol for the treatment
of a given illness, surgical procedure, or other regimen of medical
care to be provided to a patient (termed a "procedure").
This protocol lists the contribution of each institutional unit
(e.g. department) toward the treatment of the patient (termed a
"care event"), and the sequence in which each to care
event is to occur. This protocol then becomes the "standard"
for the care to be provided for any patient entering the institution
and suffering from the particular illness (medical diagnosis) which
is addressed by the protocol.
Prior to the present invention, the clinical pathway concept has
been applied internally of health care institutions, affecting only
those services which originate within the institution and which
are provided by the internal resources of the institution. No correlation
of the protocol to the cost of supplies in known to have been made
prior to the present invention. Yet, one of the major sources of
costs associated with the treatment of a patient in an institution
is the cost of the supplies which are consumed by the institution.
Because of this shortcoming of the clinical pathway concept, health
care institutions have failed to achieve significant cost savings
with respect to the supplies used in the course of any given protocol.
This is especially true with regard to disposable medical supplies
which typically are supplied to the institution from outside sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,795 discloses a method for the delivery, storage,
transport and disposal of medical supplies to a health care institution
in which the ultimate cost to the institution of the medical supplies
is reduced by supplying disposable medical supplies direct from
a supplier in receptacles which may thereafter be used by the institution
in safely disposing of waste medical supplies. This method is dependent
upon the institution identifying the supplies needed and placing
an order for the same from a supplier. The usefulness of the method
therefore is limited by the institution's accuracy of ordering.
If the institution has inadequate facilities to determine its supply
needs, and as a consequence orders too little or too much of a given
supply item, this prior art system has no means for detecting this
shortcoming.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a
method for the selection and delivery of medical supplies to a health-care
institution.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be recognized
from the description provided herein, including the claims and drawings
in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a generic clinical pathway
as applied to a health-care institution;
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation depicting various aspects
of one embodiment of the method of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation depicting other aspects
of one embodiment of the method of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the supply structure
of one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation depicting various aspects
of one embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 6a through 6h is a printed listing of a bill of materials
used in one embodiment of the present invention; and
FIGS. 7a through 7i are five pages of sequencing instructions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the method of the present invention, the supply
needs of a health-care institution are integrated into a system
for the delivery of these supplies to the institution. The method
comprises a nested multi-level system in which the smallest element
of unitization in the system is termed a "unit". Units
are combined into supply bundles which are subassemblies to consumption
levels (i.e. care events), and consumption levels are subassemblies
to a particular clinical pathway. In this manner, the institution
may follow an object-oriented, unitized approach to supply consumption
along with the clinical pathway.
The method of the present invention includes the steps of expressing
those items of -medical supplies which a health care institution
requires for a given care event (consumption level) in a clinical
pathway for a given medical procedure, as a bill of materials, employing
identification codes
(identifiers) which include at least an identification of the care
event with which the supply is to be used, and identification of
the item itself. Employing the identification codes, a bill of materials
which is representative of those medical supplies identified for
a given care event within a clinical pathway, is prepared preferably
at a first location of medical supplies. At the first location,
at least a first portion of the medical supplies on the bill of
materials is unitized into a unit. One or more units may be prepared.
The unit or units are deposited in a container having a void volume
which is greater than the volume occupied by the unit. The container
with the unitized medical supplies therein is releasably closed
and thereafter transported to a remotely located second supplier.
At the location of the second supplier, at least a second portion
of the medical supplies on the bill of materials is unitized. At
the location of the second supplier, the container is opened and
the unit or units of medical supplies provided by the second supplier
are deposited inside the container, the container is re-closed and
transported with the medical supplies, commonly to a department
in a care provider (e.g. operating room of a hospital). In certain
instances it may be desired that the care provider also add medical
supplies to the container. In this case, the container with the
unitized medical supplies from the first and second supplier is
releasably closed and shipped from the second supplier to the care
provider. This care provider thereupon opens the container and adds
to the container those medical supplies which it can most advantageously
supply. The container may then be closed and either placed in inventory
or transported to the end user. The present method accommodates
these steps of the procedure in that the initial bill of materials
lists thereon those medical supplies which are to be added to the
container by the care provider prior to the container being forwarded
to the end user. The advance notice provides to each tier of suppliers
precisely where and what products are required and the means by
which each supplier can ensure the availability of its designated
medical supplies well in advance of the need therefor. Ordering
of medical supplies from a manufacturer and inventorying of the
supplies are both enhanced by the present method.
The unique identifiers employed in the present method serve multiple
purposes. These codes include identification of the supplier of
each item of medical supply, through multiple levels of supply within
the supply chain as necessary, thereby providing traceability of
the item to its source as is required by federal and other regulations
for the handling of medical supplies, particularly sterile medical
supplies. Further, each code includes identification of that care
event within the clinical pathway of the institution where the supply
item is to be used, thereby assuring that the particular supply
item is delivered to its intended point of use, so that the institution's
clinical pathway is not disrupted by reason of the item of supply
not being available at the time and place with the institution when
needed. First, this aspect of the method permits the institution
to order disposable medical supplies by procedure, as opposed to
the traditional ordering of individual items of medical supplies
for warehousing at the institution and withdrawing from the stock
of these supplies as needed. Second, this aspect of the method further
permits the institution to stock medical supplies on the basis of
historical information as to the number of given medical procedures
(care events) that are to be expected within a given time frame.
This capability permits the institution to stock standardized units
of supplies for statistically calculable demands for the supplies
and thereby reduce supply inventories.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1, a generic clinical pathway for a given medical
procedure within a health-care institution may include a series
of care events such as admission 10, patient work-up 12, pre-op
14, anesthesia 16, operating room 18, post-op 20, floor 22 and discharge
24. In accordance with the present invention, the disposable medical
supplies which the institution must obtain from a source outside
the institution, as well as any medical supplies that are to be
provided by the institution itself, and which are associated with
a given care event, are identified. Each identified item of supply
is assigned a unique code which identifies at least the item itself,
the source for the item and the care event with which the item is
to be used within the institution. Each code also may include identifiers
of the anticipated user of the supply, such as a surgeon's initials,
and other identifier information. Preferably, the federally promulgated
ICD-9 code (International Classification of Disease--9th Revision)
for a given medical procedure is used to identify the clinical pathway
with which the supply item is to be used.
The preferred code further includes an identifier for the location
within the clinical pathway, i.e. care event at which the bundle
of the supplies is to be consumed, e.g. in the operating room. Accordingly,
the code comprises a nested multi-level system--the supply item
identification, bundle identification, supplier identification,
and care event identification.
A typical code, listing the levels of the code, for a supply item
is given below:
______________________________________ 90-aaaabbbcxxxxx Clinical
Pathway Level aaaa ICD-9 code (without decimal point) bbb Surgeon's
initials c product configuration code (guarantees unique number)
xxxxx not used (blank) 91-eeeeffffggggg Consumption Point LEVEL
eeee consumption point identifier code ffff protocol identification
code ggggg code used to guarantee a unique number 92-hhhiiiiiiixxx
Supply Bundle Level hhh supply identifier code iiiiiii unique serialized
indentifier code xxx code used to guarantee a unique number ______________________________________
A typical bill of material developed from the unique number and
coded supply items associated with the operating room level of the
clinical pathway for a laparoscopy cholestomectomy protocol (performed
by Dr. Jones) is given below:
______________________________________ PART DESCRIPTION QTY ______________________________________
90-0926JAJSO768 Dr. Jones Lap Choly Procedure 1 56-11208 TraceCart
Lid 1 56-11360 TraceCart Base, 30 Gallon 1 91-OPRRM462078 Operating
Room Supply Bundle 1 92-DER3345380768 DeRoyal Supply Bundle for
OR 1 50-9783P Basic Endo Pack 28-0500 Probe, Irrig/Aspir w/Tubing
1 56-50315 Tape, Video VHS 120 1 71-1101 Suction Canister, 1500
cc 1 92-OMI3345380768 O & M Supply Bundle for OR 1 OMI1553522
Grounding Pad, Hydrogel, REM 1 OMI1832354 Tray, Skin Prep OMI1443872
Tray, Foley 16 Fr. 5 cc 1 OMI1883624 Cath, IV PL Unit 1 ______________________________________
Each identifier (identification code) may include alpha, numeric
or a combination of alpha and numeric characters. The maximum number
of characters in any given identifier is limited only by the data
handling system(s) available to the manufacturer, the distributor,
the institution, and the end-user. It will be recognized that the
entity which initiates a bill of materials must have access to full
information for each care event as will enable the entity to generate
the bill of materials. This includes information as to which medical
supplies and how many of each are required by a given health care
provider for a given care event. It also requires that the initiator
of the bill of materials have in its database full information as
to the source and identification of each item of medical supplies
which is to be provided for a given care event.
In the present method, the identifiers associated with the medical
supplies intended for a given care event, within a clinical pathway,
are initially expressed as a bill of materials which is thereafter
used as the basis for collecting and unitizing the medical supplies.
A single bill of materials for a given supply bundle is used by
all providers of medical supplies that go to make up the supply
bundle.
With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, in accordance with one embodiment
of the present method, a typical supply chain for products made,
delivered and eventually used in a medical care facility, such as
a hospital, which employs the clinical path concept in its patient
care functions, includes one or more manufacturers 30 and 32 of
one or more of the supply items used in one or more of the care
events 34, 36, 38 and 40 of a clinical path, indicated generally
by the numeral 42, and, optionally, is a distributor 44 of one or
more of the supply items used in one or more of the care events
of the clinical pathway. The supply chain is completed by the inclusion
of the medical care facility 46 itself. In certain instances, medical
supplies for a given care event may be supplied by the manufacturer
and by the hospital, or by the distributor and the hospital or by
all three, or even including multiple distributors or multiple manufacturers.
With further reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, in one embodiment of the
present method, supply bundles 50, 52, 54 and 56 which are intended
for use within respective care events 34, 36, 38 and 40, originate
with one or more manufacturers 30 and 32. At a first manufacturer's
30 location, one or more supply items, manufacturer, are unitized
into a unit 58. This unit of medical supply items is placed in a
container 60 which is releasably closed, as by a removable lid 62.
Optionally, and most commonly, this container and its contents are
thereafter transferred to the location of a distributor 44 where
one or more additional supply items are unitized into a further
unit 64 and placed in the container 60. The container with its contents
of medical supplies is referred to as a "supply bundle".
The supply items provided by the distributor commonly are products
provided by a second manufacturer 32 other that the first manufacturer,
thereby, requiring that either the distributor or the second manufacturer
cooperate in assigning to the supply items provided to a supply
bundle appropriate identifiers that are consistent with the identifier
protocol established between the medical care provider and the first
manufacturer, for example this most commonly is accomplished by
the first manufacturer initially establishing an identifier for
each medical supply item to be included in a given bundle, plus
other appropriate identification elements, which the distributor
also uses. For example, the distributor may affix the appropriate
identifier which is provided by the manufacturer, to each supply
item which the distributor adds to the bundle.
The container with the two or more units of medical supplies contained
therein is releasably resealed by the distributor and transported
to the medical care facility, e.g. a hospital. As depicted in FIGS.
2 and 3, at the hospital, each supply bundle, comprising the container,
its lid, and one or more units of medical supply items, is delivered
to the location of that care event for which the supply bundle was
designed, for example, to the OR (operating room) when needed. As
noted above, the hospital, through its historical usage records
for its medical supplies for a given care event, can readily order
from a manufacturer, and the manufacturer (and distributor) can
readily deliver, in a timely fashion, those medical supplies which
are required for the given care event. Timing of the ordering and
delivery of a given supply bundle is further enhanced through the
use of the hospital's historical records relating to the frequency
of occurrence of a given care event within the hospital.
In accordance with another aspect of the present method, the inventors
have found that many care events, as defined in the clinical pathway
concept of providing patient care, even though taking place at different
levels Qf a given clinical pathway and/or even in the clinical pathway
for disparate illnesses (i.e. for different ICD-9 codes) call for
the use of common items of medical supplies. Therefore, based upon
a given hospital's historical occurrence rate of all (or many) of
its ICD-9s in combination with the hospital's usage rate for each
of its care events, irrespective of the ICD-9 with which the care
event may be associated, the inventors can project the total usage
by the hospital over time of each item of its medical supplies.
With this information in hand, a manufacturer of a variety of medical
supplies can anticipate the usage of those medical supplies which
it contemplates that it will provide to the supply bundle. The manufacturer,
therefore, can more efficiently control its ordering and inventorying
of raw materials, can better schedule its manufacturing operations,
and can reduce its inventories of finished goods. Because of this
capability, the medical supplies can be provided to the hospital
at a cost that permits the hospital to minimize its cost of providing
health care to its patients. These same benefits are available to
the distributor, the hospital, or any other entity in the supply
chain.
One feature of the present method provides for the generation of
the bill of materials at the outset, i.e. upon receipt by the manufacturer
of an order for a particular procedure. Since the bill of materials
as initially generated includes identification of the supply items
which are to be provided by each of the manufacturer, the distributor
and/or the hospital, a copy of the bill of materials provided to
each entity substantially immediately upon its completion provides
useful advance notice to the entities so notified that the order
has been received and is being processed. Importantly, this advance
notice also identifies to each entity the products which they are
expected to provide so that they can "preprocess" the
order by collecting and unitizing the supply items in anticipation
of receipt of a container from the entity ahead of them in the supply
chain. This feature shortens the time between placement of an order
and delivery of the product to the extent that the hospital can
rely on "just-in-time" type delivery of the needed supplies.
This results in less inventory of supplies at the hospital and reduced
costs. Like inventory cost savings are experienced by the distributor.
Still further, the present method, and its shortened delivery time
for specific medical supplies, permits the hospital to include patient-specific
items in a given bundle. For example, patient-sized items
such as endotracheal tubes and foley catheters commonly can not
be specified until the patient surgery (or other specific treatment)
is scheduled. Heretofore, the hospital and/or distributor had to
keep on hand inventories of such patient specific supplies. Because
of the control over inventory and short lead time afforded by the
present method, these items can be included in a specific bundle
which is labeled for a specific patient. Again, this permits the
hospital to reduce its level of inventory of the medical supplies
and realize monetary savings.
The unitizing of the medical supplies by a manufacturer may take
any appropriate form, but preferably includes collecting the medical
supply items and enclosing them in a protective cover, such as a
bag (which may be sealed) or a wrap of the type known in the art
as a sterile wrap. The function of the protective cover is two-fold
primarily. First, the cover protects the products from possible
contamination and from possible damage due to shifting or movement
during transit or handling. Second, the cover unitizes, that is
segregates, the collection of medical supplies so that the unit
can be readily identified. This identification includes identification
of the unit as a billable item for purposes of reimbursement accounting.
That is, the unit, through its unique identifier, provides both
the hospital and a third party payment provider, such as Medicare,
Medicaid or insurance company, with sufficient information to qualify
the unit of medical supplies as a valid reimbursable entity.
The container employed in the present method can be one of the
type which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,795, for example,
which patent is incorporated herein in its entirety, by referenced.
This patent further describes a type of packaging of medical supplies
which is acceptable for use in the present method. Other containers,
including bags or conventional boxes may be employed.
Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown an alternative supply arrangement
to that previously described. The previously described supply method
could be described as "series" or "sequential"
since the container is shipped from source of supply to source of
supply and is packed with additional supplies at each source. FIG.
4 shows a method for constructing the unitization of medical supplies
at a central "sequencing center." This method still relies
upon the nested bill of materials, previously described, to provide
for the proper ordering, assembly and packing of the supplies, but
does not require the physical shipment of the container to multiple
locations and allows for bundling of supplies from multiple sources
within the unitized container for ease of use by the end-user.
As was the case previously, when a hospital, or other user of medical
supplies, determines that supplies to be used in a given medical
procedure are needed, an order for unitized container of supplies
is placed; usually with a local distributor 104. The nested bill
of materials associated with the procedure is automatically associated
with the order and has the attributes previously described. This
nested bill of materials is printed at or sent to a Unitized Container
Sequencing Center 100. Typically, this Sequencing Center 100 is
located at a geographically central location so as to be easily
reached by supply shipments and to allow for the quick shipment
of unitized containers to various distributors. Once the order is
received at the Sequencing Center 100, orders are provided to Regional
Operating Centers 102 which are operated by the various suppliers
who supply components for the procedure. The components are shipped
from the Regional Operating Centers 102 to the Sequencing Center
100. The unitized container is then packed (as will be described
later) and closed for shipment to a specified distributor 104. This
distributor, without opening the container, will then further ship
the container to the appropriate customer. Thus, while the benefits
of use of the nested bill of materials is retained (i.e., the various
supplies are packed according to the procedural pathway, traceability
of the supplies to the vendor is maintained, and the supplies are
ordered from the most cost effective provider) the efficiency in
packing the container is enhanced.
Referring now to FIGS. 5-7e, the packing of the unitized container
106 at the Sequencing Center 100, will be described. First, as was
described with respect to FIG. 4, the supplies listed on the nested
bill of materials (108 of FIGS. 6a through 6e) are collected at
the Sequencing Center 100 from the Regional Operating Centers 102.
Also, associated with the nested bill of materials 108, is a set
of Sequencing Instructions, FIGS. 7a through 7e. As can be seen
in FIGS. 7a through 7e the sequencing instructions describe how
the supplies are to be if grouped. In this manner, multiple bundles
112, 114, 116 and 118 (FIG. 5) are assembled which contain supplies
to be used during a portion of a medical procedure. These bundles
112, 114, 116 and 118 may contain supplies provided from variety
of different vendors, manufacturers or distributors and are grouped
by functionality based upon instructions from the user. These bundles
112, 114, 116 and 118 are then placed in the desired order in the
unitized container 106 for shipment to the distributor for ultimate
shipment to the customer.
Referring again to FIGS. 6a through 7e, the nested bill of materials
of FIGS. 6a through 6e corresponds to the set of sequencing instructions
provided in FIGS. 7a through 7e. FIG. 7a is a pick list showing
the parts that are needed to build the pack. FIG. 7b shows the unitization
instructions which show how to group the supplies into unitized
bundles (such as the bundles of FIG. 5); FIG. 7c shows a label which
would be applied to one of the unitized bundles assembled in accordance
with the unitization instructions. FIG. 7d shows the sequencing
instructions that determine the order in which the unitized bundles
will be placed in the container. FIG. 7e is a checklist which is
used to insure that the bundles have been placed within the container
in the proper order. With these instructions, the supplies may be
grouped according to functional relationship and then placed within
the container in the most convenient fashion for retrieval.
In the method described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, the
supplies in the unitized container were bundled according to functionality,
but were also bundled according to source. For example, all of the
supplies from a particular source relating to a specific care event
were bundled together, but there would frequently be multiple bundles
for a given care event. For example the example nested bill of materials
set out above has two operative care event bundles, one from DeRoyal
and the other from Owens and Minor. While more efficient than old
supply methods, this method still requires two bundles to be opened
for the particular care event, adding to the workload of the operating
room assistants. However, using the methodology described with respect
to FIGS. 4 through 7, efficiency may be enhanced by grouping supplies
solely by usage functionality without regard to source.
In fact, since the supplies are bundled at the Sequencing Center
100 without regard to the source of the supplies, functional groupings
may be more easily achieved through the sequencing instructions
and additional sub-groupings can be made, if desired. For example,
a supplier might be willing to provide an anesthesia care event
bundle and an operative care event bundle for supplies under the
first methodology, but would not be willing to go to the additional
labor and expense of creating sub-bundles under the operative care
event. However, at the Sequencing Center 100, instructions can provide
for sub-care events under the operative care event in order to more
closely match the clinical pathway; for example, sub-bundles could
be assembled for incision preparation, various phases of an operation,
closing, and incision dressing.
In some cases, the methodology described with respect to FIGS.
1 through 3 will be sufficient to meet the needs of the customer;
however, the methodology described with respect to FIGS. 4 through
7 may be required by some customers. However, if desired, similar
sets of sequencing and unitization instructions could be provided
to the various suppliers along the path of the container as described
with respect to FIGS. 1 through 3. Also, the centralized processing
provided by the method of FIGS. 4 through 7 allows for a reduction
in the number of times the unitized container 108 must be shipped,
limits the number of people who will be opening and packing the
container and facilitates greater quality assurance over the process
for providing unitized containers in accordance with a nested bill
of materials.
Whereas specific description of various aspects of the present
invention have been described herein, it is intended that the invention
be limited only by the claims appended hereto. For example, the
specific composition of the identifier to be used need not be precisely
like that which is disclosed, but may include more, or in some instances,
less identifying indicia without departing from the essence of the
invention. Further, in certain instances, the supply chain may not
include a distributor, but rather the first provider may be the
manufacturer and the second provider to add supply items to the
bundle may be the hospital, itself.
Whereon specific description of various features of the invention
be limited only by the claims appended hereto. |