With clinician leadership, Trinity has captured impressive savings and quality improvements from the type of clinical supplies that don’t often make headlines. Hisscock shared data on Trinity’s work to achieve quality improvements, SKU reductions and savings in patient slipper socks, using a formulary approach. The Trinity team tackled slipper socks with this familiar tool from PPI and pharmaceutical sourcing, by documenting clinician and patient requirements, then seeking a sourcing partner who could deliver exactly what they wanted at an improved price.
Slipper socks need to meet performance standards for every patient: the fit has to be correct to avoid compromising circulation, and the tread helps minimize the risk of falls. Sock color is used on some units to flag fall risk. Remarkably, Trinity discovered that despite ninety-seven slipper sock SKUs in use across the system, the socks still weren’t exactly right. Feedback from the local Ministries reflected poor satisfaction with the products in use, including complaints about a limited size range and reports of possibly-preventable falls. Spend in this category drifted off-contract as well, with two contracted suppliers in place but eight suppliers used system-wide.