Cost to Cath

Meg McCleary
EDC Heart Center | 2014

Meg McCleary, a nurse in the MGH Cardiac Catheterization Lab, during the 2014 Ether Dome Challenge, was awarded a micro-grant aimed at educating the Cath Lab staff on the cost of supplies and how to make more cost-effective decisions.  Under Meg’s leadership, the team spent significant time understanding, analyzing, and subsequently reducing the unnecessary use of supplies in the Cath Lab.

Since January 2014, the team has been implementing creative strategies to engage staff, including labeling supplies in the stock room with cost guidance, simplifying trays to remove extraneous items, and rearranging rooms to reduce excessive supply use. Meg and co-team lead David Bourque (the asset manager in the Clinical Supply Chain) also met with various MGH leaders to better understand how they could learn best practices from other areas of the hospital to be more effective.

The team has seen incredible staff engagement, with many staff members spearheading their own cost-saving initiatives.  As a result of this project and its spinoffs, if all recommended changes are adhered to, the potential projected cost savings is as much as $990,000 annually.