Doctor Preference Cards (DPCs) are used in every operating room
across Intermountain Healthcare. DPCs, much like a recipe card, list all the necessary equipment, instruments, and supplies
needed for a successful procedure. DPCs also include specific
notes or comments that are meaningful to the surgeons and other
clinicians to provide the best care. Knowing exactly which supplies to
have in the operating room and when to have them available is key to
safety, efficiency, and accuracy in billing for the procedure.
Before transitioning Intermountain facilities to iCentra, the Surgical
Services Clinical Program discovered that the system-wide library of
DPCs had grown to greater than 55,000 unique cards. Before users
could submit change requests through the DPC tool, all requests were
submitted in writing. Across the system there were piles of DPCs
waiting to be electronically updated, with some piles having requests
sitting longer than three months. This proved to be frustrating for
surgeons and staff.
The DPC tool is an application developed by the Surgical Services
Clinical Program’s ProComp team to standardize how DPCs
are maintained, as well as provide more transparent access to
supply cost. Today the DPC tool is used in every operating room
across Intermountain. Users can log in and view any DPC at any
Intermountain facility. They can see the costs of supplies, search for
comparable products, submit change requests for a particular DPC,
and see the history of changes made for a DPC. With an annual
Surgical Services Clinical Program goal to review active DPCs, surgical
teams have seen a deliberate and meaningful reduction in unnecessary
cards, bringing our active DPCs down to 22,000 and reducing costs
by more than $2.5 million for unnecessary supplies.