VA worker's idea could save time, money at hospitals
Published: December 22, 2009
Yesterday VA employee Nancy Fichtner and her family got a tour of the White House and an audience with the president after the Office of Budget and Management awarded her as part of a contest to cut down on government waste.
While administration officials were lauding the Colorado financial consultant for the money her idea will save the department (about $3.8 million annually), the hassle the change will save veterans might be even more significant.
Fichtner, who used to work in the Colorado Veterans Affairs Medical Center pharmacy, noted that veterans who use inhalers while recovering in the hospital were instructed to discard the medication upon their discharge, because the in-house medications don't come with usage instructions and warnings.
That means still-usable medication is currently ending up in hospital dumpsters, while vets are forced to wait in line at hospital pharmacies for the exact same items. Fichtner proposed a system to relabel the in-house medication, which should cut down on waste and save patients that extra stop on their way out the door.
The idea was selected the best cost-saving measure of more than 38,000 entries to the federal Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) contest. OMB officials deflected questions asking why a contest was needed to implement common-sense changes to government inefficiency, saying only that the approach helped drum up new ideas and encourage federal employees to re-examine their workplace practices.
VA officials said they hope to implement Fichtner's relabeling idea in the coming weeks.
[PHOTO: Associated Press]
