Who
Denise Donnelly, Associate Biosafety Officer and JC Lexow, Program Administrator; Denver-Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Environmental Health and Safety
What
The Denver and Anschutz Medical campuses and 40 off-campus University affiliated entities generate both Regulated Medical Waste (RMW) and Non-Regulated Medical Waste (Non-RMW). Prior to FY 2014, there was no Data Management System (DMS) that would allow daily data input of all waste generated across 50 different locations or a Financial Accounting Reconciliation (FAR) program which has built-in redundant oversight between the Program Manager and a Biowaste Lead who enter data to generate internal monthly Invoices that can then be checked and reconciled with the monthly Vendor Invoices. Any discrepancies are easily identified and corrected to ensure 100% accuracy. When the DMS and FAR program were initiated in July 2014, they uncovered Vendor accounting and billing discrepancies that resulted in a $9,400 billing credit to the University and preventing continued over billing of more than $6,000 annually.
Why
There has been an average 3% annual contract cost increase since FY 2015, as well as, the new Non-RMW waste stream that did not exist prior to FY 20114. The cost of the Non-RMW program was $8,765(FY 2014), $14,761 (FY 2015), and $19,944 (FY 2016), however without any increase in the total waste budget for any of these years, these increased costs needed to be offset by finding and implementing new efficiencies and cost saving measures. Implementing the DMS and FAR program reduced waste costs from FY 2013 to FY 2014 by $22,090; FY 2014 to FY 2015 by $19,047; and FY 2015 to FY 2016 by $200.00 which gives a total savings of $41,337 of the past three FYs.
Where
The Data Management System and Financial Accounting Reconciliation program are used to run both the Regulated and Non-Regulated Medical Waste programs. The RMW and Non-RMW programs operate at the Denver-Anschutz Medical campuses that service all laboratory, clinical, and research spaces, as well as, all off-campus entities that have a University of Colorado Denver-Anschutz association. On the Anschutz campus, there are more than 400 laboratories, clinical, and research spaces, which occupy approx. 600 Principal Investigators and 4,000 researchers, staff, and students who utilize and depend on this program. At the Denver campus, there are approx. 15 Principal Investigators, 50 researchers, and hundreds of students each semester that are enrolled in science labs who also depend on these programs. There are 40 off-campus entities with more than 200 University employees that also depend on this program.
When
This program was initiated July 2013 (FY 2014) and is still currently being used.