Sipi adjusts to accommodate healthcare client
The medical industry has very specific needs when it comes to data. Healthcare facilities large and small must deliver the most efficient service possible to their patients, all while protecting data security and patient privacy – a.k.a. HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This means that the IT asset disposition needs of healthcare facilities require unique capabilities that, simply put, not all ITAD vendors can provide.
When a nationally ranked, prominent academic health center* came to Sipi Asset Recovery more than 12 years ago, it was discovered that their secure ITAD needs went above and beyond simply meeting industry compliance.
Brand New Challenges
Of course — compliance is key to the healthcare industry — and partnering with Sipi Asset Recovery was a natural choice, being a fully HIPAA compliant asset disposition provider. Sipi’s commitment to a fully vetted chain-of-custody and secure, compliant recycling of IT assets with e-Stewards and R2 certifications was crucial. However, the new challenges for this organization were quite unique, as Sipi business development manager Nina Nielsen uncovered.
“Our client required that end-of-life assets were not only disposed of with absolute assurance of security but also on a frequent and ad-hoc basis,” said Nina. Being that this organization’s locations were increasing and spreading out over a large geographical area, this was a requirement that was key to the successful delivery of the services. There simply wasn’t much available space to store end-of-life assets, given the healthcare provider’s need to consistently stay on the cutting edge of technology. Furthermore, this organization was also acquiring and merging other healthcare providers and their offices. They were losing efficiency given the need to constantly re-tool and re-evaluate processes to match the formula provided by their ITAD vendor — not to mention the high costs of asset recovery they were dealing with.
The Sipi Solution
Since this organization was already a client, Nina was fully up to speed on their current ITAD program and was ready to tackle the needs that this new challenge would present. Nina worked closely with key decision-makers to evaluate creative, flexible ways their asset recovery program could be revamped.
Owing to Sipi’s partner-centric approach, a new custom solution was created specific to this healthcare organization — with a focus on increasing the value of recovered assets while retaining efficiency as the organization flourished in its growth phase.
The Results
Through deep investigation of the organization’s IT asset inventory, Sipi’s custom program determined which assets were best to dispose of versus recover, returning more potential value at each settlement and fitting the new program easily into their budget.
Sipi’s deep knowledge of the healthcare industry and
its unique asset types allowed for specific, fine-grained disposition paths for each device.
The Sipi team provided equipment and procedures for newly acquired office locations, including asset recovery bins, easing the burden of re-tooling processes and reducing cost, risk, and time investment.
Sipi’s unique approach to IT asset inventory management led to the client’s decision to shorten the asset refresh cycle, resulting in the ability to recover value in assets before their end-of-life (where value is greatly decreased or non-existent).
Through a customized IT asset disposition program from Sipi, this large healthcare organization not only ensured strict compliance to HIPAA and other regulations but also saved money — and became more efficient in the process.
“They absolutely love our portal,” adds Nina. “All the information they needed including asset tags, historical data, certificates, and downloadable Excel data were extremely valuable… and helps to support the information required for internal and external audits.” The organization is now looking at Sipi’s Inventory-as-a-Service (INVaaS) program to further optimize the recovered value from their asset inventory over time.
*The company name, in this case study, has been intentionally omitted to ensure the safeguard of further ITAD activity.
