Healthcare facilities face a variety of challenges associated with choosing the right partner to handle the recycling of x-ray film.

BMR’s sole focus is the compliant, efficient, and cost beneficial solution to your recycling needs. Whether your needs are simple film pickup or the most complex purging project BMR’s experienced staff is there to meet your needs. Below is a list of common challenges associated with x-ray film purging and the solutions provided by BMR.

Challenge: Variation in facility/site specific needs – Across the network of facilities x-ray film is rarely stored in uniform fashion. Film may be located at any number of the following places:

•Medical File Room

•Hospital Basement

•Hospital Storage Unit

•3rd party Vendor (storage)

It may be inventoried based on the following criteria:

•Sorted by year

•Sorted by film type (general, pediatrics, mammography)

•Shelved

•Boxed

•Mixed (with no inventory management)

Solution: BMR’s leadership and full service staff experts have extensive experience in serving the needs of each facility. We have coordinated site specific logistics in the most complex facility needs, to simple film pickup.

Challenge: Multi-State regulations regarding the destruction of x-ray film – When working with storage based vendors or regional vendors they often have no experience regarding federal as well as state specific regulations regarding the compliant destruction of x-ray film.

Solution: BMR coordinates with the designated  leadership team as well as the respective facility coordinator to ensure the applicable purge parameters are identified and followed to the strictest guidelines.  Prior to any x-ray film is moved the facility specific Scope of Work document is sent to the respective facility coordinator confirming site logistics as well as purge parameters.

Challenge: Region restrictions:  The majority of recycling based organizations are tied to a specific service region.  Even those firms who claim larger service territories typically are set up for the healthcare facility to perform all the purge work as well as send the recycle ready film to the recycling company.  In addition even many “national” vendors really function within regional profit centers with tremendous variance in their purging and silver recovery processes.

Solution: BMR assigns healthcare and facility coordinators to oversee multi campus solutions assuring efficient communication and process management. In addition, expertly trained purge teams are deployed across every region of the country.

Challenge: Uncertain pricing and rebate structure:  Without a centralized approach to x-ray film purging, recycling, and destruction facilities are left to discern silver reclamation contracts from the respective bidding vendors.  Many facilities pass on significant revenue simply by not having/taking the time to understand the value of their x-ray film in today’s silver market.  In fact many current vendors (especially storage based companies) strategically capitalize on the hospital not understanding the value of the film and simply going with the simplest seeming route.

Solution: BMR’s core competency is in the efficient, full service, compliant, and transparent recycling of x-ray film and silver reclamation.  This business focus ensures that our health care partners are offered the most aggressive rebate schedule available.  Whether we are simply picking up recycle ready film or sending staff into a facility’s basement the facility rebate schedule is directly in line with current silver price values.  In addition our silver reclamation contract allows facilities an upward profit potential on the refined silver with downside market protection.  We accomplish this with a “Greater Than” clause that triggers a revenue share of the net silver recovered in the event silver prices increase during the recycling process or silver content on the x-ray film is greater than anticipated.

Challenge: Transparency throughout the purging, recycling, and destruction process. For years recycling vendors have notoriously manipulated numbers when it comes time to settle the rebate.  Even when vendors seemingly offer market based rates for silver; weights, jacket counts, and % of silver content have been manipulated with no real means for the hospital to audit. In addition traditional silver reclamation vendors do not offer any real time facility work flow reporting.  When a facility recommends a service vendor to its healthcare facilities the ability to track the interaction, communication, and work flow process is paramount to that facility’s core philosophy.

Solution: BMR provides documentation at every stage of the purging, recycling, and destruction process assuring the respective facility transparent and redundant measurable.  In addition we use a customized contact and work flow management software solution that tracks EVERY communication and project update with each facility.  The project management team/person assigned to the silver reclamation process will be issued a login with the ability to view real time updates on every communication and facility specific work flow.