Staff ideas used to save money at Newton hospital

Eds: CORRECTS that hospital is based in Newton, sted Wichita. APNewsNow. Will be led.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A Newton hospital has been recognized for saving $1.7 million over the past year by using ideas suggested by staff members.

The Kansas Hospital Association recently gave Newton Medical Center its 2009 Thomas R. Sipe Challenge award. The medical center shared the award with Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Chanute.

Newton's vice president for physician services, Val Gleason, says employees submitted 121 ideas as part of a "Show Me the Money" campaign and 62 were put into practice.

Among the ideas was getting rid of redundant operating room supplies routinely kept on hand and swapping out products for cheaper alternatives.

The hospital is next looking to improve how it does things and evaluates performance.

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Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com