Tim Price, President As healthcare organizations in the US produce more than five million tons of waste annually, managing it has become an essential task for them. Also, the rising concerns over public health safety combined with skyrocketing waste removal costs have pressured healthcare facilities to look for better ways to manage their various waste streams. However, the grim reality is that most healthcare organizations typically don’t know what to do about reducing their waste removal costs because they lack time, resources, and understanding of the waste management industry. In order to reduce waste and its associated expenses effectively, healthcare organizations need a deeper understanding of their challenges, types of waste management services available, its cost, and trending technology. In such a situation, having a reliable and dynamic partner—who can guide and help healthcare institutions manage every aspect of their waste and recycling services—proves to be highly beneficial.
Innovative Cost Solutions (ICS) is one such partner dedicated to reducing waste removal and recycling costs for businesses in all sectors. Established in 2006, ICS was solely focused on waste removal and recycling, but eventually, upon the request of some of their healthcare clients, they started looking at the medical waste costs and services. Today, ICS is renowned for its medical waste consulting services. The company specializes in helping healthcare facilities control their medical and solid waste costs to keep recurring costs as low as possible. “Our waste consulting services are time-tested and proven and our track record speaks for itself. We’re able to produce consistent results for our clients allowing them to put significant savings back into their budgets with very little time and effort required on their part,” says Tim Price, President of ICS.
ICS primarily works with small and mid-sized healthcare facilities, where most of them are non-profit organizations that run on thin profit margins; accordingly, they look for an effective option to keep their costs down. In such a scenario, a little help in improving their operations and reducing costs can make a huge difference. That is precisely what ICS brings to bear with its shared savings model. “Clients only pay us when they save money and they’re satisfied with our services; so our compensation is 100 percent performance based and results driven. There’s zero risk in hiring us, but there’s lots to be gained,” explains Price. The bottom line is that if ICS can save its clients money, they share in the savings that ICS helped them achieve. If ICS cannot save their clients any money, then no fee is owed.
Our waste consulting services are time-tested and proven and our track record speaks for itself. We’re able to produce consistent results for our clients allowing them to put significant savings back into their budgets with very little time and effort required on their part
The client engagement process begins with explaining the available services. The client hires ICS for advisory services if they are happy with the deal. In the next step, ICS’s team of experts invest a significant amount of time into analyzing the client’s operations and waste removal processes, understanding the client’s pain points and objectives, and subsequently crafting scalable and sustainable solutions. Once ICS identifies savings opportunities, they implement the strategy to bring the costs down as long as the client approves of everything. ICS’s work will not stop here; instead, they consistently maintain the savings by managing and monitoring it every month. “We audit their bills every month, fight off rate increases, find billing errors, check historical data and more. That’s the difference between us and our competitors; our interests are 100% aligned with the client’s interests,” states Tim.
The skilled team at ICS also identifies unnecessary services and programs that clients have, which will help clients further reduce their costs. “We have a lot of client data which allows us to compare what other clients are doing and what vendors are doing for other clients for the same exact services. So, when we start the process of negotiating with their vendor, we have an immediate advantage that the client doesn’t have which ultimately puts us in a better position to get the client’s costs down to a more competitive price point for the services that they have,” says Price.
Tim cites a scenario where one of their clients, a renowned healthcare facility, worried about the medical waste costs. So, they approached ICS and requested them to have a look at their medical waste costs and services. ICS identified that some services were priced a bit high compared to other clients. The team negotiated for more competitive pricing for those existing services. By doing so, ICS saved them 82%. The healthcare facility, which has seven locations, was spending about $86,723 a month prior to hiring ICS. And then, after working with ICS, they were spending $15,912. All-in-all, ICS saved them $70,811, which was 82% savings. While 82% savings may seem high, it’s not that crazy when you consider the typical results that ICS produces. ICS typically saves clients 35% on their Solid Waste costs and 55% on Medical Waste costs, so their typical results are pretty significant.
With an incredible track record of assisting healthcare organizations and other companies, ICS prides itself in delivering the best services and aims to be the leading waste management consulting company in the country. The firm’s key to its success lies in its dedicated staff who have the profound operational experience to reduce health facilities’ waste removal costs. The company’s current objective is to reach out to as many clients as possible through referrals and word of mouth. They will also continue to partner with healthcare organizations to help them address their waste management challenges and reduce their waste removal costs.
