Finding the Right Medical Waste Company
Finding the Right Medical Waste Company. As a medical professional, it’s important to ensure that you have the right medical waste company to meet your needs. A medical waste company is a business that specializes in safely collecting, transporting, and disposing of medical waste. According to the US EPA Medical waste is generally healthcare waste that that may be contaminated by blood, body fluids or other potentially infectious materials and is often referred to as regulated medical waste.
What is a Medical Waste Company?
A medical waste company is a business that specializes in the safe collection, transportation, and disposal of medical waste. Medical waste is generally a type of waste generated from any healthcare facility, such as hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and other healthcare-related establishments. However, medical waste can also be generated at tattoo shops, medical spas, and more. The company collects the medical waste from the facility, transports it to a treatment plant, and then it is disposed of it in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations.
A medical waste company will also be able to provide disposal containers, such as sharps containers, one-time use boxes and reusable medical waste containers for the safe collection and disposal of medical waste.
The medical waste company may provide additional services such as compliance training for healthcare staff. This training is compliance training to keep your facility compliant with current HIPAA and OSHA regulations, bloodborne pathogens certificates, exposure control plans, SDS / MSDS, training tracking in our online portal, and more. Our online portal holds all the documents needed for any OSHA inspection, certificates, exposure control plans, and more.
Benefits of Hiring a Medical Waste Company
There are many benefits to hiring a medical waste company. First and foremost, it ensures that medical waste is disposed of in the most safe and efficient manner possible. A medical waste company will have the knowledge and expertise to properly handle and dispose of medical waste in accordance with the regulations set forth by the local, state, and federal government.
Another benefit of hiring a medical waste company is that it helps to reduce the risk of contamination and the spread of diseases. By properly disposing of medical waste, healthcare facilities can help to protect the health and safety of their patients, staff, and the public.
In addition, hiring a medical waste company helps to reduce the costs associated with medical waste disposal. A medical waste company can provide cost-effective solutions for disposing of medical waste.
Finally, hiring a medical waste company can help to improve the overall efficiency of the healthcare facility. By properly handling, collecting, and disposing of medical waste, it can help to reduce the amount of time spent on waste management and ensure that the healthcare facility is running as efficiently as possible.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Medical Waste Company
When choosing a medical waste company, there are several things to consider.
- The Type of Company
- Experience
- How Many Service Trucks Do They Own?
- Do They Own a Medical Waste Processing Plant?
- Are They Compliant?
- Reliability
The Type of Company
The type of company is one of the biggest factors when choosing a medical waste company. When you are looking for a new service provider there is a good chance you will run into all of these types, so, it is important for you to be able to identify what type of company you are speaking with.
The four common types you will run into are.
- Lead Generators
- Broker Companies
- Medical Waste Haulers
- Medical Waste Management Companies
Lead Generators –
Usually, you will unknowingly land on a lead generators website, maybe complete a form, or give them a call.
When speaking to a lead generator on the phone they will most certainly refer you to another company or maybe even patch you over to another company.
If you completed a form, you will be contacted by one other or possibly multiple other companies. The name on the website where you competed the form on will not match whoever you are speaking too when they call. When looking for companies keep track of the names of the ones you reached out to.
The goal of most lead generators is to maximize the amount of money they get from a lead. This could be to the highest bidder type of situation, or by selling your information to multiple companies at once.
To identify a lead generator company, know you will be passed off to another company for the quote.
Broker Companies –
Broker companies could be broker only companies or they may service a specific region and broker the areas they don’t service directly.
What is a broker? Simply put, a broker company will charge you more than a local company will do it for and then the broker company hires the local company to do it.
It seems silly, if you contract with one company but there is a different company coming to service your account (why not just hire the company that actually services your account).
Back to the point, when two or more companies are involved, you know the bill you are paying is high enough to at least cover two companies’ profits, no one is working for free.
Let’s say they still have to pay another company to treat the medical waste, now you have three companies making money from your one bill.
With this type of company, besides the issues pointed out above, customer service, missed pickups, could all be issues because the broker company does not actually provide any of the service.
To identify if you are speaking with a broker company ask them who will be providing the service? Is it your directly hired w2 employees? Will I see your employees wearing branded hats and shirts from your company coming into my facility? Will I see your branded medical waste trucks pulling up outside or will it be someone else’s?
Medical Waste Haulers –
A medical waste hauler is simply that, they pick up the medical waste from your facility and haul it to another company to treat it.
A lot of companies in the industry fall into this category, a hauler will contract with you, and service your account.
A hauler does not treat the waste, they will drop it off at a medical waste processing plant and after it is treated, the hauler will get a completed manifest, which then, if the treatment plant does not send one to you directly, the hauler will have to forward a copy to you for your records. You can see how there could be a delay in paperwork.
Another disadvantage of a hauler is they could be a smaller one truck operation, and they are not regulated as heavy as a medical waste management company who owns their own treatment plant. As such, you will want to verify compliance and insurance when working with a hauler.
Medical Waste Management Company –
A medical waste management company is the type of company you will want to work with, we will explain why below.
Fleet of Service Vehicles –
They will have a fleet of medical waste transport trucks, this benefit is; if something happens to one of their trucks or maybe you need an extra pickup, they will have the bandwidth needed to make the adjustments.
Medical Waste Processing Plant –
They will own and operate their own medical waste processing plant. There are many benefits to this such as, a streamlined service, one company handling your medical waste from beginning to end. Owning a medical waste treatment plant means they are regulated more and subject to testing and tighter regulations, translation, they must stay up on the latest regulations, it is their business. Another benefit is faster turnaround, no more waiting on manifest.
Experience –
A company that has built themselves into this category will often have decades of experience. These medical waste management companies are fewer than you think. In some states there are only two companies that fall into the category of operating their own medical waste processing plant, often it is less than five for the entire state.
Compliance –
As mentioned above a company that operates its own medical waste processing plant must meet regulatory testing and inspections to continue to operate. Simply put, they have compliance built in because of what they do.
Reliable –
Companies that directly hire and train the employees coming into your office, own a fleet of service vehicles, and operate their own medical waste processing plant aren’t going to let a sick day or broken-down transport vehicle interrupt their service schedules, they will have the resources needed to put a backup in place and carry on seamlessly.
Medical Waste Disposal Methods
Medical waste must be disposed of in an approved manner in order to ensure the safety of people, animals, and the environment. There are several methods for disposing of medical waste, including incineration, autoclaving, microwaving, and chemical disinfection.
- Autoclave – An autoclave uses steam and pressure to sterilize the waste.
- Microwave – Microwave disinfection can also be employed for treatment of medical wastes.
- Chemical Decontamination – Chemical Decontamination is the use of specific chemicals to render the biohazardous materials harmless.
- Incineration – Incineration is a process of burning specific types of biohazard wastes which include pathological, trace chemotherapy and non-hazardous pharmaceutical wastes.
Medical Waste Management Services
A medical waste management company can provide a variety of services to help healthcare facilities manage their medical waste. These services include providing disposal containers, such as sharps containers, for the safe collection and disposal of medical waste. They can also provide educational materials on compliance issues to help healthcare professionals stay informed and up to date on the latest regulations from HIPAA to Bloodborne Pathogen Certificates, and more.
In addition, a medical waste company can provide training for healthcare staff on proper waste handling and storage procedures. This ensures that all medical waste is handled and stored of in accordance with the regulations set forth by the local, state, and federal government.
The medical waste management company can also provide streamlined services (cradle to grave management) to ensure that the healthcare facility is in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. This helps to ensure that the healthcare facility is operating in a safe and efficient manner.
Finding the Right Medical Waste Company for Your Needs
Finding the right medical waste company for your needs is the most important decision.
It’s important to make sure that the company is in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations, has the necessary equipment and personnel to properly collect, transport, treat, and dispose of your medical waste, and offers the services that your healthcare facility needs.
When looking for a medical waste company, it’s important to do your research. Make sure to ask questions to make sure that the company is reputable and can provide the services that you need.
We have listed some starter questions below to help you narrow down your search.
- Do you own and operate your own medical waste processing plant?
- Do you own and operate more than four medical waste transport vehicles?
- Do you directly hire and train (are they your direct W2 employees?) the drivers that will be coming into my facility?
- How long have you been in the medical waste disposal business?
- What if I need an emergency or same day pickup, is that possible?
Finally, it’s important to make sure that the medical waste management company can provide cost-effective solutions for your medical waste services. This can help to reduce the costs associated with medical waste disposal and ensure that the healthcare facility is in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. Reducing Waste, Risk & Cost without sacrificing service.
Conclusion
Call Bio-MED Today and Experience the Bio-MED Difference!
Bio-MED is a reputable medical waste company with decades of experience in the industry.
We own and operate our own medical waste processing plant and have the necessary equipment and personnel to properly collect, transport, treat, and dispose of your medical waste.
By having one company handle your waste from ‘cradle-to-grave’ allows us to bring our customers, the best process, products, and services with significant savings compared to the industry standard.
We do this while reducing our client’s impact on the environment which is a true win-win. Best processes, pricing and practices is what we built our company on.
We offer a variety of services to help healthcare facilities manage their medical waste. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help your healthcare facility today.