MedClean Marketing Team

MedClean Technologies is looking for strong candidates to become MedClean Distribution Partners in Maryland, Virginia, DC, and the West Virginia Regions.

MedClean Technologies is also looking for strong candidates to become MedClean Distribution Partners in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and The Dakota's. 

Candidate Qualifications:

1. Understanding and Experience within the Medical Waste Industry
2. Familiarity selling and supporting Medical Capital Equipment
3. Ability to Sell and Service Capital Equipment

Contact John Accardi, jaccardi@medcleantechnologies.com, or 678.643.7476 if you are in the regions mentioned above, and believe you qualify/or are interested in a MedClean Distributorship.

Kind Regards,

MedClean Marketing Team

BETHEL, Conn., Aug. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — MedClean Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: MCLN), the leading provider of on-site technology for the treatment and disposal of medical waste and the destruction of confidential documents and related media, today announced financial results for the 2010 second quarter for the period ended June 30, 2010.

Some of the recent highlights include:

* MedClean has addressed its capital requirements for the foreseeable future through previously announced agreements with Southridge LLC and JMJ Financial, which will enable MedClean to execute its differentiated plan, expand the product line, expand distributor partnerships, and penetrate a much larger market opportunity.  The distributor partnerships plus the hauler alliances forged with members of the Independent Medical Waste Transporters Association (IMWTA) will enable MedClean to deliver its technology as a service to address the needs of multi-regional and national health care organizations.  The technology will now be provided in conjunction with local and national partners in a variety of means that will enable health care organizations to conserve capital while generating large savings and protecting the environment.  The Company and its partners are now being considered for large scale national deployment opportunities that have been out of reach in the past.

* The Company has built a virtual infrastructure that will enable it to continue to target its ambitious sales goals while minimizing its fixed cash overhead expenses to less than $450,000 per quarter.  Through the combination of expense management, second-half recurring revenue, and product sales/backlog, the Company is targeting cash self-sustainability and accelerated sales growth by the end of the year.

* The Company added two new distributors, including agreements with Gamma Healthcare, Inc./Danner Medical Waste Management Services ("Gamma"), a premier provider of medical diagnostic services that include laboratory, portable digital radiology, and urodynamics, along with medical waste transportation and disposal services, and Ace Technologies ("Ace"), Inc., (through the formation of MedClean Canada) an industry leader in providing full turn-key network solutions, security, and monitoring services in Canada. The agreement with Gamma will allow MedClean to target more than 3,200 hospitals in seven new states, while the pact with Ace will allow the Company to target over 2,000 hospitals in Canada. The Company previously announced agreements with Barnett and Verde Enterprises LLC.  Post second quarter Distributor agreements signed with new partners brings the total states represented directly by the distributor network to 19.  MedClean's direct sales effort plus the distributor network including our VA partnership with Bear Consulting now positions MedClean to address the market in North America today.  The company will continue its momentum seeking partnerships in Latin / South America as well Europe and Asia / Pacific in the near future to address the global market.

"The paradigm shift undertaken by the Company, infusing readily available capital, ground breaking products, a strong management team, and talents of proven industry partners establishes the basis for the growth that we identified at the beginning of this year," commented David Laky, President and CEO, MedClean Technologies, Inc. "The barometer for the investment community to monitor our success going forward will be growth in backlog, which, at $1.7 million, is up more than 50% compared to one year ago. In addition our progress can be further tracked through incremental partnerships that address new geographies, market segments and international opportunities, new product introductions both through internal development and acquisition, and new business generated through our complementary channels of distribution.  We intend to capitalize on the leverage provided by the distribution/hauler network that has worked with health care customers for many years to increase penetration of a market in need of cost effect alternatives.    

"We are confident that our strategy is optimal for this marketplace and offers great value to the health care community," Mr. Laky continued.  "We are grateful that despite these tough economic times, changing regulatory climate, and lean financial resources in the past, we have secured capital to enable a paradigm shift that provides the Company with a competitive advantage to now rapidly grow our business.  The challenges that have limited the growth of our Company have now been addressed as we look forward to turning the corner to accelerated growth and positive free cash flow from operations."  

Second Quarter Financial Results:

The Company reported revenue of approximately $131,758 for the three months ended June 30, 2010, compared to approximately $400,625 in the same period a year ago.  The year-over-year decrease was due to lower levels of system deliveries during the quarter.  The decrease in service billings was a result of fewer service calls required due to equipment issues.  Service billings will continue to fluctuate period to period based upon equipment issues, whether through operator error or wear and tear, and pre-scheduled service activities such as equipment relocation.  Service revenue attributable to contract revenues is recognized at the time of performance and not at the time of contract execution.

Gross profit for the second quarter of 2010 was $60,084, or a 40.8% profit margin, compared to gross profit of $128,590, or a 35.4% profit margin in the prior-year period. Total operating expenses were $1.1 million compared to operating expenses of $2.3 million in the 2009 second quarter. Net loss for the second quarter was $(1.1) million, or $(0.00) per share, compared to a net loss of $(2.7) million, or $(0.00) per share for the same period in 2009. The net loss included $.5 million of non-cash charges associated with depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation.  

For the six months ended June 30, 2010, the Company generated revenue of $400,625 compared to revenue of $772,182 in the year-earlier period. Gross profit was $163,498 for the 2010 six months ended, compared to $273,145 in the 2009 six months ended. The net loss for the 2010 six months was $(2.7) million, or $(0.00) per share, compared to a net loss of $(4.6) million or $(0.01) per share in the 2009 six months.

The Company has filed its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2010 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and investors are encouraged to visit www.sec.gov to review this document, which includes financial tables and additional detail for the quarter ended June 30, 2010.

About MedClean Technologies, Inc.

MedClean Technologies, Inc. is a provider of innovative technology and services for the onsite treatment and disposal of regulated medical waste. MedClean's flagship MedClean® Series systems are fully integrated, turnkey technology solutions that enable hospitals and other healthcare providers to safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively convert bio-hazardous regulated medical waste into sterile, unrecognizable material suitable for disposal as municipal solid waste. MedClean was founded in 1997 with corporate headquarters, research and development and distribution facilities located in Bethel, Connecticut. Further information on MedClean can be found at www.medcleantechnologies.com and in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission found at www.sec.gov.

Statements about our future expectations are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Federal Securities Laws, and are not guarantees of future performance. When used herein, the words "may," "will," "should," "anticipate," "believe," "appear," "intend," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "approximate," "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties inherent in our business; including those set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, filed with the SEC on March 3, 2010, and other filings with the SEC, and are subject to change at any time. Our actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement.

SOURCE MedClean Technologies, Inc.

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MedClean Technologies would like to recognize Mountain States Medical Solutions, representing The MedClean System to its current and future hospital clients in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming

Chris Nissler Founded Mountain States Medical Solutions (MSMS) in 2010 to provide health care professionals with the latest medical technology.  MSMS contracts with some of the most technologically advanced medical equipment and device manufacturers in the industry, with a goal to increase the quality of patient care while providing new revenue streams to its current and future customer base.  As the healthcare industry continuously changes, MSMS adapts to facilitate healthcare institutions with the latest technology and business practices to maximize cost-reduction opportunities and increase bottom line revenues. 

Mountain States Medical Solutions represents the sales efforts of MedClean Technologies, and more specifically the (MQG) Container/Mobile Series introduction to healthcare institutions, in the three-state region of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.   

MedClean Technologies is proud to recognize Mountain States Medical and Chris Nissler for their continued efforts in these regions.

Contact:  Chris Nissler

Mountain States Medical Solutions LLC

1901 West Littleton Boulevard

Suite 218

Littleton, Colorado 80120

Phone: (303) 798.5122

Email: chris@mountainstatesmed.com

Introduction

The Healthcare Coalition for Emergency Preparedness was formed in an effort to raise awareness and educate people where two of the most relevant issues facing healthcare providers today intersect—what healthcare facilities have to do to maintain operations during a crisis, such as pandemic, and develop efficient methods to reduce healthcare costs.  We call it operational sustainability.

The coalition consists of healthcare facilities, equipment providers, and industry experts stationed across the country.

The coalition believes that a key component of hospital readiness lies in the ability of medical centers to maintain sustainable operations to meet public health needs and a patient surge on heath care facilities in all circumstances.  Surge capacity is defined as the ability of a healthcare system to adequately care for increased numbers of patients while also having the ability to treat the unusual or highly specialized medical needs produced as a result of surge capacity.

A lot of work has been done on the topic of emergency preparedness and what hospitals and medical centers can and should do.  The coalition is looking at questions like, ‘What isn’t occurring?’ ‘What are the systemic weaknesses?’ ‘Where are the vulnerabilities?’

The Coalition is committed to achieving the following goals for its members:

• Highlight vulnerabilities in operational sustainability during a crisis or emergency, including medical waste treatment.
• Promote new best practices to help sustain hospital operations during a pandemic or other crisis situation.
• Provide expertise and education on hospital preparedness and operational sustainability.

With looming threats of pandemic/epidemic, bioterrorism and everyday disease exposure, it is imperative that we utilize today’s technology to ensure that our hospitals and healthcare centers have the ability to sustain operations in the event of such a crisis or emergency.

One of the largest hindrances to operational security revolves around transportation constraints to the hospital itself or such impacts on key suppliers and vendors that a hospital relies upon.  Transportations constraints not only involve passable road conditions to access the healthcare facilities and vendor facilities, but they are just as likely to be vendor staffing issues, quarantined facilities, availability of transportation fuels, and other non road related issues.  One of the issues we’ve found that is most often overlooked when dealing with transportation constraints, and emergency preparedness over all, are adequate provisions and planning relating to regulated medical waste.

According to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) regulation, medical waste (aka infectious waste) is any waste that is potentially capable of causing disease in man.  Such waste would likely contain pathogens in sufficient quantity to result in disease, including microbiological wastes; blood and blood products; surgical and autopsy wastes; and sharps (i.e. needles). Pathological waste is also a regulated medical waste, but it is treated differently than infectious waste.

   After recognizing that so many medical centers, including VA facilities, did not have appropriate processes set up to address the disposal of waste during a crisis and that Federal, state and local entities do not adequately address the issue, infectious waste disposal became one of the first issues identified and addressed by the coalition.  In addition, the coalition is also looking at supply-chain management and other issues, which are all inter-related.   

Background

The H1N1 Swine flu and previous issues, such as SARS, have highlighted the vulnerability our healthcare system faces from serious tests of preparedness in the area of operational sustainability in the time of a crisis.  The ability for our private and government run healthcare facilities to maintain operations during times of crisis is a matter of interest for every American and should be a priority for Federal and state policy makers. 

Paramount to emergency preparedness and pandemic containment is the need for full hospital operational sustainability of hospitals and treatment centers. Creating medical centers that can sustain a surge in the event of a crisis and continue operations must become a priority during a pandemic or other crisis (such as a natural disaster or bio-terrorism incident).

The bipartisan Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006 has helped us prepare for the current crisis and deal with future crises. There are many sectors of hospital operational sustainability that desperately need experienced solution management, but we have found the disposal of infectious waste is not being addressed adequately by healthcare emergency preparedness planning, best practices and guidance, or resources, and have focused our initial efforts on it.

A 2003 GAO study concluded that many hospitals lack the capacity to respond to large-scale infectious disease outbreaks and most hospitals lack adequate equipment for a patient surge on a medical facility.  Further, many reports cite the challenges of medical supply chains, both inbound and outbound, to deal with waste products that will accumulate in a pandemic or natural disaster.

In the mid-90’s, new regulations made on-site hospital incinerators uneconomic due to the restrictions placed on them because of the harmful emissions they released in the air.  Most hospitals could not afford to keep up with the new standards and thus, out of convenience for a temporary fix, they resorted to hiring contracted service providers who gather waste and truck it off-site to be discarded elsewhere.  Unfortunately, this temporary solution is still the way most hospitals discard their infectious medical waste today.

With real threats of pandemics, transporting infectious and contagious medical waste is no longer prudent. There are modern, affordable technologies that can cleanly, safely, and economically sterilize infectious and contagious waste on the premises of healthcare facilities.  Treating hazardous materials on site is also a cleaner, greener, less costly, and, most importantly, safer option.

Since the mid-90's, 90 percent of our hospitals have chosen to export their infectious waste through their local communities and over our roads and highways.   However, during an outbreak, infectious waste should not be allowed to leave the realm of the clinical experts of disease control at our Nation’s hospitals. 

Various reports by the Center for Disease Control staff, Federal health officials, and other experts have recognized the practice of inactivating amplified cultures and stocks of microorganisms onsite (as a medical waste treatment) is the best practice for emergency preparedness and pandemic response. Taking an on-site sustainability approach helps address this looming issue of hospital preparedness in the case of a pandemic or other crisis. Under such a scenario, the volume of hazardous materials would dramatically increase when a large population suddenly contracted a contagious disease or incurred a disaster and surged a hospital’s capacity. Further, because the primary method of controlling the spread of infection and avoiding a pandemic is quarantining, the development of an on-site approach to waste disposal appears to be the most appropriate one.

Our country has begun to apply stringent actions to avoid some catastrophic health threats. The United States Department of Agriculture demands that food waste is sterilized at ports of entry to avoid agriculture contamination. A logical next step in our efforts to polarize waste and keep our country healthy would argue that we should sterilize medical waste at the point of generation as well. 

Clearly the operational sustainability advantage is to sterilize the infectious waste on-site, but there are other notable benefits with regards to treating infectious waste on-site–namely, disease prevention, economics, and an environmentally green alternative (including, reduced truck traffic no incineration, and clean energy power).  It also provides a safer option than the current practice of hauling medical waste many miles through our neighborhoods and over our Nation’s roads to be treated off-site, which is particularly dangerous in the instance of a pandemic or other dangerous and exotic disease outbreak, such as H1N1 or the Ebola virus.

Expenditures for on-site treatment of infectious waste are perhaps the only preparedness tool that would begin to pay for itself from the day of installation. Waste treatment systems are custom designed and manufactured for each application. Users range from small clinics, hospitals, to large commercial processing centers. Prices for these systems range from about $150,000 to $1M+. Average healthcare clients, 300-400 bed hospitals, will purchase a system that is about $450,000. This equipment often produces a return on investment (ROI / payback) between 18 and 36 months.

   We have also identified that the development of mobile units can give the Federal government the tools to eliminate infections or disease at the source and provide the necessary containment to help eliminate pandemic threat and improve public health and safety.  Medical Waste Issues 

We remain vulnerable in the area of contagious waste management and the threat of pandemics, bioterrorism, and natural disasters are very real.  There appears to be no rational logic for hospitals not to sterilize their infectious waste on-site during a pandemic crisis other than the lack of equipment and a lack of incentive to install such equipment.  However, we must ensure the burden to implement safer and greener waste disposal options doesn’t fall solely on the hospitals.

Pandemic and Medical Waste Issues

Last year, the coalition developed a comprehensive pandemic preparedness plan, and has developed a six point action plan for medical waste sustainability during a pandemic.  The coalition urged the Department of Health and Human Services to consider this plan as a part of its response to the recent H1N1 swine flu outbreak. 

We called for the newly confirmed Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to adopt on-site sterilization capacity as a best practice as a part of health care facility operational sustainability in a crisis and dedicate the resources necessary to improve on-site infectious waste treatment capacity.

We have learned a lot from the SARS outbreak on how hospitals adopt Universal Precautions regarding infectious waste classification at hospitals. Studies showed that during the SARS outbreak infectious waste volumes increase by as much as 500 percent due to the reclassification of “infectious” waste.

Joint Commission’s new mandate for hospitals to be free-standing entities for a minimum of 96 hours does not address a pandemic, which could last up to 18 months. The only viable solution is to treat infectious waste on-site with equipment that has the surge capacity to function in a Universal Precautions work environment.

During the last pandemic in 1968, medical waste management was not an issue since nearly all hospitals were treating on-site (incineration) and were already commingling the medical and solid waste streams. It is a shame to think that this is one area (infectious waste management) of hospital preparedness where we have actually made our hospitals more vulnerable compared to just 15 years ago.

If the scope of the pandemic threat is truly global, an outbreak would dwarf our already strained resources, which is why it should be a priority for the Federal government to address common-sense solutions and resources for on-site infectious waste treatment now in order to help ensure the health and safety of every community throughout the Nation.

Federal Support for Healthcare Emergency Preparedness

In particular, the coalition stresses the vital role of Federal funding. We are trying to make sure congress continues to allocate funding to support hospital preparedness programs. 

For the private sector, the current Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), which was funded at $375 million in FY09, provides a ready-made avenue to offer the financial incentive for medical facilities to transition over to on-site methods of infectious medical waste treatment.  The HPP awards competitive grants or cooperative agreements to the states to enable eligible entities to improve surge capacity and enhance community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies.

Currently disaster relief operations lack efficient means to dispose of infectious medical waste, including most VA facilities.  The Federal government should look at research, development, and deployment of mobile sterilization units capable of being deployed to areas affected by a pandemic, natural disaster or bio-terrorism attacks.

The recently released FY10 Hospital Preparedness Program Funding Opportunity Announcement clarified on-site waste treatment as an appropriate project for HPP funding, which was prompted in part by the House Appropriations Committee’s FY-10 report language to mandate US Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) look at on-site medical waste treatment procedures. This guidance is a major victory for hospitals that would like to use this grant to help fund this type of capital equipment. 

VA Emergency Preparedness

We know that the VA has worked to be in compliance with the Homeland Security Presidential Directive, The Joint Commission, the National Incident Management System, National Fire Protection Association, and other recognized standards, guidance and procedures as well as Federal laws such as the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA). The VA’s progress and plans can be reviewed in the VA’s updated emergency management guidebook.  

While our testimony highlight’s our findings and work with private hospitals, the principles and findings we’ve discuss in this testimony must also be considered for VA facilities.  One of the VA’s missions is to serve as a safety net when DoD, public health facilities, and private hospitals fail or are overburdened.  The impacts to private hospitals and critical supplies due to such events would likely spillover to the VA – especially if we are talking about a serious medical surge event or transportation constraint.  In such an event, it is easy to assume that VA facilities would experience similar disruptions in medical waste removal and other services whether or not it is providing mutual aid. 

We believe it is important that the VA evaluate each facilities management of medical waste and what plans and procedures are in place for a crisis and any accompanied disruption in waste management services.  A simple review of the VA’s Pandemic Influenza Plan shows that hospitals should plan for transportation difficulties and be prepared for alternative routes for additional staff and supplies.  In regard to supplies, they should have alternative vendors or have established agreements in case of emergency, but it does not address their supplier’s transportation issues.  The plans says to handle medical waste as it normally would (via the WRAMC policy), but they don’t deal with contingencies of increased volumes of medical waste, the costs of such an increase, staffing shortages, and the many other vulnerabilities we’ve identified in this testimony.  We are merely using this example to point out that there are a few key points missed in this plan and pandemic preparedness could easily be improved by adding on-site sterilization equipment.

We’d also like to point out that installing on-site sterilization of medical waste at VA facilities would also provide ancillary and immediate benefits for the VA beyond emergency preparedness, including cost savings and carbon emission reductions. In regard to cost saving, we estimate that on-site waste treatment using sterilization equipment can provide an average cost savings of $1.63 million per hospital, which would equate to $190.71 million if installed at all 117 VA medical center hospitals that are currently relying upon off site vendors to haul and treat their waste. Further, regarding the VA’s ability to comply with Executive Order #13514, the coalition has developed a carbon footprint calculator that can calculate the savings, in real numbers of reductions in x pounds of CO2 emissions each year, for those facilities with on-site waste processing and estimate the savings for those facilities who switch from off-site to on-site processing.

We have constructively urged that onsite sterilization capabilities should be added to the VA’s list of best standards and practices as well as a mission critical component to their emergency management plan.  Currently, twenty four VA facilities process their waste onsite.  We know that other facilities would like to add this component to their capital budgets, but have thus far not done so.

We do not intend to be critical of the VA in this testimony, as we haven’t audited individual hospital preparedness plans.  We do know that there are groups within the VA looking at this very issue and recognize that on-site medical waste treatment could benefit VA facilities from an everyday operational aspect as well as for emergency preparedness. 

Additional VA Emergency Preparedness Considerations

As the one of the missions of the VA is to provide assistance to other Federal, state, and local agencies as outlined in the Department of Homeland Securities National Response Plan, issues that affect private hospitals may also impact the VA.  In addition to the medical waste issues we’ve discussed in this testimony, here are other several areas of concerns of healthcare emergency preparedness that have been identified by the coalition.   

Vaccines—currently only one of the five companies producing vaccines used in the U.S. for the H1N1 virus are domestically located. The majority of vaccines used are produced overseas and then shipped to the U.S. The H1N1 virus has helped to unveil severe issues with vaccination production and distribution issues inherent with needing to ship in vaccines. The Issue of production and distribution of vaccines has drawn attention at the Federal level, prompting a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigation. While the issues facing the production and supply of the H1N1 are important, they only serve to highlight an even more severe unpreparedness for a greater virus requiring even more vaccine.

Surge Capacity—In March of 2008 the House Oversight Committee performed a survey of surge capacity in the event of a terrorist attack like the commuter train attacks in Madrid, Spain in 2004 that injured over 2000 people. The survey was conducted for a similar event in seven cities most likely to experience a terrorist attack: New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Houston, Chicago, Denver and Minneapolis. Results of these surveys demonstrated that none of the hospitals surveyed had sufficient emergency capacity to absorb a surge of that magnitude. The survey results showed that the average emergency room in each hospital was operating at 115% capacity. Surge sustainability is a key component of emergency preparedness, terrorist attacks and epidemics are examples of an unexpected surge in emergency room need.

The tragedy that took place in New York on September 11, 2001, the collapsing of the overpass in Minnesota, the flooding in North Dakota, the hurricanes in Louisiana and Mississippi, and now, the current H1N1 pandemic are realities of unexpected events we must always be expecting. None of the areas surrounding these events were logistically prepared to handle the surge capacity or long term sustainability needed. These are the sort of unpredictable event that we must prepare our healthcare community to be able to withstand in all areas of the country. Protections must be instituted to be able to respond to any event in a moment’s notice or be equipped to handle long term sustainability needs if needed.

Supply and Services—a key component of maintaining emergency preparedness at all times is ensuring that hospitals have enough supply capability on hand to withstand a major surge and also sustain an extended lapse in re-supply availability. Most hospitals and medical centers across the country lack sufficient supplies or systems to enable them to handle a sustained surge in patients like would be seen in the event of a crisis. A shocking example of hospitals dependence on off-site aid can be seen in the fact that most hospitals do not even treat their own laundry on the hospital grounds. It is a common practice for hospitals to outsource laundry services creating an unnecessary vulnerability.

Gap Analysis—one of the most common suggestions for healthcare organizations is to perform a complete “Gap Analysis” as part of their Emergency Management Program (EMP).  There are four major components to a thorough Gap Analysis:  (1) Identification of planning scenarios along with the number of anticipated casualties for each planning scenario; (2) Requirements development; (3) A listing of current resources and capabilities; and (4) Identification and forwarding to the next higher support agency, the gap between current resources and capabilities and the total requirements needed for each planning scenario.

With a well-defined Gap Analyses, VA can then analyze, plan, program, budget, procure and pre-position additional resources and capabilities needed to close Gaps and sustain and fortify the VAMC’s hospitals during future emergencies and disasters requiring Federal support.  Further, gap analysis at the VA should consider needs and planning done with DoD, and local and state Emergency Management Agencies so it can program for the entire array of “unmet requirements” including mobile medical units, as well as a full complement of staffing by facilities and vendors, medical and non-medical supplies, equipment and services required to support state/territory and local governments during future disasters and public health emergencies. 

We encourage VA emergency managers work extraordinarily closely in identification of all gaps in resources and capabilities and forward the appropriate unmet requirement gaps up the support chain in order to ensure the healthcare and public health needs of veterans and communities reliant on VA support are met.

Conclusions

Our Nation remains vulnerable in the area of contagious waste management during a pandemic or crisis and we need to highlight the benefits of prudent alternatives, such as on-site sterilization capacity, as a best practice for emergency preparedness and health care facility operational sustainability and be considered a mission critical system for VA hospitals.

The coalition believes that it is imperative that we use technology to ensure dangerous medical waste is disposed of in a safe and sanitary way, and that the VA is prepared to do so in an emergency.  We encourage the VA implement appropriate programs that address on-site waste disposal for both emergency/crisis, which is important as the most hectic periods for healthcare providers are also the periods that typically produce the most waste, and during every day operations where it can show cost saving and other benefits.

Congress should dedicate some of the current Federal funding to help cover the initial installation costs of implementing on-site technology at VA facilities, which will save the government money in the long term. Offering such Federal funding for the implementation of a more common sense and cost effective approach for government owned health care facilities to deal with infectious waste, and it will set a precedent for private hospitals to adopt and deploy such technologies.  Only scarce funds within the HPP are eligible to hospitals or medical facilities transitioning to on-site medical waste treatment in preparation for pandemic or other emergency preparedness.  

Furthermore, congress shall appropriate sufficient funding for the research, development, and deployment of mobile sterilization units capable of being deployed to areas affected by a pandemic, natural disaster or bio-terrorism attacks that could be used by multiple jurisdictions, including the VA and the National Guard. Currently, our Nation’s disaster relief operations lack efficient means to dispose of infectious medical waste.

The coalition believes that a few simple changes in policy, including legislative and appropriation efforts by Congress, would help improve the methods and best practices by which infectious medical waste is handled by VA in this country every day and, as we are discussing today, in emergency situations.  

 Kind Regards,

MedClean Marketing Team 

Regulated medical waste (RMW) is a far-reaching term that encompasses everything from syringes to prescription drugs, new and used medical supplies to human and animal parts, to laboratory and hospital equipment. That just begins to describe an entire universe of constituent components.

Adding to the scope of this category is the exploding size of the American healthcare market due to the aging of baby boomers, new technologies requiring ever more supplies, the mushrooming use of prescription drugs and the increased generation of home medical waste. For instance, the obesity problem has triggered more use of onset Type 2 diabetic supplies, like blood testing and insulin syringes, leading to a surge in RMW disposal.

RMW is a complex, ultra sensitive branch of the solid waste stream. It is subject to special regulatory compliance depending on where it is generated, comes with legal liabilities throughout the flow of the waste stream and requires higher collection and disposal costs.

Reuse for humanitarian relief

Because of the challenges facing RMW and the desire of the healthcare industry to ensure public safety and to be environmentally responsible, keeping as much of these wastes out of landfills as possible and recycling whenever practical have become high priorities. As a result, there have emerged a number of innovative alternatives.

Over the past decade, for example, the recovery and reuse of medical supplies and biomedical equipment has grown from virtually nothing to a well-established national supply chain that is now exporting hundreds of thousands of tons annually for reuse to developing countries around the world. Materials that would have been landfilled are now relieving pain and saving lives.

An example is MedShare, a non-profit humanitarian organization founded in 1998 and headquartered in Atlanta. It pioneered the concept of recycling American medical supplies and equipment for people in needy countries.

MedShare has established bin collection programs in the Atlanta and San Francisco metro area hospitals to recover medical supplies that otherwise would be trashed due to hospital regulations. “Since our founding we estimate that we have saved in excess of 1.7 million cubic feet from going into landfills. On average, we recover about 2,500 pounds of surplus medical supplies each week from hospitals in Atlanta and Northern California, thus diverting them from landfills,” said A.B. Short, CEO and cofounder of MedShare.

Hospitals generate large volumes of medical waste, much of it perfectly good medical supplies and equipment. This is partially a result of our litigious society. Once an item is ordered for a patient’s room, the patient is charged for it, and if unused, it must be disposed of. There are also hundreds of different medical-surgical kits used. Often there are separately packaged leftovers as well as damaged packaging, inventory clearances and equipment disposals due to upgrades.

MedShare collects these items, as long as the ones with expiration dates have a shelf life of 12 to 18 months, and receives product donations from medical supply manufacturers and distributors – mostly cosmetically damaged products, overstocks and discontinued lines. It also receives products and equipment from other humanitarian organizations that have found MedShare an efficient conduit to distribute their donations.

With a small staff and approximately 1,000 volunteers per month, MedShare sorts and repackages nearly 25,000 product codes, repairs and refurbishes biomedical equipment ranging from hospital beds to X-ray machines and packs 40 foot containers for export.

Thus far they have shipped nearly 600 containers to hospitals and clinics in the developing world valued at more than $70 million dollars, and have provided medical supplies to more than 1,000 international medical missions worth over $2.3 million.

This recycling model has led to the formation of similar non-profit efforts across the country. In 2008, the MedSurplus Network was established. “The MedSurplus Network is a growing alliance of five medical surplus recovery organizations working together to improve the quality of medical supply and equipment donations here and abroad,” Short explained.

Hospitals are enthusiastic about recovery and reuse organizations. Many are actually paying for the collection service. It’s consistent with their humanitarian efforts and green agendas, plus has the bottom-line benefit of reducing RMW volume thereby reducing disposal costs.

Recovery

The bulk of medical waste is biohazardous. It includes potentially infectious materials such as blood and other biologics, dressings, pharmaceuticals, laboratory waste, and contaminated glassware and sharps – things like needles, syringes and surgical instruments. Virtually any material generated from the medical industry by labs, hospitals, clinics, physicians, dentists, pharmacies and veterinarians can fall into the category of biohazardous.

Laws, regulations, standards and guidelines governing biohazardous materials abound. Many aspects are regulated at the state and local level. Many regulations are based on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Model Guidelines for State Medical Waste Management. Others are governed by federal regulations issued by the EPA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and United States Postal Service (USPS). The federal government also regulates hazardous elements used in medicine such as mercury and radioactive elements. The EPA’s Medical Waste Tracking Act has established guidelines for the segregation, handling, containment, labeling and transport of medical waste. Most states have developed their medical waste regulatory framework around these guidelines.

Disposal

In the old days, most hospitals used on-site incinerators to dispose of medical wastes, but for the most part those times have passed due to the Clean Air Act, the costs for pollution control systems and the poor environmental image of smoke. Today, hospitals and healthcare practitioners send RMW out to private companies for disposal.

According to the EPA, currently over 90 percent of potentially infectious medical waste is incinerated, but this used to emit highly toxic pollutants like acid gases, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, and are major sources of dioxins and metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. This caused public opposition to medical waste incineration and many healthcare facilities looked for more environmentally friendly alternatives, primarily industrial sized autoclaves using steam sterilization and often combined with post-processing shredding, microwaving or chemical treatment. Once properly sterilized and shredded, if so required to meet local landfill regulations, RMW can be landfilled as non-hazardous.

Costs for medical waste disposal are much higher than regular solid waste because of the special handling mandated by regulations and the extra treatment required. Like many services, the costs go down as the volume generated goes up. Competition among service providers level out prices of disposal. Medical waste disposal companies are reluctant to talk about costs because it largely depends on volume and nature of the collection customer; frequency and distance for pickup, or if delivered by mail.

But that leaves the perplexing question of how much more does it cost to dispose of biohazardous medical waste than regular solid waste. The only extensive study found on this issue was conducted by Frost and Sullivan, a respected international research and consulting firm. Published in November 2004, ‘U.S. Medical Waste Management and Disposal Markets’ said in part: “…the cost of disposing medical waste is currently over $480 per ton, compared to municipal waste at a cost of around $24 per ton.”

American Recycler spoke to George Winters, manager of marketing and corporate communications for XMED Medical Waste Disposal about typical biomedical collection and disposal practices. Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, XMED uses a fleet of trucks to make regular collections of biohazardous waste at hospitals and clinics throughout North Alabama and Southern Tennessee, and has a nationwide mail-back program.

Like most, XMED provides services to anyone who generates sharps or regulated medical waste – from large hospitals to tattoo parlors. Hospitals use small autoclaves to sterilize reusable instruments, but all other contaminated materials must be put in approved biohazard containers.

“We charge by the container, generally 28 or 32 gallon plastic-rubberized containers. Inside the container is a red biohazard bag that must be tied up and the container sealed before pickup,” said Winters.

Smaller containers are used with XMED’s mail-back program – three smaller sized packages for sharps disposal and a five gallon container for regulated medical waste. Biohazardous materials must be mailed in a puncture proof container that is sealed inside a 4 mil plastic liner to meet USPS and DOT regulations.

Materials arriving at XMED’s facility go to industrial autoclaves that handle hundreds of pounds of material and are sterilized using high pressure steam. Sterilized materials are compacted and disposed of according to state and federal regulations.

“We are very environmentally and regulatory compliant in our activities and make sure our process is clean. When we send containers back they are cleaned and sanitized because our customers want it that way,” Winters concluded.

A mobile solution?

American Recycler also spoke with Nicholas Esposito, director of marketing for MedClean Technologies, headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut. Although his company outfits treatment facilities and provides custom built solutions for its customers, MedClean has developed a patent-pending, mobile, self-contained approach for regulated medical waste sterilization and volume reduction.

“To my knowledge, we are the only company offering a mobile or stationary self-contained unit that utilizes autoclave and shredding technology with all utilities on board. It has the ability to be a disaster relief unit because it is self-contained and delivered on demand. With steam and electricity already onboard, the only additional requirement is a simple garden hose, he explained.

The MedClean system uses an onboard steam sterilization unit followed by a separate inline shredder that reduces sharps down to one eighth of an inch size, and red bags to confetti. Once processed, it can go into municipal solid waste dumpsters as non-hazardous.

“The costs associated with operating a MedClean system is under a penny per pound. The total cost to a hospital will depend on the volume of medical waste being addressed. Further, the MedClean System can be acquired as a lease, purchase or rental with no capital outlay. The biggest cost-reduction comes with the ability to address multiple waste streams onsite; red bags, sharps, and confidential documents, with a MedClean System,” said Esposito.

Chemical conversion

It has not escaped the attention of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs that medical waste is a potentially rich source of chemicals that can be converted into fuels and a wide range of other chemicals. It’s a sound concept: medical waste is totally destroyed, and the energy content is recovered and converted into a synthetic gas which can be reformulated into any number of chemical derivatives such as ethanol. A number of companies are following this path with various technologies, but the volume being processed today is very minimal.

Last year a major development occurred – a joint venture called S4 Energy Solutions was formed between Waste Management, Inc. and InEnTec LLC to develop and operate a series of plasma gasification plants. Initially, the facilities will process medical and industrial waste streams.

Education must begin at home

While collection practices and disposal methods differ, the healthcare industry appears to do a good job of disposing of medical waste driven by regulations, liability issues and professional responsibility. The industry is trending away from incineration to autoclaves.

In most states, however, home generated medical waste is not regulated. This does not apply to regulated medical waste produced by home healthcare workers such as visiting physicians, nurses, therapists or aides. They are supposed to provide for proper disposal.

Home medical waste created through the personal administration of injectable medications, other invasive or noninvasive procedures and surplus or expired prescription drugs are handled differently depending on jurisdiction.

Many counties and municipalities recommend that sharps and other materials be put into a heavy plastic container, closed with a top, sealed with tape, be clearly marked as hazardous medical wastes and put into household trash. This protects waste handlers and segregates hazardous material for incineration or sterilization. Other communities have designated drop off locations or special pick up days.

The sad truth, though, is that far too much medical waste is improperly comingled with household trash, either through laziness or because communities have failed to provide adequate consumer education and convenient means for disposal.

These materials pose serious safety, health and environmental problems. For example, over four billion prescriptions are written annually in the United States. Up to 40 percent dispensed outside hospitals go unused, generating approximately 200 million pounds of pharmaceutical waste each year. Much of this waste goes into sewer systems contaminating water supplies or in landfills doing the same. People often flush disposable syringes down toilets. Because they float, they are difficult to remove at the wastewater treatment plants and can wind up in rivers, the oceans and wash up on beaches.

In fact, it was medical waste washing up on East Coast beaches that first prompted Congress to enact the Medical Waste Tracking Act in 1988. This landmark legislation eventually led to the comprehensive federal and state regulations in place today.

IMWTA Welcomes MWaste & 6 Other Members to the Association

Next week, IMWTA.com will feature Home Page Profiles for SunBelt Bio Med, Efficient XRay, Biomedical Waste Solutions, Alpha Bio/Med Services, Diversified Medical, and US BioClean

MedClean Technologies, Inc is a proud sponsor of the IMWTA/IMWTA.com and Barnett Medical Services, as they work diligently to align privately owned independent medical waste transporters throughout North America creating "Veris in Numeris". 

In a short amount of time, IMWTA.com houses more than a dozen profiles to independent medical waste transporters, who offer a variety of medical waste and recycling services across over 25 states and two countries.

The benefit of association will enable national contract bids, optimal supply pricing, premium exposure through IMWTA.com, and more…

Check back soon for additional IMWTA News.

Kind Regards,

MedClean Marketing Team

Q:  What is the IMWTA, and why is MedClean involved in its initial formation/launch?

DJL :  IMWTA stands for Independent Medical Waste Transporters Association.  It is an organization developed by Independent Medical Waste Transporters (Barnett Medical Services), for Independent Medical Waste Transporters.  Through the association, we believe we can all compete effectively to gain a larger share of the multibillion dollar, and growing, medical waste industry.  Collectively, the IMWTA represents an ability to address all major waste streams for our nation’s hospitals and healthcare institutions no matter what size generator.  Additionally, IMWTA Members will be able to create value added services in almost any scenario; whether a 1,000 bed hospital, 20 bed nursing home, or large plastic surgery centers, the Members and MedClean have options for providing services and equipment.  These options will result in more demand for members’ products and services.  In the past, if a potential opportunity did not meet certain criteria, the independent transporter had to pass on the business. 

MedClean is unique in the fact that we offer distribution opportunities for the MedClean System.  We can assist in the development of medical waste and confidential document treatment and destruction processing facilities and we will provide customizable MedClean Systems to fit current business needs with the idea of expanding service lines and bottom line growth over time.  We also plan to support the IMWTA through special pricing programs as well as supporting the coordination for products and services required for large contract opportunities.  Members receive this type of support yet pay no fee to join the IMWTA.

From a company perspective, the IMWTA fits perfectly into our short and long term plans.  Establishing a national network of distributors is critically important to MedClean but the IMWTA provides a different avenue to create a national network as well.  The IMWTA national network should be up and functioning very quickly.  Imagine a national network that provides:

1. Competitive bidding on national contracts
2. Competitive bidding on cross-regional contracts
3. Supplier discounts through buying power – for example each member might receive a discount from a national automotive chain for the purchase of services and parts for their fleet of vehicles, etc.,
4. Creating an ecommerce storefront on IMWTA.com.  A majority of the members offer additional services and products other than medical waste transportation.  Barnett, for example, sells medical supplies.  Eventually the IMWTA will conduct business and offer beneficial pricing to the member community, further increasing each organization’s buying power and leveling the playing field against larger non-member competitors.

By leveraging resources across the country we believe the IMWTA members will be able to participate in national contracts while offering the benefit of services provided by local community minded transporters at more competitive prices.

About The IMWTA

The IMWTA is a national consortium of privately owned medical waste transporters who have the ability to provide prospective clients with higher quality, personalized customer service, significant cost-reductions, value-added services, and more.

Some of the benefits of joining The IMWTA:

1)      Optimal Supply Pricing

2)      Opportunity For National Contract Bidding

3)      Strength in Numbers

4)      Ability to Compete

Visit at IMWTA.com

Q:  What is the status of international business?  How many marketing relationships currently exist?

DJL:  We have signed a distribution agreement with Ace Technologies in Canada to form MedClean Canada.  We are actively pursuing International Distributorships and can only comment on what has been signed and delivered.  Our focus is on North America first and foremost, and we will expand outward from there.  Aside from our direct marketing efforts to secure distributors from other countries we have ramped up our web presence, which has created interest from entities in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and other countries.  We are working diligently to further those discussions where we see fit.

But to reiterate, we are focused on building the infrastructure to support our growth objectives.  We have spent the first half of 2010 building the infrastructure for North America.  We will put most of our emphasis for the second half of 2010 on taking our existing relationships and partnerships to the next level.  International is part of our growth strategy for 2011 so we have to begin to lay the groundwork during 2010.  We will provide updates throughout the second half of the year on our progress but the primary focus for 2010 has to remain on North America.

 Q:  Can you state whether any of your new relationship partnerships have ‘non-disclosure statements’ that would prevent disclosure of a “system contract” and/or whether most of the hospitals would want such non-disclosure, especially since your product is “green”?

DJL:  We are sensitive to the requests of our clients and prospective clients, whether a hospital or a medical waste transporter looking to purchase, lease, or rent our equipment.  Each hospital/entity is different with regard to what they want or do not want disclosed.  There are many factors other than “green” that would warrant whether an organization would want to disclose information.  MedClean Technologies respects disclosure preferences and will act accordingly.  We do try to communicate actively and keep our investors informed of our activities.   We seem to be developing a strong and supportive investor base so it is important to communicate effectively to the market.

Kind Regards,

MedClean Marketing Team

** Please submit your Questions for consideration via our website submission form.  We have another Q & A that we are working on for release on another date.  Again, we appreciate the questions above that were submitted during the past week.