Does your medical waste pickup schedule match your volume?

The most common problem in small-practice medical waste programs is not compliance. It is a pickup schedule that was set years ago and never revisited.

A dental office that fills one small sharps container every few months does not need a weekly stop. An urgent care clinic that is busy in January and quiet in July should not be on a fixed cadence all year.

A ten-minute check

• Pull your last three invoices and note the pickup dates and the number of containers collected.
• Walk to the storage area and look at how full the containers are on pickup day.
• If containers are routinely under half full, your frequency is too high for your volume.
• Check your state's storage-time limit before extending the interval; frequency has a floor as well as a ceiling.

What to ask your provider

Ask what the minimum service interval is under your agreement, whether on-call pickup is available instead of route service, and what fees change if frequency changes. If the answers are unclear, that is useful information too.