Product standards committees today and tomorrow

The results of a survey of product standards committees conducted by the JOURNAL OF HEALTHCARE MATERIEL MANAGEMENT show that most hospitals have such a committee, chaired by the materiel manager. Despite the fact that respondents named 49 different disciplines as possible members of the committees and 100% attendance is experienced less than a quarter of the time, most respondents said they had the right number of people on their committee and that the committee was effective or very effective. With more facility affiliations in the offing, purchasing decisions will be made at a corporate level. To be viable in the future, the products committee will have to transform itself into a utilization review and cost oversight committee, and drastically reduce its membership.