By Alan Brander, RN BSN BSW MBA/HCM FACHE HCAP, SVP of Clinical Services
At SpendMend, we spend a lot of time helping hospitals improve compliance and visibility across the healthcare cost cycle. But sometimes, the biggest opportunities come from rethinking what we’ve always done.
That’s exactly what sparked a recent webinar conversation around a simple question:
What should hospitals do with explanted pacemakers, ICDs, and CRTs that don’t qualify for warranty credit?
Traditionally, the answer has been disposal. But as we explored with leaders from Michigan Medicine and Baptist Health, there is a better way.
Compliance Reality Hospitals Can’t Ignore
When cardiac devices are explanted, hospitals must determine whether they qualify for warranty credit and report appropriately. Failure to do so can lead to significant penalties, especially as CMS and the OIG increasingly use AI to flag inconsistencies in explant and credit reporting.
But here’s the gap. Most devices, often more than 90 percent, do not qualify for credit.
So, what happens to them? Too often, they are thrown away.
Giving Explanted Devices a Second Life Through Project My Heart Your Heart
During the webinar, Eric Pearl, Project Manager for Project My Heart Your Heart at Michigan Medicine, shared how that waste can become a lifesaving opportunity.
The program collects explanted cardiac devices, reconditions them through a rigorous FDA approved export process, and provides them to patients in low- and middle-income countries completely free of charge.
The need is staggering. Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death globally, yet access to pacemakers and ICDs is extremely limited in many parts of the world due to cost.
Meanwhile, many explanted devices in U.S. hospitals still have years of battery life remaining.
Eric highlighted a key insight: Devices sourced directly from hospitals have the highest reuse potential, making healthcare systems critical partners in expanding access to care worldwide.
A Real-world Example: Baptist Health
At Baptist Health in Arkansas, this opportunity became real through the work of Kayla Baumgartner, a cardiovascular radiographer and process coordinator.
Kayla saw firsthand how many viable devices were being discarded, some nearly new, removed due to infection or upgrades but still fully functional.
Instead of accepting that as standard practice, she submitted an idea through Baptist’s internal innovation program.
That idea quickly turned into action.
Today, Kayla manages a simple process. She sets aside non warranty explanted devices, wipes them down using standard protocols, packages them using prepaid materials, and ships them to Michigan Medicine.
As Kayla shared during the webinar, the process is easy to implement, requires minimal time, and often simplifies existing workflows, all while keeping devices out of the waste stream.
Making it Happen: Navigating Approvals
Getting from idea to implementation required coordination, led by Josh Brown, Senior Chaplain at Baptist Health.
Josh worked across departments including infection control, patient safety, and cardiovascular leadership to secure approvals and address questions around liability and process.
His advice for other hospitals is to start with the right stakeholders, use available educational resources, and be prepared for some coordination, but know that the process is very achievable. Within a few months, Baptist Health went from concept to actively shipping devices.
Expanding the Impact of Better Device Management
SpendMend helps hospitals clearly identify which explanted devices must be returned for warranty credit and which do not, ensuring compliance while opening the door for responsible donation pathways. By aligning these workflows, hospitals can confidently redirect noncredit devices into programs like My Heart Your Heart, reducing waste, lowering disposal burden, and supporting sustainability efforts. More importantly, this approach transforms what was once discarded into a meaningful resource, expanding access to lifesaving care for patients around the world. When hospitals adopt this model collectively, the impact extends far beyond operations and becomes a powerful example of how better processes can drive both compliance and global good.