The Price of Water: Evaluating the Potential Cost Savings of Switching from Saline to Distilled Water for Wound Irrigation

As water becomes an increasingly precious commodity, health systems face difficulties in balancing usage and costs. Numerous studies indicate minimal differences in patient outcomes between the use of normal saline and tap water in wound care and surgical procedures. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential cost implications for hospitals when shifting from sterile water and saline to in-house distilled water for wound care and surgical procedures. We analyzed a two-facility hospital network, assessing current sterile water and saline solution usage and expenses and compared it with the cost of implementing an in-house water distillation system. In 2022, the hospital network spent 305, 180. 78 on sterile water and saline solution bottles. By replacing the current expenditure on sterile water and saline solution bottles for irrigation with a water distillation plant at the hospital network, the estimated annual cost of the new system is projected to be significantly lower, at 83, 298. 87. This results in substantial total savings of 221, 881. 91 annually, amounting to 361. 37 per bed per year, while also considering the additional benefit of reducing plastic disposal costs. Extrapolating the in-house distillery cost savings to all 919, 649 staffed hospital beds in the United States could potentially save approximately 565 million annually. Over a decade, this could reach up to 5. 65 billion, if all hospitals adopt similar self-hosted water distillation systems.