Value Analysis Committee Packet for an EVD System: A Template

A value analysis committee packet for an EVD system should answer four questions on a few pages: why the clinicians want it, what exactly the product is, what it will cost the hospital in total, and whether it can be supplied and supported reliably. The template below organizes those answers so the committee can decide in a single meeting.

What is a value analysis committee looking for?

Value analysis committees bring together clinical leaders, supply chain, finance, infection prevention and often quality and risk management. Their job is to decide whether a new product adds value compared with what the hospital already uses. For a drainage system, that means looking beyond the unit price to clinical fit, nursing workflow, safety, training effort and supply.

Committees are busy and see many requests. A packet that is complete, clearly organized and free of marketing language gets a fair hearing. A packet that is thin, or full of claims nobody can verify, gets sent back. The aim of the template is to make the first submission the last one.

Who prepares which part of the packet?

The request belongs to the hospital's clinicians, but the work is shared. Splitting it clearly avoids gaps and duplication.

What goes into each section of the template?

1. Request summary

One page at most. Name the requesting department and champion, the product family, the current system it would replace or complement, and the decision being requested: an evaluation, a conversion or adding the product as an alternative.

2. Clinical rationale

Written by the champion, in their own words. It should explain what clinicians want to change and why: a catheter option the current system lacks, a configuration that fits the unit's workflow, a need to use the same drainage system with a ventricular or a lumbar catheter, or the wish to standardize. It should reference the hospital's own protocols and well-established guidance, such as the Neurocritical Care Society consensus statement on EVD insertion and management, rather than promotional material.

3. Product description

A factual description taken from the manufacturer's documents. For DESU, this would describe the EVD-010 Series, an external ventricular drainage system with a 31 cm ventricular catheter, a 30 cm measuring scale, a 150 ml drip chamber and an 800 ml drainage bag, offered with a standard or an antibiotic-impregnated catheter. Where lumbar drainage is also in scope, it would describe the EVD-020 Series, used with a ventricular or a lumbar catheter and combining a pressure scale, drip chamber, drainage bag and filter, together with the lumbar drainage catheter kit: an 80 cm silicone catheter with tantalum marks from 5 to 20 cm and 24 holes.

Include item numbers, kit contents and units of measure, so that supply chain can map the products to its item master.

4. Quality and safety documentation

List the documents attached: quality system certificates such as ISO 13485, CE certification, instructions for use, labeling with an explanation of symbols, sterility and shelf-life information, and a biocompatibility summary where available. For antibiotic-impregnated catheters, include the manufacturer's description of the controlled release over 28 days and any contraindications stated in the instructions for use.

5. Cost and conversion analysis

Present cost honestly. The unit price is only one line. A credible analysis also includes the expected annual volume, the split between standard and antibiotic-impregnated catheters, the cost of training time, any inventory changeover, and the handling of existing stock of the current system.

6. Training and implementation plan

Describe how every nurse who manages drains will be trained, including night and weekend staff, how residents will be introduced to the system, and who will be available for questions during the first weeks. Committees often ask this question first, because a poorly implemented change creates risk.

7. Supply and service

State lead times, how backorders are communicated, who holds inventory, how lot numbers are recorded, and how complaints are reported and answered.

8. Appendices

Attach the supporting documents rather than pasting them into the main text: certificates, instructions for use, specification sheets, labeling samples, the training plan and any evaluation forms. Number them and refer to them from the relevant section, so committee members can find what they need without reading everything.

How should the cost section be laid out?

Finance members of the committee want to see every line that changes, not just the price per kit. A one-page table works well, with the current system and the proposed system side by side and a short note on each line.

Avoid projecting savings from clinical outcomes in this table. Outcome effects are hard to attribute to a single device and committees discount them. Keep the cost section to what can be measured directly, and let the clinical rationale carry the case for quality.

How should the clinical case be written without overclaiming?

Committees include clinicians who will notice an exaggerated claim immediately. A packet that promises a catheter will stop infections will lose credibility, because no device can promise that. The accurate wording is that antibiotic-impregnated catheters are designed to help reduce the risk of catheter colonization, used as part of the hospital's infection prevention practices.

The same discipline applies to usability. Describe concrete features, such as the measuring scale length, the drip chamber volume and the drainage bag capacity, and let the committee judge their value. If the champion has used the system elsewhere, a first-hand description of the experience is more persuasive than any adjective.

What questions will the committee ask?

Prepare short answers to the questions that come up in almost every EVD review:

• What will happen to our current stock, and how long will the two systems overlap?
• How will night-shift nurses be trained before the first drain is placed?
• Can the system be used for both ventricular and lumbar drainage, and does that simplify inventory?
• How do we recognize the antibiotic-impregnated catheter on the shelf and at the bedside?
• Who do we call with a technical question at two in the morning?
• How does the manufacturer handle complaints, and how fast do we get an answer?
• What happens if the supplier has a supply disruption?

DESU's orange catheter color answers one of these directly: antibiotic-impregnated catheters are visually distinct from standard ones.

What happens after the committee decides?

If the committee agrees to an evaluation rather than a full conversion, the packet becomes the evaluation plan. Its success criteria, training plan and feedback forms should already be in it. If the committee asks for more information, respond with exactly what was asked, quickly, and resubmit for the next meeting.

Either way, keep the packet as a living document. When the evaluation ends, add the results, the user feedback and any issues reported, then bring it back to the committee for the final decision.

Talk to a DESU product specialist

If you are preparing a value analysis request for a drainage system, DESU's product specialists can supply the product facts, documentation and training material your packet needs, and discuss how support works in your market. Write to sales@desu.tr or reach the team through the contact page.