Many consumers might be surprised to learn that some medical devices used in various invasive and noninvasive procedures are not thrown away, never to be used again. In fact, some are sold to third-party manufacturers that reprocess them to be used again.
Reprocessing can save health care providers millions of dollars and divert thousands of tons of waste from landfills and incinerators. According to the market research firm Millennium Research Group (MRG), the U.S. market for reprocessed medical devices will grow at an average annual rate of almost 9 percent through 2017.