If your facility reprocesses flexible endoscopes, the rules for what happens after high-level disinfection changed, and most scope cabinets in service today don't meet them. This is what the standard now says, how it gets enforced, and how to close the gap without turning it into a capital project.
Three standards, one sentence
For years, "drying" a scope meant the AER's alcohol flush and air purge, then hanging it in a ventilated cabinet. The current standards say that isn't drying.
ANSI/AAMI ST91:2021, the national standard for flexible endoscope processing, states that channels should be dried for a minimum of 10 minutes with pressure-regulated forced instrument air or HEPA-filtered air, and that scopes should be stored hanging vertically in a cabinet that circulates HEPA-filtered air under positive pressure. AORN's Guideline for Processing Flexible Endoscopes (2023) adopts the same 10-minute requirement and adds that it applies even if your AER has an air-purge or extended-dry feature. The 2021 Multisociety GI guideline from ASGE, SHEA and others goes further: passive cabinets without airflow directed into every channel are not sufficient to dry a wet scope.
Forced air, through every channel, for 10 minutes, then positive-pressure storage. That's the whole standard in one sentence.
42 out of 42
Residual moisture in a scope channel is where biofilm starts, and biofilm is where outbreaks start. A 2024 study in the American Journal of Infection Control tested 42 reprocessed gastroscopes and colonoscopes straight out of the AER. All 42 were still wet, confirmed by droplet detection cards, visual inspection and borescope. After a 10-minute forced-air drying cycle, all 42 were dry. That is the entire argument for the standard in one number.
No deadline. Just a finding.
We get asked on every call whether this is the law. ST91 and the AORN guideline are voluntary consensus standards; there is no statute with an effective date. What makes them binding on your center is enforcement, and that is already happening through three doors.
CMS. The ASC Infection Control Condition for Coverage (42 CFR 416.51) requires reprocessing according to manufacturer instructions or nationally recognized guidelines. The surveyor worksheet checks whether high-level-disinfected items are dried before use and stored to prevent contamination. A "No" is a deficiency.
Accreditation. Joint Commission, AAAHC and state surveyors benchmark endoscope practice against ST91 and AORN as the recognized guidelines. Facilities that passed on a cabinet three years ago are getting findings on the same cabinet now.
Your scope manufacturer's IFU. Current instructions for use increasingly specify forced-air channel drying. Because CMS requires you to follow the IFU, forced-air drying becomes a survey requirement whether or not anyone at your facility has read ST91.
It isn't a date you can plan around. It's a finding you can get at your next survey.
Five things to check at the cabinet
Walk over and look. Scopes hang vertically and uncoiled with the distal tip free. The cabinet pushes HEPA-filtered air at positive pressure, not just a fan, and not a closed cupboard. Forced air runs through every channel on a documented cycle of 10 minutes or more. Processed scopes are clearly identified as ready for use. And you can produce a hang-time record that supports your facility's storage policy.
Miss one and you have a gap. A gap rarely means a new cabinet.
Retrofit, evaluate, or replace
KenMed has partnered with Harloff, maker of the SureDry™ scope cabinet, the only vertical drying cabinet with a published clinical study behind it. We run the entire program in-house: evaluation, install, staff training and biomed service afterward.
Retrofit your Harloff. Every Harloff SureDry cabinet already has the mounting for the Dri-Scope Aid® forced-air channel drying system built in. If you own one, compliance is a retrofit, not a replacement, and it is the lowest-cost path there is.
Evaluate another brand. Own a different positive-pressure cabinet? Send us the make, model and a photo. We'll tell you whether it can be brought to standard or whether replacement is the smarter spend. No obligation either way.
Turnkey replacement. We deliver and install the new system, transfer your scopes, train your staff and haul the old cabinet away. One purchase order, one crew, one visit scheduled around your case volume.
Complete system. Buy the cabinet and the Dri-Scope Aid package together and you get program pricing, on-site setup and training, and the option of the smart tracker, a touchscreen that logs each scope, each user and hang time, and exports the records surveyors ask for. Financing is available, so this doesn't have to wait for next year's capital budget.
Twenty minutes
The first step on every path is the same: a no-cost evaluation. We look at the cabinet, count your scopes, check the wall and the outlet, and you have a firm number for retrofit versus replace within a week. Download the one-pagers below, or fill out the assessment form and send it over with a couple of photos. We can usually quote from that alone.
Downloads
The New Drying Standard — one-page compliance brief (PDF)
Retrofit, Evaluate or Replace — Harloff SureDry™ solutions (PDF)
Scope Cabinet Assessment & Order Form — fillable (PDF)
Schedule a no-cost cabinet evaluation
Ryan Gallagher · ryan@kenmedsurgical.com · 407-284-1660
Sources: ANSI/AAMI ST91:2021; AORN Guideline for Processing Flexible Endoscopes (2023); Multisociety guideline on reprocessing flexible GI endoscopes and accessories, Gastrointest Endosc 2021; CMS State Operations Manual, Exhibit 351; Fluid retention in endoscopes: a real-world study on drying effectiveness, Am J Infect Control 2024. SureDry™ and Dri-Scope Aid® are trademarks of Harloff and its licensors. This article is informational and is not regulatory advice; confirm requirements with your accreditor and scope manufacturer IFUs.
