Healthcare Supply Chain Best Practices Podcast

I don’t think I need to tell you that the effects of the double whammy of the pandemic and inflation (8.5% as I write this article) is eating into your healthcare organization’s margins. That’s why the need for big supply chain savings couldn’t be greater as your healthcare organization’s volumes drop, supply costs soar, and increased agency nurses and temporary personnel usages are incurred to me...

Price is a very simple element of the healthcare supply chain procurement process. You order the product at that price and get the total spend for that line-item product. This is the total spend that we see every day from the vendors and manufacturers that we purchase from. Now envision this same scenario happening to thousands or even tens of thousands of products on an ongoing basis at your heal...

Now that the value analysis community has embraced value analysis software (VAS) as a best practice, more hospitals, systems, and IDNs are acquiring this easy to master technology. However, for those value analysis practitioners contemplating purchasing value analysis software in the future, here are some of the top mistakes to avoid that can be costly when deciding on your own VA software:

I don’t need to remind you that the cost of just about everything you buy is increasing due to supply chain shortages, higher labor cost, and surging energy prices, which all contribute to the high inflation rate we are now experiencing. In fact, many economists believe this situation can get worse in the coming months! Is there anything you can do about it? Our position is that there are three st...

There are many different iterations that value analysis has morphed, evolved, and emerged into leading up to 2022. Value analysis is predominantly applied to products, services, and technologies in the healthcare supply chain. The primary focus of value analysis practitioners is working with hospital and/or system-based value analysis teams that are assigned categories of products and services to...

We are often asked how a healthcare supply chain organization can get better than just good. Our answer is always to employ KPIs (or key performance indicators) to quantify and measure your supply chain performance over time. This way your employees and teams have goals to shoot for, milestones to meet, and insights into your operations.

Value analysis software is here to stay in the healthcare supply chain and there are good reasons why. Those who employ value analysis software at their hospital, system, or IDN know that it easily consolidates all of their information in one platform. This aids in vetting new product, service, and technology requests and can provide important resources for evidenced-based decisions. Slowly and su...

We recently conducted a webinar for our value analysis/supply chain community on the benefits of integrating supply utilization management (SUM) into their value analysis program because we believe there is nowhere else to go to achieve double-digit supply chain expense savings. Here are some highlights from this webinar. Over the last 76 years value analysis has evolved from a purely manufacturin...

With the new term “Clinical Integration in Supply Chain” that has been embraced by many health systems throughout the country, there seems to be a little confusion regarding the actionable steps with this next level modality. You could easily say that you need more physician involvement in value analysis teams or need to add more clinicians to the teams as well. Most value analysis teams are alrea...

We are all in a new world of mitigation, PPE, social distancing, etc., that has been a laser focus for over two years now. The goal was to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading and prevent the overwhelming of our healthcare systems. Now that we see a light at the end of the tunnel, we need to start thinking about refocusing our hospital supply chain efforts on cost optimization to ease the...

The number one strategy for saving money in the healthcare supply chain is by saving on price. When you look at contracting and strategic sourcing, it’s all about price. Standardization is a function of consolidating volume towards a common vendor(s) to attain a better tier or negotiate a better price. When an organization changes their group purchasing organization to another or joins a regional...

As hospitals, systems, and IDNs see fewer savings results from their GPO/local new and renewal contracts, more and more healthcare organizations are preparing to launch their own Supply Utilization Management (SUM) Program to make up for these shortfalls. To this end, here are five tips on establishing your own Supply Utilization Management Program that might make this transition to new and better...

Hospitals & health systems have achieved huge savings gains from group purchasing and internal supply chain contracting/sourcing over the past 10-15 years. There is no doubt that the healthcare supply chain contracting and strategic sourcing programs have reached a high level of maturity. A byproduct of this high level of maturity, unfortunately, is less price savings opportunities on the table th...

Over the last few decades, GPOs have been the driving force on price and standardization savings for healthcare organizations. However, as Isaac Newton’s third law states, “With every action there is a reaction.” The reaction or result of taking your GPO’s price and standardization at face value is that you are missing three things you must know about savings to make them stick

Every supply chain professional is looking for that magic bullet to squeeze a few more dollars out of their supply chain expenses this fiscal year. However, let me tell you a secret I have learned in my long supply chain career about saving money. There are no magic bullets; just proven strategies, tactics, and techniques that strengthen your supply expense management efforts. Here are five that w...

I was just made aware by my staff last week that they are now seeing annualized price savings for even the most contract compliant hospitals, systems, and IDNs that have shrunk to 1% to 2% from 2% to 4% of overall budget over the last decade. This is a startling change in supply chain economics that I would credit to the positive impact of national and regional GPO contracts over the last ten year...

I was just made aware by my staff last week that they are now seeing annualized price savings for even the most contract compliant hospitals, systems, and IDNs that have shrunk to 1% to 2% from 2% to 4% of overall budget over the last decade. This is a startling change in supply chain economics that I would credit to the positive impact of national and regional GPO contracts over the last ten year...

In any industry there is terminology that is slow to be adopted but then becomes mainstream and functional. One of these mainstream terms that we use in healthcare today is supply chain management, which was created in concept in 1961 but not fully adopted by the healthcare industry until the late 1990s. Another one is healthcare value analysis which was created back in the late 1940s after World...

In any industry there is terminology that is slow to be adopted but then becomes mainstream and functional. One of these mainstream terms that we use in healthcare today is supply chain management, which was created in concept in 1961 but not fully adopted by the healthcare industry until the late 1990s. Another one is healthcare value analysis which was created back in the late 1940s after World...

Since hospitals have been asked to temporarily shut down primary revenue sources of their operations, such as major elective surgeries, they will need to reduce costs to the lowest possible levels while regaining their bottom lines. Here are just a few ways that I would recommend this be accomplished:

Since hospitals have been asked to temporarily shut down primary revenue sources of their operations, such as major elective surgeries, they will need to reduce costs to the lowest possible levels while regaining their bottom lines. Here are just a few ways that I would recommend this be accomplished:

“The pace of decline of profitability margins is slower than it has been in past years, but they are still down. Median operating margins reached 1.7% in 2018, down from 1.8% in 2017. A more sustainable operating margin would be around 2.5%,” said Christopher Kerns, executive director at the Advisory Board. That’s why it is mission critical for supply chain professionals to dramatically lower thei...

“The pace of decline of profitability margins is slower than it has been in past years, but they are still down. Median operating margins reached 1.7% in 2018, down from 1.8% in 2017. A more sustainable operating margin would be around 2.5%,” said Christopher Kerns, executive director at the Advisory Board. That’s why it is mission critical for supply chain professionals to dramatically lower thei...

The dynamics of value analysis in healthcare have radically changed for the better in the last 20 years. We have watched as healthcare organizations moved from “sole practitioners” managing this VA function to vice presidents (in some healthcare organizations) determining the relative worth of the products, services, and technologies they are buying. Yet, with few exceptions, hospitals, systems, a...

The dynamics of value analysis in healthcare have radically changed for the better in the last 20 years. We have watched as healthcare organizations moved from “sole practitioners” managing this VA function to vice presidents (in some healthcare organizations) determining the relative worth of the products, services, and technologies they are buying. Yet, with few exceptions, hospitals, systems, a...