A
Note from Robert T. Yokl,
President and Chief Value Strategist
We hear a lot about how Obama’s new healthcare regulations will
negatively affect our healthcare organizations bottom line, but
not a lot is written in the media about what supply chain
professionals can do about it. That’s why in this week’s issue
of Savings Beyond Price E-Newsletter I focus on the three “Must
Have” supply chain survival tools that should be in every supply
chain managers toolbox. Supply chain managers will be put to
the test over the next few years to do more with less, but still
save more than ever before. This can’t be accomplished, in my
opinion, with the old and tired tools of yesterday.
You also might want to check out my blog for this week, “Creating
a Culture of Supply Chain Possibilities”, because it fits
into this week’s theme of doing more with less, but with a
twist: Never limit your possibilities to the here and now. There
are always possibilities over the horizon.
Lastly, if you haven’t seen how our
CliniTrack™ Manager
can easily manage all of your product evaluations, thereby
taking the hassle out of this enormous chore, may I suggest a
“test drive’ to see if it would be a good fit for you. I can
ensure you, that you won’t be disappointed with the results!
Three “Must Have” Supply Chain Survival Tools
Supply chain management is becoming an even more complex and
ever-changing discipline, since it is at the forefront of cost
management efforts in any and all healthcare organizations
today. If hospitals, systems and IDNs can’t hold the line on
their supply expenses to below the annual inflation rate, for
any given year, they won’t be able to eke out a profit. This is
because third-party reimbursement always lags behind the true
inflation rate by 12 to 18 months -- if you are lucky.
To offset this reimbursement slippage, I believe that there are
three “must have” supply chain survival software
tools that are compulsory in every supply chain manager’s
toolbox to pick up the slack:
1. Price-Check Manager: If you aren’t getting the
best price on all of the commodities you purchase from your
suppliers how would you know? Even your GPOs don’t know if their
pricing is the best in class on every contract offering. I can
make this bold statement since we review hospital, system and
IDN prices daily that aren’t best in class and most don’t know
it. So, if you want to ensure that you are obtaining the very
best prices possible for your size healthcare organization on
every category of purchase, you then need to have a Price-Check
Manager get the job done right vs. gut feel.
2. Utilization Manager: Now that, hopefully, you
have your pricing under control with a Price-Check Manager, you
also will need to eliminate all the waste and inefficiencies in
the consumption of your products, services and technologies.
This is where 79% of all new supply savings are hidden. It’s
not good enough to get the best price at the pump. Today, you
also need to get the best mileage out of the products, services
and technology you are buying. Products that are inferior, value
mismatches, misused, misapplied or misappropriated must be
identified and eliminated from your healthcare formulary. Don’t
kid yourself, this can’t be accomplished efficiently and
effectively without a utilization manager.
3. Value Analysis Manager: Value analysis is the
most powerful savings tool in a supply chain professional’s
arsenal. Though, to be truly cost effective, ultra-productive
and self-managed, value analysis teams can’t continue to manage
with spreadsheets, list servers and unwieldy forms. Your value
analysis process and its activities absolutely need to be
automated so that they can be monitored in real-time. Otherwise,
you will never realize the full benefits of this boundless and
never-ending savings methodology.
Supply chain managers will be put to the test over the next few
years to do more with less, but still save more than ever
before. This can’t be accomplished, in my opinion, with the old
and tired tools of yesterday. Your healthcare organization’s
aggressive savings goals can only be achieved with new and/or
upgraded supply chain technologies to enable supply chain
managers to meet this challenge head on. This isn’t a
prediction, but a fact in the new healthcare economy that we are
facing.
Warmest Regards,
Robert T. Yokl
Chief Value Strategist
Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare
Bobpres@strategicva.com
1-800-220-4274
Your Partner In
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