Value
Analysis Works Best with Pareto’s Law
Greetings
Most of
us have heard of the Pareto Law (or 80/20 rule) that was invented in
the 1800s by Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto. In its simplest
terms the Pareto Law says that any problem we encounter can be
broken down statistically in order of severity or importance by
their largest and smallest elements to understand its complexity and
significance.
For
example, 80% of your requisitions are generated by 20% of your
hospital’s departments. 80% of the dollar value of your inventory is
in 20% of your items. 80% of a company’s sales are made by 20% of
their sales representatives. This law holds true for anything you
do!
We found
that value analysis woks best with Pareto’s Law because you need to
find a way to sort through the millions of dollars of
purchases you make each year to find your best value analysis
candidates and then organize this data so that it is meaningful and
actionable.
Before
my clients had MMIS systems (this wasn’t that long ago) I relied on
the Pareto Law to search out the best value analysis savings for
them. I did so by requesting a copy of my client’s account’s payable
runs sorted from the highest to lowest dollar expenditures.
This then revealed where my client’s best value analysis savings
opportunities were hidden. I remember that I had a big “Aha” while
performing this exercise when I found that one of my client’s
biggest annual expenditures was coffee, eggs and meat products. This
important information was then the starting point for my value
analysis studies.
I also
found that the Pareto Law makes sense to use when evaluating custom
packs, kits and trays, since we have found that 80% of the dollars
in these products are represented by 20% of their components.
Therefore, I didn’t need to value justify ALL of the items in my
client’s custom packs, kits and trays, just the top 20% of them, to
wring out 80% of the available savings. This is a great time
saver that I teach value analysis practitioners who have limited
time to get their value work done!
Now that
we employ our
Utilizer® Dashboard
to identify our client’s best value analysis candidates, ALL of our
data default settings are arranged from the highest to lowest (80/20
rule) savings opportunities so our clients don’t need to manipulate
their data to see their best value analysis candidates. Technology
has made it possible for even a novice to apply the Pareto Law to
every aspect of their value analysis studies without the hassle that
I had to go through when data was paper-based, unwieldy and hard to
find.
One last
thing! The Pareto Law or Universal Sort, as quality guru J.M Juran
called it, is the easiest and fastest way that I know
of to open the window wide to uncover big value analysis savings for
my clients. You too can experience these same positive results by
focusing in on the 20% of people, processes and products that make
up 80% of everything your healthcare organization provides your
patients and staff.
Your Partner In Savings Beyond Price™,

Robert T Yokl
Chief Value Strategist
Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare
Bobpres@strategicva.com
1-800-220-4274
P.S.
If you are still challenged by uncovering your best value
analysis candidates you might want to take a “test drive” of our
Utilizer® Dashboard that makes this important chore easy and
hassle free.
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