As healthcare costs rise and reimbursements fall, hospitals and health systems are looking to trim excess spend from any place they can. The hospital supply chain is the second largest spend of a health system, so it provides a number of opportunities to cut back on spending.
Here are ten ways to reduce medical and surgical supply costs, presented by GHX, a healthcare technology and supply chain solutions company.
1. The cost of supply chain goes beyond sticker price. Understand the financial implications of processes including procurement, logistics, inventory management and reimbursement in addition to the base price paid.
2. Synchronize product data with suppliers' data to make sure item masters are up-to-date and accurate. GHX recommends using global industry data standards to help create "one source of truth" for systems.
3. When ordering implants, use a purchase order-to-invoice match system to reduce manual invoice reconciliation.
4. Using up-to-date and accurate data helps ensure electronic health record implementation goes smoothly, as well as any follow-up maintenance.
5. Electronically purchasing items with trading partners can improve data synchronization and save between $12 and $27 per order.
6. Avoid overpayments by utilizing group purchasing organizations and local contracts. By incorporating these contracts into the purchasing system, providers can validate prices at the point of purchase and improve contract effectiveness.
7. Keep purchasing centralized. This helps not only control spend, but it boosts visibility as well.
8. Make product cost and efficacy visible and transparent to help determine how supplies can be leveraged to improve cost, quality and financial outcomes.
9. Try to move off-contract spend onto contracts.
10. Work and communicate with trading partners. By sharing insights and recommendations, all parties can benefit.
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