A group of over 100 procurement professionals from 1,500 post-acute healthcare facilities have joined together to form the Society for Healthcare Organization Procurement Professionals, a group meant to bridge the gap between clinical and financial leadership in the healthcare field.
The group, which announced its formation Jan. 7, said its goal is to support "the data-driven, ethical evaluation of products and solutions that achieve meaningful and financially responsible healthcare outcomes."
"Healthcare today has become increasingly complex. New technologies, product and pricing strategies don't always align with the initiatives of healthcare reform or ultimately benefit the patient. Purchasing agents must evolve into 'procurement professionals,' in order to meet these challenges," Josh Silverberg, co-founder of SHOPP, said in a news release.
SHOPP plans to grow to more than 200 procurement professionals by 2021 and conduct quarterly webinars on topics that support its mission. It plans to hold an annual symposium in Las Vegas.
One of SHOPP’s overall goals is to transform purchasing agents into procurement professionals, Ari Stawis, whose consulting firm helped to form SHOPP, told Skilled Nursing News.
"One of the things that we are offering with SHOPP is actual certification," he told the publication. "That will be further along in the process, but we’ll be offering procurement professionals certification, based on our webinars and education."
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