Bon Secours Mercy Health, a recently merged 48-hospital system based in Cincinnati, was able to drive $2.1 million in savings in its supply chain in one week, the health system announced in July.
The savings emerged after a weeklong clinical standardization summit that reduced supply spending and worked on implementing quality and safety improvements across the system.
The in-person summit brought together otherwise disparate regional clinical leaders, infection prevention specialist and supply chain experts to conduct product sampling and discuss clinical standardization processes.
The meeting looked at standardization in 12 product categories. Overall, the organization reduced SKU count by 44 percent and lowered the number of manufacturers from 250 to 48.
"We put these groups together to look at policies and protocols so we can fine-tune them," said Amy Whitaker, RN, BSN, vice president of supply chain clinical integration at Bon Secours Mercy Health."By taking the best of the best between the two groups, the outcome is far superior to what we've had independently, which only further strengthens our desire to improve care and outcomes."
The standardization allowed the health system to cut expenses immediately.