"When contracting for physician preference items such as total joints, pacemakers, stents and other implants, it is wise to engage a group of physician stakeholders early on and involve them in the vendor selection process," said Rob Austin, director of supply chain at Provider Supply Chain Partners in Pittsburg, Pa.
He shared the following tip with Becker's.
"At our organization, we have physician panels for each of the major service line categories — total joints, spine, cardiology, etc. The members of these panels evaluate each potential vendor and "vote" to determine the award scenario. We have found that a limited choice model, with two or three on-contract vendors per category, drives the best combination of highest quality products and most competitive pricing. By having the clinicians discuss and ultimately own the decision around which vendors will be awarded the business, we ensure overall clinical buy in. This physician panel process also helps with enforcing contract compliance and enables our facilities to maintain extremely high levels of on-contract utilization. Another surprising outcome of this clinician-driven award decision process is that we now work together with suppliers more as partners than as adversaries since we consistently drive 90 percent or higher utilization for the contracted vendors."
If you would like to submit a supply chain tip, please email Mackenzie Bean at mbean@beckershealthcare.com.
More articles on supply chain:
FDA grants priority review status to ovarian drug, company shares skyrocket
Sen. Chuck Grassley to EpiPen maker: Why the 400% price hike?
FDA: Drug companies abuse citizen petitions to block generic competition