The winds of change are upon us (e.g., value-based purchasing, bundled payments, Medicare/Medicaid managed care, third-party mandates, price pressures and procedure limits, etc.) that will alter the face of healthcare as we know it over the next few years. This isn’t theory, but irrefutable facts!
What Do All These Challenges Have in Common?
Healthcare organizations need to dig deeper and broader to save even more money than ever before just to survive the relentless pressures on their bottom lines. Unfortunately, price savings alone (if any will be left at all in a few years) won’t be enough to adequately contribute to your healthcare organization’s bottom line.
This means that healthcare supply chain managers need to uncover new savings sources to continue their supply chain savings efforts. One of the best new sources for savings that we champion is supply utilization management, since for every dollar saved in price there are $7.00 in utilization savings that go untouched at most healthcare organizations. If you don’t believe us, just ask your clinical staff about wasteful practices at your own healthcare organization. You will be shocked!
Supply Chain Managers Need to Protect Their Future
It goes without saying that a big part of a supply chain manager’s job is to save money for their healthcare organization. Subsequently, price, standardization, and inventory savings are disappearing, so supply chain managers now need to protect their future by investing the time, talent, and technology to uncover and then eliminate utilization misalignments (i.e., wasteful and inefficient consumption, misuse, misapplication, and value mismatches) in their supply streams. In our opinion, there is nowhere else to go for double-digit savings!