In a world of narrowing margins and reimbursements, the supply chain is a proven target for reducing waste and saving money. Supply chain professionals work diligently to improve not only the price of products, but also seek innovative new ways to identify and reduce supply chain waste, such as product standardization and inventory management automation.
But one of the most productive strategies can often be overlooked: collaborating with the clinicians who use the products every day. Clinicians who participate in product evaluation from the very beginning add an important voice that can help reduce waste while meeting cost and quality objectives.
Why a “clinically integrated supply chain” is essential
A clinically integrated supply chain is the collaboration of supply chain professionals, clinicians and senior leadership to make more informed product choices that support quality outcomes while reducing waste and lowering costs.
Two primary objectives of clinical integration are standardizing products and reducing product variation. By engaging clinicians, especially in standardization efforts, a hospital can create a formulary that not only lowers costs, but also meets clinical needs.
For example, the hospital might stock multiple types of procedure masks or sutures. Working with clinicians to select a single type for each product can yield multiple benefits. For starters, there’s an overall reduction of inventory on hand, which reduces holding costs and requires less storage space. By purchasing larger quantities of fewer individual products, you also have additional leverage in contract negotiations and can achieve better pricing.
In addition to the cost benefits, there’s less time required to manage suppliers and products. Ordering similar products from more than one supplier adds unnecessary hard and soft costs. But standardization can reduce the number of supplier relationships, purchase orders and other paperwork, as well as shortening the time to stock products.
Perhaps more importantly, reduced product variation can also lead to standardization of clinical processes, which can improve efficiency as clinicians learn how to use the same products across the hospital or health system. In contrast, an excess of product variation can result in the clinical variation that decreases productivity.
Improving clinician satisfaction
Creating a clinically integrated supply chain redirects clinician time and attention to where it can have the greatest benefit: making standardization decisions, not dealing with supply chain issues. Inventory responsibility should be with supply chain professionals—not clinicians, who become frustrated when they need to take time away from patient care to count or look for supplies.
In a recent Cardinal Health survey, 83% of respondents said they still count products manually, vs. using an automated inventory management solution. The added workload that takes time away from patient care contributes to staff burnout. In the same survey, we also asked OR clinicians to name the most stressful part of their jobs. The top answer was too much paperwork, followed by too little time for patients.
Staff dissatisfaction can contribute to higher turnover, which is a growing challenge across healthcare today. According to the 2017 HIDA Acute Market Report, the turnover rate over the next five years could double to 68.7% for physicians and 62.7% for nurses.
Three steps to create a clinically integrated supply chain
Use these best practices to create an environment of collaboration among supply chain professionals, clinicians and senior leadership:
- Commit to culture change: The first step is to invite everyone to table, with the mutual goal of delivering quality care more efficiently and at a lower cost. Senior leadership can set the example, supporting and helping to facilitate the transition.
- Use data analytics to support decision making: The key to improving engagement and compliance is to present clinicians with evidence-based data. The integration and analysis of supply chain and clinical data can yield more informed decisions to standardize products and reduce supply variation. By reviewing performance data on an ongoing basis, clinicians can also help monitor their own contract compliance and make adjustments that may lower costs ever more.
- Educate clinicians: Drive the need for formulary compliance over physician preference. Clinicians don’t often know the costs of the supplies they use. Once informed, they’ll be more inclined to actively participate in value-based purchasing decisions.
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