4 Tips to Take Greater Control of Your Supply Chain

What can you do today to advance the performance of your hospital or health system’s supply chain?

No matter what happens next in healthcare, there are several steps you can take right now to lower supply chain costs and improve efficiencies, while supporting patient safety, outcomes and satisfaction. It’s time to take greater control of your supply chain, and here are four ways to start:

 

  • Reduce costs via logical unit-of-measure (LUM) purchasing:  When you distribute products just in time (JIT) based on the logical (low) unit-of-measure possible, you’ll reduce costs and waste, while avoiding stockouts. At the same time, you’ll free up storage space and reduce the number of touches in the supply chain. It’s all possible because you’ll process, handle, store and pay only for the supplies you need, when you need them. By reducing non-value-added time and cost, you’ll improve operating margins and reduce your inventory spend by an average of 30% or more. Plus, you’ll free up more staff time to focus on other tasks, such as supporting patient safety and quality outcome initiatives.

 

  • Improve OR efficiency with surgical packs: What can you do to help OR clinicians focus less on products, have more time for patient care and improve throughput? One established strategy is consolidating supplies into case-specific procedure packs. To standardize your pack program, begin with data analytics to determine how to standardize pack contents. Be sure to include as many preference card items as possible, to avoid taking the time to pick multiple single-sterile items. In addition to standardizing individual packs, you can also standardize pack utilization across your hospital or health system. By using the same clinical practices everywhere, you’ll improve efficiency even more.

 

  • Increase visibility via data analytics: You can’t manage what you can’t see. By improving inventory visibility from the manufacturer to the point of use, you’ll take greater control over your total spend. Accurate real-time data that reveals actual utilization will help you make more informed purchasing and inventory management decisions that will optimize supply spend, reduce waste and supports patient safety. Imagine having that level of clarity to help support more effective patient care at the lowest operational cost. Data analytics make it possible.

 

  • Reveal new savings with freight management: Data analytics can also uncover savings opportunities in an often-overlooked area: shipping expenses. But there’s more to professional freight management than negotiating discounted rates from carriers. This is about using advanced analytics to maximize supplier participation, accelerate efficiency and above all—ensure that every shipping mode is included in your program: inbound freight, outbound freight, large shipments over 150 pounds and same-day courier services. 

 

By employing these four strategies, you’ll further showcase the supply chain’s role in meeting the strategic goals of your hospital or health system. From improving efficiencies to saving money— supporting patient safety and quality outcomes —materials managers have a key role in driving the future of healthcare. Take these steps today—and take greater control of that future.

 

To optimize your supply chain, explore these resources, insights and services.



Based on internal ValueLink ®Services customer data, 2014

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