From the Managing Editor’s Desk
You Will Only Reap What You Sow with Clinical Supply Utilization Management By Robert W. Yokl, Sr. VP, Operations — SVAH Solutions
“Future consequences are inevitably shaped by present actions.” This old proverb becomes a reality for healthcare supply chain organizations in that you must first plan, build, implement, and sustain a clinical supply utilization program before you can reap the major benefits of it. What exactly are the major benefits of clinical supply utilization management? They are an opportunity to attack your savings, beyond price and standardization (waste, inefficient use, value mismatches, overstandardization, and lifecycle shortfalls). Our studies over the past ten years have shown that could be an additional 7% to 15% of total supply chain budget; a new robust savings opportunity that is worth the effort to obtain in these challenging times for healthcare organizations.
How Can There Still Be 7% to 15% in Total Supply Budget Savings? Let’s face it, 94% of all healthcare organizations do not have any type of supply utilization program in place in today’s hyper-competitive supply chain world. Have they implemented and sustained dramatic savings in their price and standardization programs? Yes! Have they implemented robust value analysis programs to find the right products and vet new product requests? Yes! But neither of these addresses the in-use costs of products, services, and technologies once they are in the hands of their customers and how they consume/utilize these products. For example, you have the best price on an IV catheter or an endomechanical stapler, but you are using three catheters when you should be using one, or two staplers per case but your surgeons are using three or four. These are just simple examples of clinical supply utilization that occur, and you don’t even know this is happening.
Is Clinical Supply Utilization Management the Next Purchased Services Savings? Remember a few years back when purchased services started to become a major savings opportunity? These opportunities are in excess of 8% to 13% overall. You could ask the same exact question then as you can now for supply utilization: How could we have missed 8% to 13% in overall budget savings? Now, most hospitals and health systems throughout the country have purchased services savings pro-
Volume 9/Issue 1
Healthcare Value Analysis & Utilization Management Magazine
6
