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September 8, 2008
When University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (UHSEC) decided in 2006 to revamp how it handles purchasing and contracts, its goal was to squeeze $15 million in savings out of its supply chain by 2012. Preston Comeaux, vice president of financial support services and supply chain management, knew the savings were there. He'd created an in-house team of five managers who were new to these particular organizational roles but were experts in supply chain matters. So far, so good. Now it was time to look for some outside help.
June 10, 2008
In his timeless and ultrapopular self-improvement book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey likens the principle of effectiveness to Aesop’s fable about the goose that laid the golden eggs. As we all know, the story concerns a farmer whose goose begins laying one golden egg each day. The eggs provide the farmer with unimaginable wealth, but his greed becomes insatiable. Seeking instant gratification, he kills his goose so as to have all the golden eggs at once. After opening the goose and finding none, the farmer realizes that has destroyed the very source of his prosperity.
June 2, 2008
An exam-room glove may seem like a simple commodity—the kind of thing that’s safe to buy based on price alone—to someone who doesn’t have to use them every day. But it’s not always about price, says Robert Beyer, vice president of supply chain management for Hospital Sisters Health System in Springfield, IL., which owns and operates 13 hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin. "If you buy the wrong gloves, you might have a utilization problem because people use up too many, as opposed to using the right glove that’s been through a clinical selection process," he says.
March 4, 2008
No one will dispute that reducing hospital supply costs-as long as the quality of the supplies stays the same-is a good thing. Any gains drop straight to the bottom line. But switching group purchasing organizations to get better prices may seem daunting: disrupting relationships between hospital personnel and vendors, introducing alternative products, trying to get physicians and employees to accept change.
November 1, 2007
Providers find rock-solid solutions to their staffing, revenue cycle management, and IT challenges. For some, the term "outsourcing" conjures up images of a pink slip waiting on their desk on a Friday morning. For others, it is a fountain of relief in the midst of a dry spell that is the qualified labor market. One thing we can all agree upon is that outsourcing is a critical component of the healthcare delivery system, supplying personnel, technology resources, and operational best practices to major hospital or health system departments, including information technology (IT), finance, and human resources. And its popularity in healthcare-though effected by industry ebbs and flows-will only increase over time as providers look to create operational efficiencies and focus on their core mission of quality healthcare delivery.
