Healthcare Matters

Most every time a supply chain management executive gets quoted, whether it’s to comment on an industry award or in response to some other form of recognition, we hear the same thing: something about how “current economic pressures underscore the need to drive cost savings and uncover new efficiencies.” And if it’s healthcare-related, “improving patient outcomes” is always tied to the statement, regardless of what’s being discussed.

• A hypothetical example: The Cleveland Clinic has just awarded “Supplier of the Year” to Ed’s Janitorial Supply. Ed graciously accepted the award and stated: “Our products and services will not only drive out unnecessary costs, but they will create new operational efficiencies and most importantly, improve patient outcomes.”

I don’t mean to be glib, but why haven’t we reached a point where simply having command of how we spend about half of our money is reason enough to invest in the tools of the supply chain trade? And when you consider that most of the leading SCM solution providers can quickly and credibly reference game-changing benefits for their customers who have stepped up and made the logical investments, well, you have the makings of some real head scratching. Although it’s well documented that healthcare’s adoption of these tools has lagged behind other industries, under what circumstances has it ever been acceptable to not know such fundamentals?

In fact, procurement and supply chain spending throughout the industry is up by more than 30% –that’s a good sign. Even better, Modern Healthcare just named BravoSolution, an industry leading spend analysis and strategic sourcing company, one of “Healthcare’s Hottest.” That’s right, BravoSolution –not one of the usual ERP suspects– has been named one of the fastest growing companies (fastest 40) serving the healthcare industry.

And here’s what Kristian O’Meara, vice president and healthcare practice lead at BravoSolution had to say about the recognition:

“The most successful healthcare companies have complete visibility into what they’re spending, who they’re spending it with and how those supplies map directly to patient outcomes. The system has fundamentally changed, and patient expectations are rising. Maintaining profitability, efficiency and patient service requires that healthcare organizations embrace and invest in the procurement and sourcing function.”

Well done Kristian! You broke the mold. In fact, the healthcare system continues to evolve which is why functionally comprehensive and highly tailored spend analysis and sourcing solutions such as those provided by BravoSolution are essential. You can’t manage what you can’t see. Period.

BravoSolution offers top sourcing and spend management solutions with healthcare-industry-specific functionality for complex categories of spend, including physician preference items (PPI), construction, pharmaceuticals and regional coalition centers. In addition to spend management solutions, the company is always a short-listed, best in breed supplier of sourcing solutions that leverage the powers of optimization. The company’s customers include some of the industry’s largest GPOs who are using Bravo-powered solutions to more competitively source and optimize their contract portfolios. GPOs are now using spend analytics in innovative ways that drive compliance and more quickly identify highly targeted opportunities for their respective members –so the benefits are, in fact, “trickling down.”

Congratulations to BravoSolution. It’s good to see a highly regarded, best-in-breed  SCM vendor move beyond “niche status” and get the kind of recognition generally reserved for the traditional guard.

—Tom Finn