Category Archives: Procurement
Efficiency vs. Effectiveness: Are We Reaching a Tipping Point?
On my way back from Pittsburgh yesterday, where it actually snowed on Mother’s Day, I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Martyn, BravoSolution’s vp of supply chain strategy and a previous colleague of mine at CombineNet. Naturally, we quickly found ourselves discussing the current “state of the nation” in all matters concerning healthcare supply chain. Whether or not this is a sad commentary on the state of our relationship is a separate topic. Anyway, we actually landed in a few interesting and provocative places –and here’s an example: Raise your hand if your tired of an SCM strategy that [...]
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US Pharma Spending Declines for First Time in 60 years
Despite the fact that overall healthcare spending (direct and indirect costs, revenues), are at all time highs, U.S. spending on pharmaceuticals is reaching an all time low –if you are willing to count the last 60 years an adequate measuring stick. It’s simple: the market’s acceptance of widely used, inexpensive, generic substitutes has succeeded in driving the decline. And the generic manufacturing industries’ adept maneuvering –when a big drug hits its patent cliff— is darn near optimized. Not only do employers and insurers “get it,” but according to lots of related survey data, consumers understand the drill too. “The largest [...]
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GHX Announces Industry’s First Implantable Devices SCM Solution –First Looks at This Year’s Supply Chain Summit
GHX today announced the release of Case XpertSM and Order IntelligenceSM, two components of a solution that the company bills as the healthcare industry’s first end-to-end supply chain solution for managing and tracking implantable medical devices –including the physician preference items (PPI) used in the OR. Case Xpert and Order Intelligence are among the first in a series of GHX solutions designed to address the estimated $5 billion in revenue losses currently recorded every year by healthcare providers and manufacturers due to the lack of automation and process efficiency for these devices. Case Xpert captures and shares data from case [...]
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Procurement is a Team Sport –But Measuring Individual Performance is Still Key
Throughout the industry, procurement, sourcing and supply chain management software and services spending continues to grow at an astonishing rate — up by more than 30%. The profession(s) continues to advance by most every measure. And while executive “dashboards” of all types continue to proliferate and keep the C-Suite’s appetite for performance metrics fully satiated, has the procurement profession reached a point where it can be trusted to define those metrics and/or measure the value of its own performance? As procurement becomes increasingly responsible for non-traditional areas of spend, its organizational importance will continue to soar. But cost control is [...]
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A New IDN is Born: Allegheny Health Network Gains Regulatory Approval in Pennsylvania
What’s in a name? Highmark today announced the creation of Allegheny Health Network (AHN) as the region’s newest integrated delivery system. Having finally secured approval from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department on Highmark’s Form A filing, the hospitals and providers of West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS) will now serve as the anchor of the newly formed and already growing Allegheny Health Network. “Today marks a historic and exciting day for health care in our region. I’m pleased to announce Allegheny Health Network as our integrated health care delivery network,” said William Winkenwerder, Jr., M.D., Highmark’s president and CEO. “Allegheny Health [...]
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Branding Your Approach To Sourcing and Negotiations
Late last year I interviewed Jeff Ryan of BravoSolution, a veteran of our industry and a genuine expert in the application of optimization to sourcing. Briefly, Jeff made a point in our discussion (I’m paraphrasing) that “there was no room for reverse auctions in a collaborative approach to sourcing.” And while I agree with him, it’s important to note that Jeff wasn’t saying that reverse auctions are bad or have outlived their usefulness. The point is, they do have their place; just not in supplier markets where your ability to realize full value potential requires a partnership. But it’s even [...]
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Novation’s Aptitude Launches Today –One Approach to Solving the Local Contracting Problem
Roughly ten days ago, we reported on Novation’s formation of a new company, called Aptitude, that will offer hospitals and other providers an online platform to negotiate custom contracts for medical supplies and services. Aptitude will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Novation and its services will be available to all comers, not just existing members of its GPO network –surely an enlightened decision that directly addresses a well-known gap in terms of the current contracting solutions coverage provided by most GPOs.Indeed, I’ll soon be posting information about a alternative approach and solution that will be offered by MedAssets. [...]
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Novation Announces its “Period 2 National Group Buy” –Up to 71% Savings Opportunities on Capital Equipment
Late yesterday, Novation announced the launch of its group buys for the second period of 2013. These particular group buy opportunities are available April through June of 2013. What’s on the table? Novation is saying that its members can achieve up to 71 percent savings in the following categories of capital equipment: Beds and cribs C-ARM systems Chemistry/immunochemistry Cleaning and decontamination Coagulation Cold storage (ends May 31, 2013) CT scanners CV suites Exam room equipment General radiography Hematology Holter monitors Mammography Micro ID sensitivity MRI (and MRI compatible infusion pumps (ends June 15, 2013) Non-invasive cardiology equipment Nuclear medicine Patient [...]
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The GPO Business Model Continues to Evolve –SCM Applications Taking the Lead
Novation has formed a new company that will offer hospitals and other providers an online platform to negotiate custom contracts for medical supplies. The new company, called Aptitude, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary –and its services will be available to all comers, not just members of its GPO network. Such enlightened reasoning is becoming increasingly pervasive among the largest GPOs who are all starting to recognize that growth (in terms of market share) is difficult to achieve with an “all or nothing” mindset. According to an article that just appeared in Modern Healthcare yesterday, “Aptitude executives say the [...]
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MedAssets Partners with SAP/Ariba –The eCommerce Competitive Landscape Just Changed
MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDAS) today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Ariba (recently purchased by SAP) that significantly expands MedAssets’ industry-leading supply chain management and outsourced procurement capabilities. The goal of the partnership is to offer healthcare providers and suppliers the industry’s most comprehensive electronic commerce platform, including requisition to purchase order (PO) transmission, shipment notification, invoice transmission and reconciliation workflow automation, expense posting, supplier payment and early-pay discount solutions. More from the Press Release: Through this partnership, healthcare providers will be able to conduct fully automated e-commerce with the nearly one million companies connected to the Ariba® Network through [...]
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GHX Surpasses $3 Billion Savings Milestone –Just in Time to Celebrate at This Year’s Supply Chain Summit
GHX is back in the news, celebrating its recent achievement –eclipsing the $3 billion mark on a well-publicized savings goal of $5 billion. It’s known as its 5 in 5 program ($5 billion in cost elimination –not cost shifting– over 5 years) and the company has every reason to be proud of this latest milestone. GHX is a high profile advocate for supply chain collaboration and transparency. As the second largest and fastest growing expense for healthcare organizations, the supply chain is both a challenge and major opportunity for healthcare firms. That is why a large focus of the company’s [...]
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Breaking: Intermountain Settles Stark Statute and False Claims Case for $25.5 Million
Intermountain Health Care Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $25.5 million to settle claims that it violated the Stark Statute and the False Claims Act by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, the Justice Department announced today. Intermountain operates the largest health system in the state of Utah. The Stark Statute restricts the financial relationships that hospitals may have with doctors who refer patients to them. The relationships at issue in this matter that the United States alleged were prohibited by the Stark Statute included employment agreements under which the physicians received bonuses that improperly [...]
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Baylor Selects Prodigo Solutions’ eMarketplace
Baylor Health Care System announced today that it has selected Prodigo Solutions to be its e-commerce solution provider. Prodigo’s suite of e-commerce products is competitive with solutions provided by Ariba, BravoSolution, GHX, SciQuest, and the other usual suspects, but unlike most (with GHX being the obvious exception), it does have an exchange offering in the wings. ProdigoExchange competes directly with GHX. The company is banking on its acceptance to propel it to the next level –a level where Prodigo envisions its community of users fully aggregated from a demand perspective, competitively bidding that demand and frankly, operating not unlike a [...]
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GHXcellence Industry Awards Upcoming –Cast your Votes!
The practice of medicine and the politics of healthcare seem joined at the hip these days. Unfortunately, the continuous bickering feeds our collective fatigue with all that’s wrong with the industry. And what could be an easier target for the kind of cynicism I’m talking about than an awards ceremony? Why is it so true that we never seem to grow tired of lists that provide some kind of competitive ranking or for patting ourselves on the back for a job well done? It’s simple: because despite what George Clooney’s smug acceptance speech at last year’s Golden Globes reflected, human [...]
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ROI Exec talks about “Constructive Dissatisfaction”
For all the right reasons, e-procurement systems continue to gain traction in healthcare. Major providers have not only discovered the obvious benefits of providing an internal shopping experience, but they’re learning about the not-so-obvious ones. They’re learning that comprehensive source-to-settle solutions are an excellent way to drive product and contract compliance; that automating and controlling these processes is one of the best ways to turn identified opportunities into realized savings. Healthcare Matters would like to thank Matthew Mantel of Resource Optimization & Innovation (ROi) for the following guest post. ROI is widely considered one of the more advanced and integrated [...]
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Fixing Contracting Process –#1 HIDA Recommendation for Healthcare SCM
The HIDA Educational Foundation today released 15 key recommendations to help supply chain leaders anticipate and respond to trends including declining reimbursements, market consolidation, and healthcare reform. Top recommendations included improving contracting processes to reduce complexity and unproductive costs, linking products to outcomes, and championing data standards. The recommendations resulted from a year-long collaboration between the HIDA Educational Foundation, an affiliate of the Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA), and McKinsey & Company. The top recommendation, “fix the contracting process,” reflects growing awareness of the unnecessary costs that inefficient and unproductive contracting practices add to all levels of the supply chain. [...]
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- Healthcare in the Cloud: Forecast Still Hazy : HIMSS 2013: Top Takeaways Gathering Clouds said: [...] to David McCament’s mind, the future of healthcare cloud is not so clear. In a gue... more
- Time Definite Logistics –MNX Expands Global Network and Adds Track & Trace : Daniel said: Everything is very open with a precise description of the issues. It was definitely inform... more
- Varian Runs a “Clinic” in Effective Lobbying –Harry Reid Rides Shotgun : Thomas Finn said: Thanks for your comment Bo. I do not fully comprehend the differences between the two opti... more
- Varian Runs a “Clinic” in Effective Lobbying –Harry Reid Rides Shotgun : Barton 'Bo' Cooke said: Tom, you nailed it. This rider, put in at the last minute and was rushed into the Congres... more
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