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The Purpose of this white paper is to prepare Supply Chain professionals to better understand how to support navigating some of the risks and opportunities inherent in participating in the 340B Drug Discount Program.

Medical device manufacturers have been working hard to comply with the new Unique Device Identification (UDI) regulations from the FDA that are aimed at bolstering the safety of medical devices. The UDI system, which the agency says will be phased in over several years, is intended to improve patient safety, modernize device post-market surveillance, and facilitate medical device innovation. The FDA program leverages human and machine-readable UDI labeling for identifying medical devices, and device labelers must submit information about each device to the FDA’s Global UDI Database.

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Healthcare reform is driving unprecedented changes in the management, funding and delivery of care as hospitals develop and implement strategies to achieve higher quality care at lower cost. The problem many hospitals face involves the gaps in data between costly supplies, and how they are managed in the item master and chargemaster. Having links and systems in place to audit and validate the item to charge accuracy is crucial. Without this foundation, providers lose the ability to trust their physician quality outcome assessments and episodic care analytics.

The evolution of our healthcare system from a volume-based to a value-based model is driving provider organizations to adopt patient-centric, outcomes-based success metrics for operational processes in both acute and non-acute settings. Download Article

This Awareness Brief provides a high level summary understanding of value based purchasing. The Hospital Value Based Purchasing (VBP) Program adjusts hospitals’ payments based on their performance in four domains that reflect hospital cost, quality and outcomes. This calendar year, 2016, is the Performance Measurement Period for the FY 2018 VBP Program.

Executive Summary Today’s healthcare environment is rapidly changing. Hospitals and healthcare systems are being bombarded by myriad challenges, including the fluctuating economy, cuts in Medicare reimbursements, and new procedural, financial, and reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). All of these factors are pressuring healthcare organizations to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes without sacrificing the quality of care.

Jim Smoker, CMRP, MPA, CS, York, Pennsylvania

Incorporating the targets for transformation set by the leader of our organization including unjustified variation, fragmentation of care-giving, perverse payment incentives, and the patient as a passive receipt of care, Supply Chain has developed a strategic model and plan that transforms our thinking from a focus on “chains” to a focus on “flow” and from “Supply Chain Services” to “Care Support Services.”

This paper provides a case-study on what Banner has done to implement and continuously improve this initiative. Three key components to successful supply utilization savings are reviewed.

Increasingly, the hospital and health care delivery system executives are viewing the supply chain as a strategic asset that can be leveraged to meet operational, clinical, and financial performance imperatives. This has not always been the case. For years, the supply chain was seen as little more than a necessary but ancillary function – to buy and deliver products as needed – with the primary supply chain improvement strategy focused on buying those products at the lowest price possible.

This is an on-going operational excellence initiative and our results have certainly validated our approach and produced an immediate beneficial impact. The methodology we have implemented truly drives improvements and bottom-line results. We are very proud that the Executive Leadership at our organization has promoted the use of Purchasing’s approach in assessing and managing other areas of the organization.

The surgical instrument management software (SIM) implementation began in October of 2003 and a Lean initiative to redesign processes began in October 2005. Implementation of all the initial recommendations was not complete until June of 2006.

On August 8, 2011, the Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management hosted an Executive Thought Leader Event, sponsored by VHA. Held during the AHRMM11 Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, 26 seasoned healthcare supply chain executives discussed a broad range of strategic issues and challenges confronting supply chain executives today.

This paper will present health care procurement strategies of four countries - the United States, Botswana, the United Kingdom, and China - as a means to evaluate volume aggregation under different health care delivery models.  

Dale L. Locklair, FAHRMM, CMRP Vice President of Procurement and Construction McLeod Health Florence, SC