Knowledge Center

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.

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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

When I started in supply chain, the position that was presented afforded me the opportunity to utilize my clinical and business skills with the goal to maximize relationships that I had cultivated over the years as a critical care nurse and leader. Healthcare was going through a transformative change with the introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) and managed care impacting the way hospitals and ultimately physicians would be paid. The job description was for a clinical resource manager—a novel concept at the time.

HealthTrust recently created the Physician Advisors Program, which is narrowing the chasm between those who purchase products and those who use them. The program solicits physicians’ input on clinical evidence reviews in product categories that have a significant impact on patient care, specifically physician preference items (PPI). Download Article

This paper explores the application of the Baldrige Excellence Framework to the health care supply chain. Specifically, the paper will explore the reasons that the Baldrige Framework might be used to evaluate and improve supply chain systems and processes. An examination of the need of a systems perspective will be followed by a brief overview of the Baldrige program.

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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.

This Awareness Brief provides a quick reference to the Draft Guidance for UDI Convenience Kits, released by the FDA in January 2016. The draft guidance defines the term “convenience kit” for purposes of compliance with UDI labeling and data submission requirements only.

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.

Background: In many locations across the country, cold weather or desert climates create dry environmental conditions.  In order to achieve the higher levels of humidity required by regulatory agencies, hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers have to add humidity into the building air, an activity that is expensive and creates its own unique set of challenges.

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.

This white paper was written as a recap of the AHRMM15 Cost, Quality, and Outcomes (CQO) Summit, held in August of 2015. The paper, which is split into four parts, opens with a review of the CQO Movement and description of activities conducted since its inception in 2013.

This paper examines the journey that an organization travels to arrive at an outsource decision and the challenges that it should be alert to post contract. The Literature Review section provides a context for the recommendations offered in the case study illustration. The recommendations deliberately focus on providing proper governance and oversight during the operational phase after the contract has been awarded and is up and running.

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.  

Purchasing in healthcare is largely based on a hierarchical management style. In an experimental case started in 2004, at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, this standard was altered. The introduction of a team concept combined with lean manufacturing practices to this traditional purchasing setting was unique. The results of this radical change over the past eight years have been exceptional. The paper describes the steps taken to change the culture, the actions taken to implement lean tools, and the wins achieved by the team.

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.

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

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