Knowledge Center

A detailed example of a new Master of Health Administration (MHA) program with a medical logistics concentration.

As health care organizations look for ways to meaningfully impact cost, quality and outcomes, they are expanding the care delivery continuum and increasingly transitioning services out of the hospital and into non-acute settings. Today, 95 percent of patient visits take place in non-acute care facilities, from the physician’s office to patients’ homes. This volume is likely to grow as health systems turn to new models designed to impact the health of target patient populations.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.