“Sometimes we get so caught up in the hospital value analysis/supply chain world that we overlook our best practices and processes that will make our initiatives successful.”
There are endless best practices that can be applied to value analysis. Many of us have our own list that we keep, but I am lucky enough to sit in on many hospital value analysis meetings as well as be part of major supply chain and value analysis initiatives around the country. For me, success with a supply chain and/or value analysis initiative comes down to following a few best practices. I have outlined my best practices that I believe you should use every time you have a supply/value initiative. They will make you successful every time.
3 Best Practices for Hospital Value Analysis
1. Take a Step Back and Plan for Success – I have written many articles that talk about how the first hour you spend on an initiative/project should be to step back and plan out all of your actions from start to finish. Use a step-by-step process such as our 6-Step VA Funneling Process to be able to plan out the initiative. Remember, the plan is the shortcut!
- Understanding – Gather the pertinent information, evidence, benchmarks, experts, and stakeholders.
- Investigative – Define the functions that clinical staff require to meet their needs.
- Speculation – Develop alternatives to what you are doing now. Remember, if you are truly performing value analysis you should have at least three options to choose from in products and services. Yes, one can be what you are currently using.
- Analytical – This is where you do the math, based on the alternatives you have chosen in the Speculation Phase, on what option is the best value (not best price) for your customers. In some cases, your best value product, service, or technology could be a higher price, but it meets your customers’ requirements exactly.
- Planning – Once an option is chosen to move forward with, perform a pilot evaluation/study to make sure all is functionally working as planned.
- Execution – Time to implement, train, and build follow-up elements.
2. Make Sure the Numbers are Provable Before You Move Ahead – I cannot tell you how many times major initiatives are started up system-wide at health systems in order to save money on IV sets, gloves, or some other high-cost spend category. I am not a fan of broad strokes, and putting your entire health system through a major value analysis or cost initiative just because you spend a lot in a particular category is crazy. I would suggest that you instead spend this time benchmarking where you are at as a system. Next, benchmark hospitals in your system as you will probably find that many might be right where they should be and thus you don’t need to involve them in your initiative after all. Plus, you could learn some things from the best hospitals in your health system that you could translate into aiding your hospitals that are not performing as well in a particular area.
Remember, you still have to prove to all of your department heads and managers who need to fully engage as experts and stakeholders that the juice is worth the squeeze. How much cooperation are you going to get when they don’t feel that the initiative is proven to them and that the dollars and thus the effort is real?
3. Ensure that You are Actually Performing Value Analysis – It’s easy to jump to root-cause thinking too fast in a supply/value analysis initiative. Meaning, you start working through your review and find fast savings in something like price and then don’t perform value analysis like you had planned. Yes, you may have found savings, but how much more have you left on the table because you did not perform value analysis and instead just price shopped on a contract? It is too easy to jump to conclusions about any initiative, so it is best to make sure you completely perform your full value analysis functional review in order to completely wring the towel dry on savings and quality improvements. Otherwise, you may have to revisit these initiatives sooner than you think.
Speed Up Your VA Process and Achieve Better Results
We all need a little mentoring and coaching along the way. Sometimes we get so caught up in the supply chain/value analysis world that we overlook our best practices and processes that will make our initiatives successful. As you can tell, the best practices we have listed above are more common sense than anything, but if you follow these you will be successful in terms of speeding up your initiatives and getting bigger and better savings and quality results. Deploy these today and you will see how fast they make your process better and quicker with enhanced results.
Below are some similar articles that you may find interesting.
Clinical Supply Utilization Management & Value Analysis Together are an Unstoppable Combination
Healthcare Supply Chain Cost & Quality Mastery: The Four Major Pillars