“The goal of this article is to give you ideas on how you can make positive changes that will increase your new product request performance.”
Just about every hospital and health system is operating a value analysis team(s) in order to evaluate new product requests on an ongoing basis. Most staff have dedicated themselves to facilitating this process and are constantly churning through these requests. These could be anywhere from 5, 10, or even 40+ a month which is a big workflow funnel that must “dot a lot of i’s and cross a lot of t’s” to get everything right, let alone perform the evaluation to the best of their ability. My point is that this VA workflow is in constant motion and sometimes it is difficult to slow this down or even stop it for a minute to evaluate the workflow itself and try to make it more efficient and faster for all involved.
The goal of this article is to give you a few ideas on how you can make some positive changes that will increase your value analysis NPR performance, all while lessening the workflow for all yet increasing the turnaround for your NPRs.
Take a Step Back and Plug the Holes Where You Lack Education – All new product requests are important, as a department head, manager, or clinician has taken the time to fill out your online/paper form to ask for these new products and/or services. They are part of your team, they are not outsiders, and they do this with the intent of getting these approved in the fastest and most efficient way that they know how. We must keep in mind that most of these requests come from those who may not have a high level of experience in dealing with the new product request value analysis process. The big question is, are you educating your department heads, managers, and clinicians in the latest requirements of your VA NPR workflow. If not, why not? It’s time to develop training for this very important area of your VA program.
GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out – This is an old IT saying that means that the level of good data you put into a database/reporting application is in direct correlation to the level of your outcome. New product requests are no different. If you just fill out the forms and don’t include the important tangible benefits, you are going to just have so-so results. I don’t know about you, but we want outstanding evaluations for our NPRs. Keep in mind that a high percentage of these new product requests represent the next wave of procedures and their associated revenues. We must do better, otherwise we could miss something that could cost us revenue, savings, or quality of patient care.
What data elements are we always missing or needing to track down after the fact that we could just ask for up front? What do our end customers feel is slowing down their new product requests and how can we meet in the middle to make it easier for them yet get better data moving forward? Keep asking these types of questions!
Don’t Forget the Sales Reps – Where do you think most of our new product requesters are getting all their information to fill out the online/paper new product request forms? From sales reps. Don’t keep them at arm’s length but instead, bring them into the fold and start educating them on your health system’s unique value analysis process. Don’t forget to give them sample forms and checklists that will ensure that they always give all the detailed information to the new product requesters up front. Plus, they will now know that if they miss a key piece of information then the new product requests (their sale) will not be moving forward until the required information is provided. I recommend quarterly sales rep training or making some form of on-demand video training available to the reps. Sales reps change often, so you must ensure that they are not slowing down your VA workflow.
Stop with the 100% New Product Request Compliance – Some hospitals and health systems think that they have to put everything through their VA NPR system when that is not the case. We need to stop thinking that 100% of the NPRs must go through the same VA process. For example, I recently saw a new orthopedic softgood boot put through a VA request process when it was just a simple substitution as the incumbent was being discontinued. The VA team leader handled it brilliantly; they approved it and let the requester know that they did not have to fill out an NPR in the future for something like this.
There are rules you should keep in mind. If there is any revenue associated with the product or service, then of course it should go through the NPR process. If the cost is over a certain threshold, like $20K annually or more, it should go through the VA evaluations. But if it is just a simple substitution, then just do a mini-VA evaluation if need be and approve or disapprove it and move on. Don’t put the end requesters through the ringer for something that is inconsequential.
Every week, month, and year our value analysis systems are getting better and better, but we must always be vigilant about them and not stop at just getting the job done but instead look to always improve on a continuing basis. The key to advancing your VA NPR evaluations to new levels is taking the time to plan out how you can enhance what you are doing all while making it easier for everyone involved. Take a step back and start looking at the future of your VA NPRs.
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