There are times when we might think that we have cut all of the unnecessary and unwanted costs imaginable in a particular product line (e.g., pacemakers, oxisensors, orthopedics, wound care, etc.) and that our job is done as a healthcare value analysis practitioner. Nothing could be further from the truth!
In fact, hospital value analysis is a never-ending job since, over time, things change, circumstances change, technology changes, and people change. So, there is always more to save, manage, control, and value justify. We call this never-ending best practice “cyclical vigilance”, meaning there is always an opportunity to lower your costs or reinvent what you have been doing on a recurring basis within the same commodity groups.
A good example of “cyclical vigilance” is cardiac stents. When bare-metal stents first came on the market, our job as healthcare value analysis practitioners was to manage price. A few years later, drug-eluding stents appeared, and it was our job to manage variation in practices. Now absorbable stents are available which also require value justification. Do you see how our job is never-ending?
For less exotic products, services, and technologies, it is also important for hospital value analysis practitioners to schedule annual reviews of their top 100 products by dollar volume, since our studies show that at least 17% of these commodities will have new savings opportunities each and every year.
The truth is that there will never be a day when hospital value analysis practitioners can just sit back, relax, and believe their job is done. There is always more to be saved, managed, controlled, and value justified. This is what makes healthcare value analysis so dynamic, exciting, and challenging, since it is never-ending yet rewarding for those who consider themselves value analysis professionals.
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