The title of this article is one of my own catch phrases that I have used for many years as I have now entered my 33rd year in the Healthcare Value Analysis and Supply Chain space. With my level of experience, I could easily sit back and think that there is nothing more to learn or that I have the highest level of education through training, mentoring, real life experience in hospital environments, or even the school of hard knocks. But I know better and hope you will understand that there is not a fixed level of education in the Value Analysis world. Your Value Analysis experience should be a continuous journey where you master the functional approach and apply it to the products, services, capital, and processes in our healthcare world.
We All Start with What We Have Brought to the Table
Let’s face it — within the Healthcare Value Analysis world, we all enter with different levels of education, experience, and professional backgrounds. Some come from the clinical side, such as nursing; others come from supply chain, sales, or even more unconventional paths — like my own journey through accounting, sales, and IT. The great thing about Value Analysis is that all these skills can be applied in meaningful ways. At the same time, there are core competencies that every VA professional must learn, refine, and ultimately master. And while some abilities may not seem directly related at first, they can complement and strengthen your work in value analysis.
The Value Analysis Process – Get it Right!
You do not need to be a subject matter expert (SME) to be successful in Healthcare Value Analysis, but you do need to know the Value Analysis Process upstream and downstream. Don’t confuse things like your VA New Product Request Workflow or Evaluation Process with the true Value Analysis Process which is based on the Functional Analysis Approach. You could easily replace the words Value Analysis with Functional Analysis which is what Value Analysis truly is. Thus, you must master this Functional Analysis Process as you will be working on VA projects and leading and facilitating teams. Not being a subject matter expert, you will identify (ask questions) what the products’ primary, secondary, and add-on functions and features are. The VA Process should follow these steps: Understanding (basic data gathering & go/no-go decision), Investigative (understanding the product from the customer’s standpoint), Speculation (brainstorming for alternatives that meet functional requirements at an equal or lower cost reliably), Analytical (developing your options), and Planning and Execution.
It is Impossible to Know Every Product or Service in Healthcare Supply Chain
Being a 33-year veteran of the Healthcare Value Analysis world, I have a great understanding of a high percentage of all products and services purchased in our marketplace, but I would never consider myself an expert in any one of these product or service modalities. The end customers, stakeholders, and subject matter experts will always be your go-to knowledge base for any product or service evaluation – regardless of how comfortable you feel about a particular product or service. Take something like Pulse Oxisensors – I am not a nurse or respiratory therapist, but I have done well over 120 VA studies on this product category over the years, yet I still ask the end customers and stakeholders the necessary questions. Why? Because every organization is different, every configuration is different, and we live in the nuanced world of knowing this when we work through the Functional Value Analysis Process.
There is So Much that Can Be Added to Value Analysis to Make It Better
The good news about Value Analysis is that it doesn’t have to be the sole answer to every cost and quality improvement challenge within a health system. VA is powerful, but it also has limitations — for example, it often lacks the reporting tools needed to identify and prioritize optimization targets for VA teams. At SVAH Solutions, we address this gap through Cohort Benchmarking and Clinical Supply Utilization Management, which go beyond simple price comparisons to deliver verifiable savings opportunities VA teams can pursue. When you present a VA team or professional with a proven savings opportunity and pair it with the VA process to validate, refine, and implement optimized alternatives — or eliminate waste — you create an ideal combination. Seek out these perfect combinations to elevate and strengthen your VA Program.
The Bottom Line – VA is the Optimizing Tool for the Present and the Future
Most organizations underestimate their Value Analysis Program because they have pigeonholed it into new product evaluations, recall management, and contract conversions but fail to realize there is so much more that can be done. VA is a problem-solving system that uses function as the basis for all analysis which makes it ideal for your next level of challenges like further optimizing costs and quality. But remember, you must feed your team great initiatives to tackle or you will only get the same results you have always been getting. Grow your program, grow your teams, and grow your team members and you will experience exponential savings and quality improvement growth in the short and long terms.
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