It’s been said that there is an almost universal quest for easy answers to almost any challenge we face, but the truth is that anything worthwhile requires diligence, perseverance, and hard work. It’s the formula for success! It’s the same with a quest for new hospital supply chain savings; it’s difficult and never-ending! Once you have saved money on one commodity group, it’s time to save even more elsewhere. Like I said, it’s a never-ending journey!
That’s why supply chain professionals can’t sit on past successes and believe there are no more supply chain savings to be had. Your healthcare organization needs every dollar that can be cut out of expenses to keep afloat in these turbulent times.
New Hospital Supply Chain Savings Opportunities
We know this to be true, since for over 34 years we have continually uncovered new ways to save money for our clients. This is because things change, products change, and people change; therefore, there are always new savings opportunities that surface. You can bet on this!
Twenty-three years ago, we discovered that utilization management was a new and better way to save money. We developed a new software product to track, trend, and control our clients’ reprocessed products to enable them to have a better savings yield on these items. And for years we have been preaching that there is a gold mine in purchased services.
I could go on, but I’m sure you get my point. There are always more savings to be uncovered for your hospital, system, or IDN. Yet, it won’t happen unless you are willing to do the hard work that is necessary to ferret out these savings.
For starters, don’t discount any savings ideas that come your way from your sales reps, your peers, or the marketplace. Investigate all savings ideas before you decide what won’t work for you. Invest in big data software so you can have unlimited visibility over your hospital supply chain expenses. That’s how we uncover most of our new savings opportunities for our clients.
Finally, become a better sales person (e.g., read a few sales books) in order to get your savings ideas accepted by your bosses and peers, since many good savings ideas die every day because supply chain professionals can’t get their ideas bought into.
Look Beyond Price
The quest for savings is a difficult and never-ending journey. It is a philosophy that starts with you deciding that there are always more savings in your healthcare organization to be uncovered. All you need to do is look beyond price and it will appear before your eyes like magic.
It will become much easier to find savings once you adopt this philosophy, since you will become like a hound dog and sniff out savings that no one else believed possible. It will become second nature when you realize that anyone can find more savings once they make a commitment to do so. It’s all about mindset and hard work!
Articles you may like:
Competitive Intelligence: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Your Healthcare Supply Chain
How to Prevent and/or Eliminate Waste and Inefficiency with Healthcare Value Analysis
Listen to the Data if You Want to Lead and Innovate in Your Hospital Supply Chain Business