Posted by Colleen Terry on Wed, Mar 24, 2010 @ 07:51 AM
The bill has been signed, yet the country is divided on the methods, outcome, and success of bringing affordable healthcare to all. So, what do providers and suppliers think? How will the reform affect their bottom line?
While the landmark legislation promises to bring healthcare to some 32 million currently uninsured, the heated question remains how much this benefit will cost the individual consumer and industry --notably pharmaceutical and medical suppliers. For providers, the reform potentially means more customers with the resources to pay for services rendered and supplies used. With reimbursements a troubling concern for many hospitals, the reform may alleviate some of the financial pressures for hospitals administering care to the uninsured. Yet, how much will caring for this influx of newly insured cost the provider? A potentially dramatic increase in customers requires more clinicians, more space, and more supplies. What are hospital administrators saying? How will clinicians be affected by the reform?
Meanwhile, healthcare suppliers have been quite vocal in their concerns, as it appears they may bear the brunt of the cost through increased taxes on drugs and devices. The supplier fear and concern is that this legislation may very well stifle innovation --as the imposed tax is likely to have devastating affects on smaller drug manufacturers and medical device suppliers--and potentially threaten patient safety and care. Do the suppliers see any good in this reform?
There is still so much to learn and understand about the impending legislation that most lay people are taking a wait and see attitude. Want to weigh in on the discussion? Share your views here.
Posted by Colleen Terry on Wed, Mar 17, 2010 @ 10:02 AM
While some may prefer a pot of gold, most of us would rather a bank of knowledge to help in choosing a healthcare IT vendor. A thorough review, evaluation and understanding of the healthcare technology offering can save thousands of dollars, improve clinical workflow and prevent lots of headaches down the road.
KLAS, an organization dedicated to helping healthcare providers make informed technology decisions by reporting accurate, honest, and impartial vendor performance, provides this information to providers, at no cost. While KLAS offers a convenient service to providers at the right price, their scope is limited by the breadth of their researchers and depth of provider participants.
Combine what you learn from KLAS, peers, and your own evaluation to make a smart decision by considering these important vendor qualities:
- Vendor reliability, trustworthiness and follow through-talk to peers, search the web and read reviews on vendor performance to ensure you are partnering with a responsive, professional and progressive organization.
- Product/Service/Solution features and functionality-read product reviews, visit showcase sites, view product demonstration webinars, or get a trial version to fully understand the feature set and how it will be implemented and used in your specific setting.
- Training- a top notch vendor will offer initial training, whether on-site, via phone or as a digital training session. Find out what will be covered and if it can be customized to your situation.
- Systems integration-be sure to understand how the new solution integrates with your existing systems to maximum your financial benefit and improve workflow.
- Post sales support-- in the form of on-going training, technical assistance and product maintenance. In some cases, your purchase may include both hardware and software, and understanding the upgrade path, maintenance plan, and technical assistance for each is critical.
To read vendor reviews currently available in KLAS, click here.
To add a vendor to KLAS and provide feedback, click here.
To learn more about how peers can assist in choosing a vendor, read this article.
Posted by Colleen Terry on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 @ 03:02 AM
IDN Summit just released the leading submissions of this year's Search for Supply Chain Excellence in Healthcare Awards. This elite award recognizes the leading healthcare systems in the US who are advancing patient care with cutting edge initiatives as judged by their healthcare peers. This award provides a substantive example of the powerful affect an optimized healthcare supply chain can have on cost containment and patient care.
While each of this year's 5 finalists focused on Strategic Sourcing, the range within was quite varied, including internalizing the supply chain, developing an e-sourcing auction, strategic partnership with a supplier, and more. The commonalities in the success of each of the winners is summarized:
- Clearly defined goals and objectives; a very specific problem area was identified, analyzed and then optimized.
- Firm buy-in from executive management and all parties across departments to be affected.
- Actively engage the Clinical stakeholders in the process; clinical support and feedback are paramount to ensuring success of the project which ultimately impacts the patients.
- Cooperatively work with suppliers, manufacturers and vendors to ensure best product, pricing and placement.
- Clinical process improvements and workflow optimization are direct outcomes of the above.
While these submissions only represent a small fraction of the opportunities and innovations for improvement, they demonstrate that significant cost savings and quality improvement opportunities abound in the supply chain arena. Why not take a look at your supply chain and choose a specific area of focus?
To help in deciding, read how this hospital achieved cost containment, patient safety and regulatory compliance, with the automation of product usage tracking and hospital systems integration through optimized inventory management and control.
Read each of the finalist submissions here.