Knowledge Center

Having a platform that allows for accurate data capture and analytics enables savings opportunities for health systems. By Jack Simmons, NVP commercial services, Cardinal Health and Wavemark Download Article

Custom Procedure Trays (CPTs) create efficiencies in hospital work flow and inventory management. By Joseph A. Jackson, managing director, Strategic Healthcare Services LLC    Download Article

Smart KPIs are absolutely essential in the health care supply chain because they provide hospitals with the data visibility that is necessary for guiding and achieving inventory optimization and cost savings goals and controlling supply spend; they are, in fact, the cornerstone of a competitive and more strategy-oriented supply chain.

Blockchain technology provides a promising future for health care by improving the transparency in products and processes while providing advanced security measures to protect patients and confidential data. Download Article

Implementing a Low Unit of Measure (LUM) program at your organization has many benefits beyond reducing inventory.  LUM can act as a catalyst in implementing other associated LEAN principles such as streamlining staff, processes and technology. All of which will increase efficiencies and reduce redundancy and waste in your supply chain. Download Article

Organizations rely on multiple strategies to reduce waste and control costs, while providing the best possible medical outcome for patients. Standardization, investment in new technologies and inventory management automation (Point-of-Use Systems) are a few strategies that organizations can use to realize cost savings and waste reduction. Download Article

As you implement new efficiencies into your supply chain system, use technology and collaboration solutions that support the five key aspects – data and data analysis, resiliency, transparency, uniformity, and adaptability. A process based on these qualities makes room for future innovation and evolves along with the industry.

In this short webcast, Tom Redding, managing director of healthcare services at St. Onge Company, describes a general approach to network supply chain assessment to identify areas for improvement. Project scope and data collection will be discussed, along with an example assessment of a health care system and the potential savings outcomes.  

In this AHRMM webcast, Karen Morlan, administrative director of supply chain operations at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), explains the process of PAR optimization to reduce supply chain and nursing staff time, how to maximize the value of a purchase order, and effective strategies to eliminate the need to stock pile. This webcast is also available as an AHRMM podcast.

Susan Morris, CMRP, FAHRMM, health care executive, Cerner Corporation, explains the different parts of the Unique Device Identifier (UDI) and which part should go into the Item Master.  This webcast walks through the three FDA-accredited issuing agencies that assign UDIs and explains what information is in the different barcodes and how to read them both electronically and by human sight.

Stewart Layhe, supply chain program manager at Denver Health, compares the benefits and downsides of perpetual and periodic automatic replenishment (PAR) system inventory methods.

Collecting and analyzing data has been a top priority for the healthcare supply chain in recent years. Health systems have been on a quest to find the right data. Data with the power to unveil some of the long-elusive mysteries behind supply usage and costs to help make smarter product and technology decisions, ultimately reducing cost and enhancing patient care

By: Carola Endicott Download Article

By: Richard Bagley Download Article  

Overview

This article is from the November/December 2016 issue of the AHRMM member-only magazine, Supply Chain Strategies & Solutions. In the healthcare field, products that are labeled with RFID tags help both the provider and supplier be more efficient and effective in managing inventory levels. In turn, this improved inventory management helps healthcare systems and suppliers have better, more accurate conversations about what products are being consumed at the bedside. Cook Medical is a sponsor of the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes (CQO) Movement.

This article is from the November/December 2016 issue of the AHRMM member-only magazine, Supply Chain Strategies & Solutions. As the hospital pharmacy landscape continues to become more and more complex, hospitals and health systems need to understand that better management of the medication supply chain will help balance ever-evolving fiscal challenges. Download Article

This article is from the November/December 2016 issue of the AHRMM member-only magazine, Supply Chain Strategies & Solutions. When supply chain analytics are enabled by the right data collection technology, they have the power to help hospital leaders better predict, trend and analyze product utilization information at every touch point throughout the enterprise. Download Article

Increasing federal regulation compliance costs and declining reimbursements have compressed hospital profitability. This is leading hospitals to turn to Supply Chain to reduce direct costs for supplies, devices, drugs, and purchased services. Traditionally Supply Chain has aggressively pursued these cost reductions through price reduction tactics. These techniques, however, are yielding diminishing savings returns.

This paper explores nine different methods of replenishing a hospital storage area and compares and contrasts the steps nursing must progress through to retrieve the supplies they need for their patients.