Do You Have a Reliable Saving Ideas Pipeline?

I know that most value analysis teams get off to a flying start with a lot of good ideas to save money, and then they “hit a wall” after a few months because they don’t have a pipeline of new saving ideas to fall back on to fuel their savings fire.  To help you avoid this savings stumbling block to your VA program, here’s a pipeline of savings ideas from my new book, “The Healthcare Value Analysis Bible: Your Ultimate Saving Resource*” which is scheduled for publication in April 2010. 

Large Dollar Expenditures - Products, Services or Technologies with an annual value of $25,000 or more.

Vendor Recommendations – Review brochures, catalogs, samples from vendors to cull new savings ideas.

Magazine Articles On Savings Opportunities - Call article authors to find out exactly how they did it.  They will be happy to help you out without a fee.

New or Changes in Regulations - Most new or proposed changes in regulations costs can be reduced through Value Analysis.

New Clinical and Administrative Employees – Interview new employees for savings ideas they have been exposed to at other healthcare organizations.

Benchmarking – What are other healthcare organizations doing to save money?

Any Disposable Product – Can you return to a reusable product?

Any Type of Custom Kit or Tray – Contents of kits and trays should be fully investigated for their value!

New Technology – In addition to the cost of the new technology there is always add-on cost of labor and supplies that must be value justified.

High Utilization – Any Product, Service or Technology that has a high utilization cost is a candidate for study.

Product Recalls – Value Analysis Team(s) should be empowered to investigate why the product was recalled and the corrective action required to bring into conformity.

Bundled Products – Products like IV Starter Kits, Admission Kits, etc., need to be value justified.

Old Technology – Old technologies tend to be wasteful and costly and should be evaluated for appropriateness.

If you have any additional savings pipeline ideas, I would love to hear from you (bobpres@strategicva.com), since there is still time for me to add them to my new book. Naturally, if your idea is used in the book I would give you attribution for your idea.  I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

___________

* “The Healthcare Value Analysis Bible: The Ultimate Savings Resource” will retail for $29.95, plus $5.98 for shipping and handling (pricing subject to change in the future).  If you would like to pre-order this A-Z blueprint for establishing, refining or re-energized your supply value analysis program we are now offering a 10% discount on the retail price of the book, if you pre-order by February 26, 2010.  You can e-mail your order (with your name, title, organization, phone number, e-mail address, and shipping and billing address) to bobpres@strategicva.com. You will then be the first to receive this important breakthrough must-read book no later than May 2010.

Filed Under: Benchmarking • Best Practices • savingsblog • Supply Chain • Value Analysis