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	<title>Savings Beyond Price Blog &#187; Cost Management</title>
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	<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog</link>
	<description>Healthcare Supply Chain Savings Ideas, Knowledge and Resources</description>
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		<title>Healthcare Expense Reduction: A Systematic Approach</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/healthcare-expense-reduction-a-systematic-approach/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/healthcare-expense-reduction-a-systematic-approach/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:39:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Value Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[contract administration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Expense Reduction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Price Check]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Synergistic Expense Reduction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[utilization management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The phrase “Healthcare Expense Reduction” can have many different interpretations.  It could mean getting the best price, benchmarking to find the best practice, searching for the best value products, services or technologies or reducing your inventory levels to near zero.  However, I would suggest that “Healthcare Expense Reduction” if done correctly needs to be all [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The phrase “Healthcare Expense Reduction” can have many different interpretations.  It could mean getting the best price, benchmarking to find the best practice, searching for the best value products, services or technologies or reducing your inventory levels to near zero.  However, I would suggest that “Healthcare Expense Reduction” if done correctly needs to be all of these things and much more.</p>
<p>In point of fact, from our empirical experience it requires a systematic approach to reducing your healthcare organization’s supply chain expenses to get it right. This concept is analogous to what the insurance industry calls BLANKET COVERAGE, a single unifying policy that covers any and all of your risk or exposure to unforeseen calamities. This BLANKET COVERAGE idea holds true with “Healthcare Expense Reduction”; To get it right you need to cover all of your supply expense categories of purchase – all at one time. </p>
<p>To get you started on this journey, we have listed seven core elements of a successful “Healthcare Expense Reduction” unifying system. We advocate these core elements for you to obtain the highest return-on-your-investment of time, effort and resources in order to attack ALL of your supply expense savings simultaneously.</p>
<p>You will notice that these seven core elements described herein are actually interconnecting programs which you should have in place which cover the total spectrum of your “Healthcare Expense Reduction” efforts as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><p><strong>1.</strong>   <strong>Utilization Management Program </strong></p>
<p><strong>2.</strong>   <strong>Value Analysis Program </strong></p>
<p><strong>3.</strong>   <strong>Contracts Administration Program  </strong></p>
<p><strong>4.</strong>   <strong>PriceCheck™ Program </strong></p>
<p><strong>5.</strong>   <strong>Inventory Management Program </strong></p>
<p><strong>6.</strong>   <strong>Linen Management Program </strong></p>
<p><strong>7.</strong>   <strong>Forms Management Program</strong></p></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>As this list suggests for your “Healthcare Expense Reduction” to be effective you need to have complementary and synergistic expense reduction programs in each of your supply chain disciplines, not one-time events. This way you can be assured that you have <em>“Plugged all of the leaks” </em>in your supply expenses before they become mile-high gushers or raging rivers.  </p>
<p>This isn’t just a theory, but the actual system that we have employed ourselves over the last 23 years to assist hundreds of healthcare organizations in reducing their supply expenses to absolute minimums, and then to keep their expenses under control &#8212; going foreword.</p>
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		<title>There’s More Than One Way to Shave Your Purchase Service Costs</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/there%e2%80%99s-more-than-one-way-to-shave-your-purchase-service-costs/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/there%e2%80%99s-more-than-one-way-to-shave-your-purchase-service-costs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:42:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Savings Beyond Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Purchase Service Costs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=231</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I often talk about a healthcare organization’s purchase service savings opportunities being “equal to or greater than” their supply expense savings prospects, but too often this statement is interpreted to mean the price you are paying for your purchase services only. In fact, we have found that there is more than one way to shave [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I often talk about a healthcare organization’s purchase service savings opportunities being <em>“equal to or greater than”</em> their supply expense savings prospects, but too often this statement is interpreted to mean the price you are paying for your purchase services only. In fact, we have found that there is more than one way to shave your purchase service cost if you know where to look for them.  Here are three additional ways you might want to use to discover them.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Utilization Misalignments</strong></p>
<p>Just because you have the best price for your purchase service contracts doesn’t mean they are cost effective. You also need to eliminate all waste and inefficiencies in their value streams. Just like one of our clients found when they looked at their telecommunication invoices only to find they were being slammed with thousands of dollars of phone charges annually they hadn’t authorized. So don’t stop searching for additional purchase service savings because you think you have best price, when there literally is hundreds of thousands of dollars of new and better in-use savings that are just waiting for you to harvest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Specification Overkill</strong></p>
<p>When I read a purchase service contract that hasn’t had its specifications revised, improved or amended in a number of years, I can always find small or big savings opportunities because our customers don’t need everything that is included in the contract to perform the service that is described. </p>
<p>For example, how many times does your hospital’s windows need to be cleaned in any given year? Have many times a year does your high and low-tech equipment really need to have preventive maintenance? How many rent-a-guards do you need on each shift?  <em>Do you get the idea?</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>In-Sourcing Opportunities</strong></p>
<p>For many years it becomes such an ingrained habit to outsource a particular service for many years that we overlook the possibility of in-sourcing these services again when the timing and conditions are right to do so. Food service or environmental service outsourcing are good examples of this happening. It’s been my experience that these departments generally aren’t outsourced for lower cost alone. It’s usually quality issues too, that drive the decision to outsource these departments in the first place. Therefore, it’s my suggestion that when any purchase service contract comes up for renewal it should always be considered a MAKE or BUY decision, not just a contract renewal decision.  This way you never-ever leave any purchase savings dollars on the table – untouched!</p>
<p>As more and more supply chain managers take on the responsibility of sourcing, bidding and negotiating their healthcare organizations’ purchase service contracts, just remember that your purchase service contract price is just-the-tip of the iceberg! Your greatest purchase service savings are actually to be found below the waterline. This can represent as much as 26% in aggregate purchase service savings annually for your healthcare organization in the first round of value justifying your purchase service contracts.  Don’t you think this is a much better way to shave your purchase services cost, than just attacking your price alone?</p>
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		<title>Do You Have a Reliable Saving Ideas Pipeline?</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/do-you-have-a-reliable-saving-ideas-pipeline/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/do-you-have-a-reliable-saving-ideas-pipeline/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:08:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=225</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>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 <strong>“hit a wall</strong>” 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, <em>“The Healthcare Value Analysis Bible: Your Ultimate Saving Resource*” </em>which is scheduled for publication in April 2010. </p>
<p><strong>Large Dollar Expenditures -</strong> Products, Services or Technologies with an annual value of $25,000 or more.</p>
<p><strong>Vendor Recommendations</strong> &#8211; Review brochures, catalogs, samples from vendors to cull new savings ideas.</p>
<p><strong>Magazine Articles On Savings</strong> <strong>Opportunities </strong>- Call article authors to find out exactly how they did it.  They will be happy to help you out without a fee.</p>
<p><strong>New or Changes in Regulations -</strong> Most new or proposed changes in regulations costs can be reduced through <em>Value Analysis.</em></p>
<p><strong>New Clinical and Administrative Employees</strong> &#8211; Interview new employees for savings ideas they have been exposed to at other healthcare organizations.</p>
<p><strong>Benchmarking</strong> &#8211; What are other healthcare organizations doing to save money?</p>
<p><strong>Any Disposable Product</strong> &#8211; Can you return to a reusable product?</p>
<p><strong>Any Type of Custom Kit or Tray</strong> &#8211; Contents of kits and trays should be fully investigated for their value!</p>
<p><strong>New</strong> <strong>Technology</strong> &#8211; In addition to the cost of the new technology there is always add-on cost of labor and supplies that must be value justified.</p>
<p><strong>High Utilization</strong> &#8211; Any Product, Service or Technology that has a high utilization cost is a candidate for study.</p>
<p><strong>Product Recalls</strong> &#8211; Value Analysis Team(s) should be empowered to investigate why the product was recalled and the corrective action required to bring into conformity.</p>
<p><strong>Bundled Products</strong> &#8211; Products like IV Starter Kits, Admission Kits, etc., need to be value justified.</p>
<p><strong>Old Technology</strong> – Old technologies tend to be wasteful and costly and should be evaluated for appropriateness.</p>
<p>If you have any additional savings pipeline ideas, I would love to hear from you (<a href="mailto:bobpres@strategicva.com">bobpres@strategicva.com</a>), 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.</p>
<p>___________</p>
<p><em>* “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</em><em> <a href="mailto:bobpres@strategicva.com">bobpres@strategicva.com</a>. You will then be the first to receive this important breakthrough must-read book no later than May 2010. </em></p>
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		<title>Hospital Supply Chain Utilization Revolution</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/hospital-supply-chain-utilization-revolution/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/hospital-supply-chain-utilization-revolution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:17:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization Revolution]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=206</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Utilization
Revolution

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Become a Savings Magnet
 
Read this book and in a few weeks save more
money than you have in years. Sounds unbelievable? Robert T. Yokl
and Robert W. Yokl, healthcare’s leading authorities in Supply
Utilization Management, have helped hundreds of hospitals,
healthcare systems and integrated delivery networks to saved close
to a half billion dollars by employing the same [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000080; font-size: large;">Healthcare Supply Utilization<br />
Revolution</span><span style="color: #323232; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"><a href="http://www.strategicva.com/UtilizationRevolution.htm"><br />
<img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bookutilization.jpg" border="1" alt="" width="225" height="321" align="left" /></a></span></span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #323232; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #323232; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<p> </p>
<div><span style="color: #323232; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #323232; font-size: large;"></span></span></div>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #323232; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #323232; font-size: large;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red">Become a Savings Magnet</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Impact&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;     color:red"> </span></p>
<p></span><span style="color: #323232; font-size: small;"><strong><em><span style="color: #000000;">Read this book and in a few weeks save more<br />
money than you have in years. Sounds unbelievable? Robert T. Yokl<br />
and Robert W. Yokl, healthcare’s leading authorities in Supply<br />
Utilization Management, have helped hundreds of hospitals,<br />
healthcare systems and integrated delivery networks to saved close<br />
to a half billion dollars by employing the same utilization<br />
management strategies, tactics and techniques that they will teach<br />
you in this book.     </span></em></strong></span></span><a href="http://www.strategicva.com/UtilizationRevolution.htm"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Click Here for the Special Report</span></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.strategicva.com/UtilizationRevolution.htm"></a></p>
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		<title>Incentivize Your Physicians to Save on the Cheap</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/incentivize-your-physicians-to-save-on-the-cheap/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/incentivize-your-physicians-to-save-on-the-cheap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:37:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Demand Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Incentivize Your Doctors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Physician Preference Items]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PPI Incentives]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=200</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There has been a lot written about “Pay for Performance” (PFP) programs to incentivize your physicians to save, but very little has been written about how successful it can be while spending very little money.
That’s what I’m hearing from the marketplace; it doesn’t take a lot of money to incentivize your doctors to save.  All [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There has been a lot written about <em>“Pay for Performance”</em> (PFP) programs to incentivize your physicians to save, but very little has been written about how successful it can be while spending very <span style="text-decoration: underline;">little</span> money.</p>
<p>That’s what I’m hearing from the marketplace; it doesn’t take a lot of money to incentivize your doctors to save.  All you need to do is to find out what products, equipment, training, technology, staff, etc., that they <span style="text-decoration: underline;">desire</span> to do their work more effectively and productively, but don’t have these resources now. Then offer to purchase or obtain one or more of these <strong>“wish lists”</strong> items as an inducement for them to save money for your hospital, system or IDN on a particular initiative that you are proposing, such as, orthopedics, neurosurgery, cardiology, etc. </p>
<p>The operative words here are that these incentives must <strong>effectively</strong> and <strong>productively</strong> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">improve</span> your hospitals operations.  You don’t want to give away incentives that are just NICE to have but are not required. They must actually be beneficial to your hospital and your physicians to be a win-win scenario for all involved parties.</p>
<p>Naturally, these <em>“Pay for Performance”</em> programs can’t be arbitrary, ill-defined or unverifiable. To the contrary, they must be highly organized, truthfully measured and value-based. For example, you might find that your cardiologists have been requesting a new piece of equipment in their capital budget valued at $28,396, but it has been denied for years.  Your task then is to have your cardiologist agree &#8212; in writing &#8212; that they will be required to save three times ($85,188) the value of this equipment by assisting you in the evaluation of your hospital’s pacemakers and difibrillator’s cost, product mix, and applicability for this new equipment to be approved for purchase.</p>
<p>Considering you would have a minimum return-on-investment for your hospital of <strong>200%</strong> for this hypothetical project, I believe that this is what I would call <em>“savings on the cheap”</em> when you consider doing nothing is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">costing</span> your hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in lost opportunity costs.</p>
<p>So don’t be apprehensive about incentivizing your physicians to save (it’s a good business practice), since it is one of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">best</span> investments you can make with your hospital’s money. Keep in mind, your physicians have no incentive to save money today &#8212; <em>unless you give them the incentive to do so!</em></p>
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		<title>Stretch Goals Can Lead to Breakthrough Thinking!</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/stretch-goals-can-lead-to-breakthrough-thinking/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/stretch-goals-can-lead-to-breakthrough-thinking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:15:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Breakthrough Thinking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=195</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A goal by definition is an objective we want to reach, but a “stretch goal” is quite different as defined by Jack welsh, the former CEO of General Electric. He says that stretch goals “are essentially stimulating the staff to create goals that, given the current situation and what is known today, appear beyond their [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A goal by definition is an objective we want to reach, but a <em>“stretch goal” </em>is quite different<em> </em>as defined by Jack welsh, the former CEO of General Electric. He says that stretch goals “are essentially stimulating the staff to create goals that, given the current situation and what is known today, appear beyond their reach or otherwise unattainable.  This is getting the employees and or managers to conceive of things that are at a magnitude beyond their wildest expectations or beliefs”</p>
<p>As Jack Welsh suggests in his quote, it’s in our human nature to select safe, comfortable and reachable goals. Why should you or your team stick their necks out when management is only asking the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">bare</span> minimum goals from you?  I see this <em>“small thinking”</em> attitude all the time.</p>
<p>I recently asked a material manager at a 238-bed community hospital what his savings goal was for next year and he told me that his senior management had set a goal for him of $50,000. By my estimate this material manager should meet this goal in less than three months &#8212; not one year.  <strong>That’s not a <em>“stretch goal”;</em> it’s a puny, undersized, and no brainer.</strong>  If I was this material manager I would at least triple my senior management’s goal to $150,000, just to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel.   </p>
<p>If you want to have BREAKTHROUGH savings, then you need to bring about breakthrough THINKING for yourself, your staff and your value analysis teams. The best way I know to do so is for you to set <em>“stretch goals” </em>for every level of your supply chain operations vs. letting your senior management set them for you. Then brainstorm with your supply chain team to discover how you will meet your oversized goals.</p>
<p>As an illustration, one of our supply chain clients established a <em>“stretch goal” </em>for their department of $11 million for this fiscal year, although they didn’t know how they would make these savings happen when they committed to this goal. That’s when their supply chain team honed in on their <a href="http://www.strategicva.com/utilizer.htm">utilization misalignments</a> with our assistance and found $15 million dollars in new potential savings. <strong>If they would have settled for a so-so savings goal instead of establishing a stretch goal, they wouldn’t have found these big savings opportunities!</strong> With breakthrough THINKING, they are now on target to achieve breakthrough SAVINGS – not meager results!</p>
<p>So remember, when you are setting your supply chain savings and operational goals for 2010, don’t take the road <span style="text-decoration: underline;">most</span> travel by establishing safe, easy and undersized goals. Stretch yourself, your staff and value analysis team(s) by <span style="text-decoration: underline;">instituting</span> oversized goals that will lead to breakthrough thinking and gigantic results.</p>
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		<title>Creating the Future of Supply Chain Management</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/creating-the-future-of-supply-chain-management/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/creating-the-future-of-supply-chain-management/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:27:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[supply chain management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gold Mine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in-use cost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Savings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[utilization management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=177</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The biggest risk today, as I see it for supply chain professionals, is running out of savings. Yes, I know that some hospitals, systems and IDNs are still finding some low hanging fruit to keep their savings rolling, but those days are numbered. It’s not a growth strategy! 
A good way to look at this emerging [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The biggest risk today, as I see it for supply chain professionals, is <strong>running out of savings</strong>. Yes, I know that some hospitals, systems and IDNs are still finding some low hanging fruit to keep their savings rolling, but those days are numbered. <em>It’s not a growth strategy!</em><strong> </strong></p>
<p>A good way to look at this emerging trend is check out what other industries are doing when they HIT the wall on savings. Over the last 5 years or so manufacturing, energy, financial, airline industries, etc., have been attacking the <strong>in-use cost</strong> of their products, services and technologies. <em>Why? Because their price savings have disappear!</em></p>
<p>The tactic industry uses to drive out all of their waste and inefficiency in their value streams is called demand management or as we like to call it in healthcare &#8212; <a href="http://www.strategicva.com/utilizer.htm">utilization management</a>. This approach has saved billions of dollars without hurting their customer’s quality.</p>
<p>In brief, the demand management (i.e. utilization) methodology focuses its efforts <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> primary on suppliers or price, but on how products, services and technologies are deployed in an organization. Are there wasteful and inefficient practices, are they being misused or misapplied and are there lower cost alternatives to meet these stated functions at a lower cost? Its not uncommon for companies to cut 7 to 15 percent off their expense budgets and the savings can begin in as <span style="text-decoration: underline;">little</span> as three months.    </p>
<p>Extensive Industry research confirms the future of supply chain management <span style="text-decoration: underline;">isn’t</span> about suppliers or price, it’s about your CONSUMPTION, where 79% of all of your new savings reside. Since most healthcare supply chain best practices (e.g. spend managers, just-in-time, ERP systems, etc.) are adopted from other industries, this is one trend that you don’t want to overlook, ignore or disregard because …<strong> it’s the future of supply chain management! </strong>This isn’t a prediction, but a fact!</p>
<p>So if you want to start <span style="text-decoration: underline;">creating</span> the future of supply chain management at your own healthcare organization you need to start today by focusing on your own products, services and technology consumption. That’s where other industries are finding a <strong>GOLD MINE</strong> of savings, not just by bidding, negotiation or joining a new GPO to obtain a better price.</p>
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		<title>Supply Chain Benchmarking Is All About Ownership</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/supply-chain-benchmarking-is-all-about-ownership/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/supply-chain-benchmarking-is-all-about-ownership/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:18:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peer Benchmarks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reliable Benchmarks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supply Chain Benchmarking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=162</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“I just don’t trust the benchmark” is the first response we often get when we show a client for the first time that their utilization cost is much higher in a particular commodity group then their peers. Since we have heard this same tune before, we then proceed to show our client their OWN internal [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>“I just don’t trust the benchmark” is the first response we often get when we show a client for the first time that their <a href="http://www.strategicva.com/utilizer.htm">utilization</a> cost is much higher in a particular commodity group then their peers. Since we have heard this same tune before, we then proceed to show our client their OWN internal benchmarks (if they are a system or IDN) and their OWN historical metrics over the last eight quarters.</p>
<p>This process of sharing multiple data points with our client enables us to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">triangulate</span> our benchmark with our client’s OWN known, reliable and defendable internal data to confirm our benchmark’s validity.  This procedure usually affirms to our client that our benchmark is consistent with his or her OWN internal data and therefore makes good business sense for our client to investigate this savings opportunity.  </p>
<p>The operative word in this benchmarking <span style="text-decoration: underline;">validation</span> process is OWNERSHIP.  When your customers see with their OWN eyes that your benchmark is consistent with their OWN internal data you can then make a believer of them. Without their OWNERSHIP (or believability of your data) you will never ever get your customers to judge that your benchmark is reliable, dependable or trustworthy.  <strong>It’s just that simple!</strong></p>
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		<title>New Activity-Based Costing Model Makes Huge Supply Utilization Savings Happen!</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/new-activity-based-costing-model-makes-huge-supply-utilization-savings-happen/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/new-activity-based-costing-model-makes-huge-supply-utilization-savings-happen/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:09:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supply Activity Based Costing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supply Chain Savings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=160</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Activity-Based Utilization Costing is a new utilization savings model that assigns the cost to natural classifications in supply chain expenses to identify their actual consumption by each category of purchase. By doing so, a healthcare organization can establish the true cost of the utilization of all of their products, services and technologies so they can [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="center"><strong> </strong><em><strong>Activity-Based Utilization</strong> <strong>Costing</strong> is a new utilization savings model that assigns the cost to natural classifications in supply chain expenses to identify their actual consumption by each category of purchase. By doing so, a healthcare organization can establish the true cost of the utilization of all of their products, services and technologies so they can eliminate any and all wasteful, inefficient, unneeded or unnecessary supply chain practices.</em></p>
<p align="center"><strong>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;</strong></p>
<p>I have just given you the definition (above) of a new and emerging best practice called Activity-Based Utilization Costing that can revolutionize the way you save money. I’ve done so because now that price savings are slowly disappearing this new methodology will help you dig even deeper and broader for new and even better savings.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Here’s what it is all about</strong></p>
<p>Activity-Based Costing (ABC) was developed in manufacturing in the 1970s. It was introduced by cost accountants that were seeking to identify the cause-and-effect relationship of their organization’s products and services to more objectively and accurately assign cost to each of their operations. Prior to this point in time, most operating cost were assigned by accountants as broad percentage for direct and indirect cost. </p>
<p>Where products, services and technology costs are shared, such as we do in healthcare organizations, the ABC methodology requires some sort a weight factor to allocate cost accurately.  This weight factor is based on what is called a COST DRIVER or activity that directly relates to your products, services or technologies actual cost.  For example, the number of custom packs that you use in any given year would be assigned based on the number of case mix adjusted procedures (cost driver) you utilize. In this way you now have identified a cause-and-effect relationship between your custom packs and case mix adjusted procedures that can be precisely calculated.</p>
<p><strong>Here’s how it can help you</strong></p>
<p>We have found by employing the ABC methodology to measure utilization performance for our clients, once we have assigned a weight factor (or cost driver) to all of our client’s natural classifications (IV sets, Oxisensors, elevator contracts, dressing, trays, pacemakers, orthopedic implants, etc.), we can then quickly and easily identify any and all of our client’s utilization misalignments.  This means in real terms a saving in the range of 7% to 15% based our client’s total supply chain spend annually.</p>
<p><strong>There are no shortcuts</strong></p>
<p>You might say after reading this blog article, “Bob you are giving me a headache with all these calculations, isn’t there a simpler way to get the same results?”  I’m sorry to disappoint you but there isn’t an easy way to make these huge utilization savings happen. Believe me when I tell you that I’m always looking for an easier way to save money, but sometimes there are no SHORTCUTS to making savings happen. </p>
<p><strong>Where are your next savings coming from?</strong></p>
<p>I would like to restate the fact that your easy price savings are slowly disappearing therefore, new and better savings strategies, tactics and techniques must be employed for you to keep your savings machine humming. <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Activity-Based Utilization Costing</span></em> is one of the proven best practices that can assist you in improving on any savings strategy that you are now pursuing to save money. </p>
<p>Lastly, don’t be overwhelmed by the intricacies of ABC methods that I just talked about because if I can learn, master and then apply these ABC techniques of this new science of savings &#8212; YOU CAN TOO!    </p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
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		<title>What Happens When You Run Out of Price Savings?</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/what-happens-when-you-run-out-of-price-savings/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/what-happens-when-you-run-out-of-price-savings/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:42:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPO Savings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[price savings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Price savings are harder to find, contain, negotiate or even identify now that everyone (including your vendors) understands and has become highly skilled at how to play the price game. Wouldn’t you agree?
 
What happens when you run out of price savings, or as I like to say, “What happens when the fish stop jumping into [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Price savings are harder to find, contain, negotiate or even identify now that everyone (including your vendors) understands and has become highly skilled at how to play the price game. <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wouldn’t you agree?</em></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">What happens when you run out of price savings, or<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> as I like to say, “What happens when the fish stop jumping into your boat?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></em>At a recent seminar that I conducted a MM’s answer to this question was <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Look for a new job”.</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I don’t think that’s the right answer to this question &#8212; do you?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Reality check:</span></em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> Your vendors’ cost for transportation, energy, plastics, etc. (or 80% of the things your hospital buys) will continue to escalate. So who do you think your vendors are going to pass this cost along to?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Yes you got it right – YOU</span></strong><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">!</span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was just talking to one of my major teaching hospital clients the other day who is scrambling to find more savings in their orthopedic<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span>and spine implants, but even after benchmarking his cost with us and bidding his implants using our benchmarks as a guide, he only shaved a few percent off his implant prices. By the way, this client belongs to two GPOs and still can’t get better prices even with his own custom contracts on implants</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">The next day I talked to another client of ours who is the Vice President of Purchasing for a six hospital system who is racking his brain on how to get better prices for his hospitals, when he never had this challenge before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Until recently, he always could find a new and better price savings on any commodity he was purchasing.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">What does this all mean to you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>If you are betting your career on finding new and better prices for the commodities you buy in the future you are going to be in for a rude awaking – <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">it isn’t going to happen.</strong></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">On the other hand, if you look beyond price you can make a quantum leap forward in</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.strategicva.com/value-analysis-resource-web.htm"> utilization</a> <span style="color: black;">savings that are never ending and are right in front of your eyes just waiting to be harvested. </span></span></span></p>
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		<title>Five Myths Vs Facts</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/five-myths-vs-facts/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/five-myths-vs-facts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:35:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Value Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Functional Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPO Contracts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Myths Vs Facts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[price savings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Purchase Services]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[utilization management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=138</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Savings Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter &#8211; June 10, 2009





Robert T. Yokl

President &#38; Chief Value Strategist
 

 
Five Myths vs. Facts!
Greetings,
Over time we all develop a belief system that is based on our life experiences, biases, and traditions but are these viewpoints myths or are they facts? These collective perspectives or assumptions that we gather over time can [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/wp-admin/#Utilization"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/savingsbeyondnews.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="501" height="100" /></a></span></strong></p>
<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"><a name="Savings">Savings</a> Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter &#8211; June 10, 2009</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"></p>
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<p></span></strong></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bobpres.jpg" border="0" alt="Robert T Yokl - Healthcare Supply Chain Consultant Strategic Value Analysis" width="105" height="121" align="left" /></span></em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; font-size: x-small;">Robert T. Yokl</span></em></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; font-size: x-small;">President &amp; Chief Value Strategist</span></em></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></p>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Five Myths vs. Facts!</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Greetings,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Over time we all develop a belief system that is based on our life experiences, biases, and traditions but are these viewpoints myths or are they facts? These collective <strong>perspectives </strong>or<strong> assumptions</strong> that we gather over time can relate to our supply chain world as well as our life! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">From a supply chain perspective if these beliefs and assumptions aren’t tested, inspected and examined vigorously we could be <span style="text-decoration: underline;">overlooking</span> big breakthroughs in our supply chain management.</span><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here are five myths versus facts that you should be reexamining in order for you to remove any performance gaps in your supply chain operations: </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.5in; margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><strong>1.</strong><span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: 700;">                </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-weight: 700;">Benchmarking Doesn’t Work</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">I can’t count the times a MM has told me that they believe that benchmarking doesn’t work because it is inexact science or we are different. By holding this belief, these MMs are <span style="text-decoration: underline;">missing</span> the opportunity to save millions of dollars annually. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">To the contrary, benchmarking is an art and science that has been proven in every industry, including healthcare, to be the best methodology to identify gaps in an organization’s performance. This leads us to search out best practices to fill those gaps that are costing us thousands, maybe even millions of dollars annually. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.5in; margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><strong>2.</strong><span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: 700;">                </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-weight: 700;">Price Savings are Forever</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">I hope everyone understands that <em>“nothing is forever”,</em> but too many MMs believe that this truism <span style="text-decoration: underline;">doesn’t</span> apply to price savings when the facts inform us differently. With few exceptions, hospitals, systems and IDNs are just holding the line on inflation (3.9% for 2008) with their price savings, not beating it. This fact would lead me to believe that MMs should be searching out other sources of savings if they want to beat the inflation rate each and every year.  </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.5in; margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><strong>3.</strong><span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: 700;">                </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-weight: 700;">Utilization Management isn’t a Priority</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Considering that price savings are slowly disappearing, what better source of new savings (7% to 15%) could there be than utilization (in-use cost)? How then can MMs IGNORE these big savings opportunities by stating that it isn’t a priority?  Shouldn’t the highest level of savings available at a healthcare organization, with the best ROIs, be an uppermost priority to every supply chain manager?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.5in; margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><strong>4.</strong><span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: 700;">                </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-weight: 700;">Value Analysis is all About GPO Contracts</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Every time we visit with a value analysis team we find them evaluating their new GPO contracts, with <span style="text-decoration: underline;">very</span> little emphasis on the waste and inefficiency in their supply chain. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Value analysis ISN’T about GPO contracts; it’s all about <strong>functional analysis</strong>, which has <span style="text-decoration: underline;">nothing</span> to do with GPO contracts. When will we get these two disparate supply chain activities designations right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">    </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: -0.5in; margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><strong>5.</strong><span style="font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: 700;">                </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-weight: 700;">Purchases Services isn’t in our Scope</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">I was just told again last week by a value analysis manager that he doesn’t believe that purchase services should be in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">scope</span> of his supply value analysis program. Then I asked him who did he think should be functionally analyzing these contracts?  </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">The way I see it your department heads won’t, your supply chain department is too busy, and your administration doesn’t even have these multi-year million dollar purchases on their radar screen. That’s why purchase service contracts MUST, in my opinion, be in the scope of your supply chain department and evaluated by your value analysis teams. To do less is to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">relinquish</span> hundreds of thousands of dollars of savings annually. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.75in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">These five myths vs. the facts should raise your consciousness to the possibility that all commonly held beliefs and assumptions aren’t always factually true. That’s why you need to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">challenge</span> not only your own beliefs and assumptions, but those held by others in your healthcare organization that might not pass the test of time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Your Partner In Savings Beyond Price™,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bobpres_sig.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="250" height="59" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Robert T Yokl</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Chief Value Strategist</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="mailto:Bobpres@strategicva.com">Bobpres@strategicva.com</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">1-800-220-4274</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy;">P.S. </span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Don’t forget to sign up for this ONE-TIME-ONLY</span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy; font-size: 12pt;"> <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="http://www.strategicva.com/webinar.htm">“How to Create, Manage and Maintain High Performance Value Analysis Teams”</a>  </span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">NO COST webinar on June 17<sup>th</sup> (Eastern) at 1:00pm (Eastern). This webinar is exclusively designed for those hospitals, systems and IDNs who are seriously looking for new and better strategies, tactics and techniques to take your supply value analysis program to the next level of savings performance.</span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
</blockquote>
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		<title>Focus on What Matters!</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/focus-on-what-matters/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/focus-on-what-matters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:52:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Savings Beyond Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Value Analysis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=137</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I often tell audiences when I’m speaking about “focus on what matters” that early in my supply chain career I delegated ALL of my price related activities to my buyers while I focused my savings efforts almost exclusively on value analysis.  Why did I make this decision?
 
Well, I found early on in my career that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">I often tell audiences when I’m speaking about <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“focus on what matters” </em>that early in my supply chain career I delegated ALL of my price related activities to my buyers while I focused my savings efforts almost exclusively on value analysis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Why did I make this decision?</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, I found early on in my career that it was <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">easy</strong> to get the best pricing on everything that I bought if I contracted through my GPO or bid a commodity that wasn’t under a GPO contract.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I didn’t need to lose sleep over this important, but very manageable activity any longer. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">That’s when I realized that value analysis was where the action, opportunities, and recognition were in any healthcare organization. From that point forward, at every hospital, system and IDN I worked I immediately formed value analysis teams to root out the waste and inefficiency in my healthcare organization’s supply chain.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">By doing so, I immediately saved my hospital, system or IDN millions of dollars (beyond price) annually, and gained a reputation as a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">superb </span>material manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">   </span>This reputation wouldn’t have come to pass if I decided to use my skills to shave two or three cents off the pencils I was buying. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">More importantly, because of the high visibility my value analysis teams attained in these healthcare organizations everyone in the organization knew us by our achievements (better quality, service and reduced cost). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it came time for my annual pay raise or bonus negotiations my senior management never quibbled about giving me a raise or promotion because they had seen my work first hand in a very observable way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">So if you are looking for more money, more recognition and more promotions in your healthcare organization, I would recommend that you <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“focus on what matters”</em> – <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">value analysis</strong>. And let your price savings become an automatic and systematic task that shouldn’t take much of your valuable time at all. </span></span></p>
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		<title>No Magic Bullet</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/no-magic-bullet/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/no-magic-bullet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:48:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Value Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[supply chain management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bottom-line results]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPOs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magic Bullet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Yokl]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Savings Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter &#8211; June 3, 2009





Robert T. Yokl

President &#38; Chief Value Strategist
 

 
No Magic Bullet
Greetings,
I think that there is a tendency in healthcare for supply chain professionals to seek out a “magic bullet” that will be a quick fix to ALL of our supply chain expense management challenges. But is this really the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/wp-admin/#Utilization"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/savingsbeyondnews.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="501" height="100" /></a></span></strong></p>
<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"><a name="Savings">Savings</a> Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter &#8211; June 3, 2009</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"></p>
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<p></span></strong></p>
<blockquote>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bobpres.jpg" border="0" alt="Robert T Yokl - Healthcare Supply Chain Consultant Strategic Value Analysis" width="105" height="121" align="left" /></span></em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; font-size: x-small;">Robert T. Yokl</span></em></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; font-size: x-small;">President &amp; Chief Value Strategist</span></em></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></p>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No Magic Bullet</span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Greetings,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">I think that there is a tendency in healthcare for supply chain professionals to seek out a “magic bullet” that will be a quick fix to ALL of our supply chain expense management challenges. But is this really the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">best</span> path for you to take to improve your supply chain performance?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">For years we all thought that the big quick fix was to have high compliance with our GPOs. Then every one thought the road to success was to purchase a new MMIS system to give them high visibility in their supply spend. This was followed by a massive movement by hospitals, systems and IDNs to cleanse their data. Now we all seem to be jumping on the data analytics train as if this is ultimate quick fix to all our supply expense management issues. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">This is the road often traveled by supply chain professionals in their search for better performance, but these quick fixes will never sustain long-lasting bottom-line results. If you want to be better than good in your supply chain performance you will need to choose <span style="text-decoration: underline;">systemic</span> solutions, not quick fixes. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">We have worked with numerous healthcare organizations that have employed <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> of the quick fixes I just talked about, but they still haven’t <strong>optimized, institutionalized or operationalized</strong> their supply chains’ savings efforts. This is because these organizations haven’t <span style="text-decoration: underline;">systematized</span> these efforts into a cohesive operating plan, but instead jump from one quick fix to another hoping that this new “magic bullet” will be the definitive answer to all of their supply expense management problems. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">It is now high time for healthcare organizations, with limited time, money and resources, to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">ditch</span> these quick fixes in favor of a strategic, systematic and programmatic performance improvement effort that <strong>seamlessly</strong> fits into a carefully thought out supply chain expense management short and long-range plan. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">This way when a new saving idea, suggestion or scheme comes across your desk you won’t get caught up in quick fixes, band-aids or costly fads that don’t meet your <span style="text-decoration: underline;">exact</span> strategic or tactical goals and objectives for any given year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Your Partner In Savings Beyond Price™,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bobpres_sig.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="250" height="59" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Robert T Yokl</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Chief Value Strategist</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="mailto:Bobpres@strategicva.com">Bobpres@strategicva.com</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">1-800-220-4274</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy;">P.S. </span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Don’t forget to sign up for this ONE-TIME-ONLY</span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy; font-size: 12pt;"> <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="http://www.strategicva.com/webinar.htm">“How to Create, Manage and Maintain High Performance Value Analysis Teams”</a>  </span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">NO COST webinar on June 17<sup>th</sup> (Eastern). This webinar is exclusively designed for those hospitals, systems and IDNs who are seriously looking for new and better strategies, tactics and techniques to take your supply value analysis program to the next level of savings performance.</span><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</blockquote>
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		<title>Turn Tough Times into a Great Opportunity</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/turn-tough-times-into-a-great-opportunity/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/turn-tough-times-into-a-great-opportunity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2009 15:40:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saving in 2009]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=129</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A little-known fact is that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” (wei1 ji1) equates to opportunity in the Chinese lexicon. Strange as this may seem, the Chinese civilization has been around for thousands of years, so I guess they know an opportunity when they see one &#8212; even in a crisis.
 
It’s the same with the effects [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">A little-known fact is that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” (</span></span><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt;">wei1 ji1) </span></em><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">equates to</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">opportunity</span> in the Chinese lexicon. Strange as this may seem, the Chinese civilization has been around for thousands of years, so I guess they know an opportunity when they see one &#8212; even in a crisis.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s the same with the effects of our recession today. We have a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">great</span> opportunity in these tough times to use this crisis to our advantage. Management at most healthcare organizations will be open to new and better savings ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our department heads and managers will be more malleable when it comes to saving money. Even our doctors will be more open to discuss how they can help us in this predicament. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Case in Point!</span></strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> One hospital client of ours told us just last week that their surgeons asked them to establish a committee that would sit down on a regular basis to help their operating room director to identify and then implement new savings ideas. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This hospital is being very proactive with their Value Analysis and Lean savings programs and the surgeons want to make a positive impact as well.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is an unprecedented turn of events for this hospital, which I believe can be <span style="text-decoration: underline;">replicated</span> nationwide, if only you decide to turn these tough times into a great opportunity to get your savings ideas heard, accepted and then implemented. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">This isn’t a time to be <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">frozen</strong> in your tracks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>To the contrary, it’s the best time that I have seen in decades for you to maximize your savings efforts by engaging your executive management and hospital staff in meaningful discussions that result in even more productive and efficient methods and practices than ever before. </span></span></p>
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		<title>Have You Planted Your Seeds?</title>
		<link>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/have-you-planted-your-seeds/</link>
		<comments>http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/have-you-planted-your-seeds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:21:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Yokl</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cost Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hospital Supply Chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Savings Beyond Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utilizer Dashboard]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/?p=120</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Savings Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter &#8211; April 8, 2009





Robert T. Yokl

President &#38; Chief Value Strategist
 

 
Have You Planted Your Seeds?
 
Greetings,
What do perennial flowers and recurring supply expense savings have in common? The simple answer is that both can grow and bloom for many years if you use the right tools, provide adequate nourishment, and the proper [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://savingsbeyondprice.com/savingsblog/wp-admin/#Utilization"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/savingsbeyondnews.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="501" height="100" /></a></span></strong></p>
<p align="center"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; color: #000080; font-size: medium;"><a name="Savings">Savings</a> Beyond Price -Weekly eNewsletter &#8211; April 8, 2009</span></strong></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: x-small;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bobpres.jpg" border="0" alt="Robert T Yokl - Healthcare Supply Chain Consultant Strategic Value Analysis" width="105" height="121" align="left" /></span></em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; font-size: x-small;">Robert T. Yokl</span></em></strong></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; font-size: x-small;">President &amp; Chief Value Strategist</span></em></strong></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Have You Planted Your Seeds?</span></strong></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Greetings,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">What do perennial flowers and recurring supply expense savings have in common? The simple answer is that both can <strong>grow</strong> and <strong>bloom </strong>for many years if you use the right tools, provide adequate nourishment, and the proper care and placement.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/growmoney.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="484" height="321" /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Why? We have found that healthcare organization must plant seeds today in order to generate new savings tomorrow, next quarter or even next year. Otherwise, your supply expense savings will be <strong>short-lived</strong> or worst yet, die on the vine before being harvested. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Think about it this way.</span></strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">  Your price savings are getting harder and harder to achieve since you and your GPOs have <span style="text-decoration: underline;">squeezed</span> your suppliers’ margins to the bone.  But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t BIG robust savings to be obtained by more effectively managing and controlling your healthcare organization’s products, services and technologies’ in-use cost or as we like to call them <em>utilization misalignments</em>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">In fact, our studies show that there is as much as <strong>7%</strong> to <strong>15%</strong> in NEW supply expense savings available to you <span style="text-decoration: underline;">right</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">now.</span> You can do this by attacking your wasteful and inefficient consumption, misuse and misapplication within the millions of dollars of products, services and technologies that you buy annually. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Case Study:</span></strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">One of our 223-bed community hospital clients was getting an excellent price and rebates on their contrast media, but then they found using our</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="http://www.strategicva.com/utilizer.htm">UTILIZER™ Dashboard</a> <span style="color: black;">that their contrast media in-use cost was $42,666 higher than their peers. When this utilization misalignment was investigated by one of their hospital’s value analysis project managers, they found that their radiology department had standardized on 155cc prefilled syringes to administer their contrast media.  Their community standard was 100cc doses! After several negotiation sessions with their radiology director, he finally agreed to only use 155cc doses on his liver function patients; thereby immediately reducing his hospital’s contrast media cost by $41,298 annually.  <em>This was a win-win for all involved parties!</em></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Question!</span></strong><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;"> “How would you know where your utilization misalignments are hidden at your healthcare organization without having a power tool to plant the seeds to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">grow</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">bloom</span> your savings every month, every quarter, and every year?</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;">” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">The typical healthcare organization has 7,000, 14,000 or even 30,000 SKUs (stockeeping units) they must track, manage and control continuously to ensure that their pricing and utilization is <strong>truly </strong>within acceptable limits.  This is an almost <span style="text-decoration: underline;">impossible</span> feat for super busy supply chain professionals to accomplish without leveraging technology to do this hard work for you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">A new era of supply chain expense management has arrived:<strong> Utilization Management</strong>. In fact, a new survey by Novation reported that 44% of healthcare organizations have decided to focus on utilization as their <span style="text-decoration: underline;">new</span> path to savings for their hospital, systems and IDNs. This is the reality of the supply chain of the future, since price savings are slowly, but surely disappearing! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Isn’t it time that you jump on this fast moving utilization train so that you can reap the full benefits of <strong>new</strong> and <strong>better</strong> supply expense savings that are not only sustainable, but inflation proof?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> at a time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Your Partner In Savings Beyond Price™,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="http://www.strategicva.com/images/bobpres_sig.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="250" height="59" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Robert T Yokl</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Chief Value Strategist</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="mailto:Bobpres@strategicva.com">Bobpres@strategicva.com</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black;">1-800-220-4274</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Becky; color: navy;">P.S. If you want to know more about what utilization management is all about may I suggest that you download our <a style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single;" href="http://www.strategicva.com/specialreport.htm">Utilization Management Special Report</a>. This is the future of supply chain expense management. </span></p>
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