I have followed this same advice in my own career where I have proposed big business changing savings ideas at every healthcare organization I have worked in my supply chain management employment. For instance, I have proposed (in writing) a new supply value analysis program at every healthcare organization that I have worked and NEVER once have my proposals been turned down by senior management, customers or stakeholders.

I once decentralized the centralized buying function that had been in place for 46 years at my multi-hospital system and then replaced it with a GPO model based on a written business case for change that saved my healthcare corporation millions of dollars — almost on day one.

I proposed in writing, and eventually received approval from my board of directors, to move forward with a group purchasing program for their 27 long-term care facilities where I was Vice President of Support Services. This reinvented the way they had done business for decades.

I’m sure you get the idea! Developing a written business case for change in order to introduce, test the waters and then to gain approval on your big and even little supply savings ideas is a powerful instrument for the changes you believe are mission critical to your healthcare organization.

Here’s how it works! This business changing and decision-making instrument begins with a written document that would give the background of the problem or opportunity and description of what you want to accomplish. It would describe how it benefits your organization, how it fits into your organization strategic plan, the risk and rewards, the resources required, the responsibilities and the timing and the operational and financial considerations.

Your business case for change doesn’t need to be elaborate, but it does need to be thorough, concise and well thought out. Most importantly, it needs to be your tool of choice that you employ when you want to “change the way we do things around here”.

Click Here to View

What’s value analysis all about?  It’s about commitment, discipline and focus and finding lower cost alternatives to what you are doing now!  If you are missing even one of these success components you can’t and won’t have consistent, sustainable and substantial savings results.

VA is all about having your senior management commit to making savings happen for your supply value analysis program or it will slowly, but surely sputter, fizzle and die.

VA is all about having discipline (practices and methods to enforce acceptable behavior) from the top, right down to your value team level or you will be going every which way — but forward.

Value analysis is NOT about GPOs, capitation, standardization or custom contracts, but is all about utilization management: wasteful and inefficient consumption, misuse, misapplication and mismatches. If you are focusing all or most of your efforts on the price side of the supply equation, you are missing 79% of your hidden savings opportunities.

To bring these points home here’s is an example: we once were retained by a hospital CEO who intuitively understood that saving money was ALL about commitment, discipline and focusing on finding lower cost alternatives to what his hospital was doing.  With our help, he organized, and operationalized his hospital’s multi-phased savings initiative.  He then became the chief cheer leader for his management team and hospital staff, encouraging his staff at every opportunity to dig deeper and broader then ever before to search out and find those hidden savings. Well, as you could have guessed, within a year his hospital saved over $6.5 million.

There is no magic to this success formula; just the commitment, discipline and focus to make savings happen the old fashion way: Hard Work!   

Your Partner In Innovative Savings,

Bob Yokl

Robert T Yokl

Chief Value Strategist

Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare

P.S. If you are looking to establish, enhance, re-energize and dramatically improve your value analysis program (or you have hit the wall on savings) then our Certified Value Analysis Leader Program to be held on June 24-26 is the ticket for you. And, as a bonus, you will receive a one-year subscription to our new Value Analysis Resource Web at “no cost” to you. Note: Only 25 days left to save on our early bird rate of $1,192.00! click here to learn more

P.P.S. Hove you checked-out our new and improved Savings Beyond Price™ blog where I talk this week about the “Supply Chain Hall of Fame Honors Nine Superstars”.? Can you guess who the honorees are?  If not, I have listed them for your review. and I hope some comments.  Visit the Blog Here

Here’s what this phenomenon looks like! The change initiative, whether it’s value analysis, Lean Management or Six Sigma, had a full head of steam over its few years of its existence, then fizzles, sputters and quietly dies a slow but unnoticed death. Then everyone forgets, after a few years have gone by, that your organization ever had such a change initiative in place.

What were these organizations thinking when they spend weeks or even months to conceive, champion and launch these change initiatives in the first place?  My guess is that these hospitals, systems and IDNs were thinking that somehow or someway these change initiatives had a life of their own and didn’t need to be nurtured, re-tooled, re-invented and re-energized from time to time to sustain their momentum.

Nothing lasts forever if it isn’t given a new coat of paint, thorough clean-up and reinforced when it is weakened by the ravages of time. We see this observable fact with our Lean Value Analysis Programs.  If our clients don’t provide the on-going leadership, discipline, maintenance, coaching and training to sustain their value teams’ efforts, then this mission critical change initiative will inevitably die on the vine.

From our experience, a well-planned change initiative has, at its core, transformation elements like balanced scorecards, annual training, planned team member turn-over and twelve-month retreats to keep the cobwebs from forming. 

Otherwise, it is nearly impossible to keep the thrust, energy and impetus of your change initiative at a high level of performance without investing the requisite time and life force to fine-tune the human side of your change management equation. Partner In Savings Beyond Price™

Your Partner In Savings Beyond Price™

Robert T. Yokl

Robert T Yokl

Chief Value Strategist

Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare  

P.S.  One of the new power tools that are available to you and your c-suite to give them and you a window into your supply chain operations is our Utilizer™ Dashboard. This new tool will show you and your c-suite members all their supply chain costs in one database along with actionable targets for savings.  Why not make it easier on yourself by having this tool at your disposable to effortlessly cost justify your initiatives vs. fighting your c-suite for every dollar you request to improve your supply chain operations. Check out our “test drive” to see how we do it!