How Are You Selecting Your Value Analysis Projects?
First of all, don’t confuse new or renewal GPO contracts as being value analysis projects, because they are not. This is contract management in its purest sense, which is a whole other discipline that has its own rules and models.
What I’m talking about here is the way in which you selecting your VA projects, which can unearth millions of dollars of savings in your value streams. For the best results, you should establish criteria for the selection of your VA projects. Here are five criteria I would suggest you start with:
1. Dollar Threshold: No VA project should be undertaken on a product, service or technology that has less than a $25,000 annual spend. The reason: Your ROI would be very small, if at all!
2. Projected Timeline: If your VA project will take more than 90-days to complete it might be better to break the project into smaller projects. Projects that have long timelines tend to go off track. Keep your projects in bit size pieces!
3. Probability of Success: If you only have a 50% probability of success in implementing a project (e.g. orthopedic implant study) then delay the project until you have an 80% success factor.
4. Project Alignment: If your VA project is not supported by your management then I would delay it for another day. Why fight city hall – you rarely win!
5. Solution Clarity: If you already know the solution to a problem (e.g. defective material) then don’t initiate a VA project — just fix the problem. It will save you a lot of time and effort by doing so.
These are just a few ideas to get you on the road to selecting the best VA Projects using criteria vs. gut feel with the greatest possible ROIs.
Your Partner In Innovative Savings,
Bob Yokl
Robert T Yokl
Chief Value Strategist
Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare
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Who Needs Project Management?
Of all of the tactics that I have employed, over the years, to save money one of the most powerful advances in our programs has been project management. It’s fundamental, time-tested and successful at all organizations who have employed it to manage their savings initiatives.
Yet, throughout my travels I rarely see it used at healthcare organizations for the planning, organizing and managing of their value analysis projects. This is a missed opportunity because this tactic will enable you to set time-lines on your projects, keep things moving on your projects, monitor and control your projects, get the most out of your limited resources and enable you to manage multiple projects with ease.
Save the easy way! At one time we too didn’t use project management techniques to manage our client’s value analysis projects only to find that our client’s team members were going every which way – but forward. That’s when we realized we had to do something different to control these unruly herds. We found that by providing a practical, easy-to-use project management system for planning, organization and managing our client’s projects we could tame the herd, speed up projects and perform 10x more value analysis studies than ever before. That’s what successful management can do for you.
So who needs project management? I would say everyone who wants a systematic approach to staying on top of all of your value analysis multiple projects at once and doesn’t want to leave anything to chance, happenstance or fate! Doesn’t that sound like you?
Your Partner In Innovative Savings,
Bob Yokl
Robert T Yokl
Chief Value Strategist
Strategic Value Analysis® In Healthcare
P.S. Almost Everyone who has seen a demo of our Utilizer™ Dashboard has told us that it is just what they have been looking for to manage and control their utilization misalignments! Isn’t it time you sign up for a demo too?
P.P.S. Don’t forget to check out my new blog article “Grow, Lead and Succeed with One Big Idea”, that will give you one big tactic that you can’t afford to miss to improve your communications with your bosses.
