Lisa Austin, RN, CASC, vice president of ASC operations for Pinnacle III, says many ASCs make the critical mistake of not working effectively to reduce their supply costs. She describes some best practices to avoid such a predicament.
Lisa Austin: Perform an audit of the ordering process, whether it's quarterly, twice a year or even just once a year, to make sure you are getting your GPO pricing and your distributors have your contracts loaded appropriately. Oftentimes we'll find in an audit that the contract was never loaded, so an ASC has been paying a higher price for the last six months than what should have been paid when the ASC switched brands.
Also, work closely with your vendors and distributors. Ask them, 'Based on my current purchasing and usage, can you help me identify three product changes I could make that would save me money?' I really try to partner with vendors and put the onus back on them to identify areas to save money. Work with them to do a trial on product changes, make sure everybody is on board with making a switch, then go to your board and demonstrate for them that making the change will save the identified amount of money on your ASC's bottom line at the end of the year.
Learn more about Pinnacle III.