Supply Chain Management

Inaccurate product entries in your Materials Management system can have drastic implications on the transparency of your purchasing process. Systems (both automated and manual) often contain products that are no longer being used, interface with rarely updated systems (preference cards), contain product duplicates and are missing new products; ultimately compromising your data integrity. Inaccurate data can lead to futile negotiation efforts with vendors and frustrating conversations with physicians and department leadership. Our Clinical and Operational Consulting experts can evaluate your Materials Management systems and processes to ensure that you are accurately capturing the materials used and the system is being updated appropriately, while optimizing the associated labor and automation costs.

When establishing a process that ensures that equipment is effectively managed, we can assist by evaluating property and equipment by department. We will then assist in:

• Determining the lifetime use and depreciation date
• Review the monitoring, preventative maintenance, and repair process for equipment
• Analyze the processes for removing old equipment/property and purchasing new equipment/property

Our team will review par levels and inventory on hand to provide objective information on where your facility stands. Our experience allows us to pinpoint areas in need of process improvement to ensure that par levels are appropriate and the dollar amounts of inventory are not excessive.

We assist in analyzing your data against benchmarks, renegotiating contracts, using our clinicians to help change behavior and monitor savings. Our expertise lies in creating change within difficult to administer physician preference categories using the assistance of our clinical consultants.

Find out more about materials standardization and cost-saving strategies »

We will review your product valuation process, contract compliance, and consignment process to ensure your facility is benefiting from uniform vendor standards and limiting exposure to risk.

Inventory locations, stocking, and distribution processes are often some of the biggest "dissatisfiers" among departments served by Materials Management. Our team will evaluate your materials flow and distribution process to identify deficiencies, successes, and interfacing department issues to recommend distribution changes and create satisfied customers.

Determining how to best utilize staff within your department can be difficult with limited resources, demanding departments, fluctuating volumes, and shifting priorities. Our team will analyze your current staffing structure, downtime utilization, review departmental needs, and consider any major facility changes to recommend optimal staffing based on your resources. We can then provide you with the ideal work flows, work assignments, and scheduling.

Optimizing your space utilization is often a daunting task with variable clinical needs and constraints on materials storage and locations. Our materials consultants determine optimal location for supplies, whether in a new or existing space. We specialize in working with difficult to handle areas such as case cart systems, specialty item storage (specialty packs/instruments/implants) and standardization on units.