Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

Year of the Nurse - November 2020 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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ball, screw or cement," says Mr. Uba. "They should be able to get creative and provide a single, all-in price." • Send formal requests. It's good practice to send a formal request for pro- posal (RFP) to potential candidates for consolidation. It guarantees everybody is playing by the same set of rules and ensures suppliers won't game the system at a later date, says Mr. Johnson. Spell out specific requests in RFPs. "We make it clear that we want all inven- tory consigned at our facilities, that we don't want to own it," says Mr. Johnson. "We also state that we expect our ven- dors to manage that inventory, that it's not something any of our staff members will do." • Ask for rebates. Single-vendor sup- pliers often offer price discounts in the form of rebates based on a number of fac- tors, such as case volumes. With numer- ous benchmarking tools available, ven- dors understandably worry about their net number becoming public knowledge and facility leaders seeing where they stand from an implant pricing standpoint. Rebates offer a safeguard against this, but they're not for everybody. "Historically, we weren't an organization that liked rebates," says Mr. Johnson. "But we pivoted and accepted the fact that rebates were going to get us to the net price point we needed to be successful." Plus, depending on how they're structured, rebates can garner your facility double savings — the initial savings of going with a single vendor and the added savings of a rebate program. "You might get a certain percentage of your spend back as a rebate based on incremental growth," says Mr. Uba. "In that case, you're not only getting a little bit lower unit cost for, say, an implant, you're getting opportunities for a rebate on top of that." Although most vendors are sensitive to the reg- ulatory environment, Mr. Uba cautions you ensure a vendor's cost concessions meet current regula- tory requirements. • Surgeon engagement. It's critical to engage your surgeons if you decide to limit the number of vendors with which you work (see "Orthopods Help Optimize Consolidation"). After all, they're the ones who actually use the supplies on a daily basis. "I've learned over the years that the instrumentation that comes along with total joint implants is an emotional thing for surgeons," says Mr. Johnson. "If they have to stop using the supplies of a vendor they've worked with for years, their anxiety level goes up." Ideally, both you and your vendors should share the same objective. "Consolidation is ultimately about creating the greatest efficiency for the facility and surgeon, and the best outcome for the patient," says Mr. Uba. OSM 4 4 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 0 LESS IS MORE Consolidation significantly reduces the number of instrument trays sterile processing depart- ments must reprocess and store. Pamela Bevelhymer

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