Supply Chain – The New Frontier
The conversation is changing, not that it hasn’t been for a long time, but supply chain optimization is leading to innovation that healthcare hasn’t seen before. In my conversations around the nation with leading health systems I am hearing a different tone to the amount of change health systems are ready to introduce in order to cut costs. As I was reading a case study today involving Memorial Hermann in Houston, TX, this notion was driven home by some fundamental points. The first is key, with the full adoption of ObamaCare hitting the market, coverage is going to expand and the volume of services required to treat these new patients is going to drive healthcare costs up again. This increase of costs is going to accelerate upward pressure on cost containment.
Due to this, Dan Humphrey, System Executive for Supply Chain Services, has focused on getting people out of the supply chain as the clinicians spend almost 25% of their time and nurses 74% of their time involved in supply chain processes. “People shouldn’t be our supply chain. It’s not the best use of their time. When a nurse reaches for a product, it’s supposed to be there. So there’s time or focus lost in searching for it. And no delay in take care of the patient.” The right product at the right time for the right patient – this is our motto here at Cohealo and we’re trying to take people out of the equation also, through our implementation and optimization of our Cohealo Share Platform. Our work to date has proven one thing, that Clinical Services executives, Directors of Surgery and Clinical Coordinators spend much of their time manually supporting the OR. We believe that this contributes to waste, more waste than many would like to believe, as each incidence that demands a person’s time always involves more than one person. One health system we worked with had many people say that they didn’t believe their process to be demanding, as it ‘only took one call to get what I need’. Our time study of that one call exhibited that each ‘one call’ led to a series of 10 events to finally stock the appropriate device for the patient need in the OR room where it was needed. The right product as the right time for the right patient should not be a 10 step process.
More so, Mr. Humphrey understands unintended consequences of poor process. “The Predictability Model is directly proportional to nurse satisfaction, a good hospital cannot survive without happy nurses.” Employee satisfaction depends on the availability, timeliness, accuracy and ease of use of basic work flow processes. Mr. Humphrey has built out his own Predictability Model to ensure that his clinicians are happy in their work environment by ensuring that their frustration levels are kept in check. Keeping your doctors and nurses away from the hassle of chasing devices and searching for instrumentation ensures that cases are seen on time and that OR’s run on schedule. This not only supports employee satisfaction but also patient satisfaction as wait times are reduced and expectations are met not only in quality of care but also in service.
Lastly, the focus on robust technology and a partner that can ‘pull it all together’ are two items that Mr. Humphrey says completes the equation for maximizing the supply chain. Having a partner that is integral in the delivery of your objectives and who has an expertise in delivering the processes/solutions can take your health system to new optimization levels. This rings true as many initiatives to drive cost savings are put into place but just as many are replaced on the calendar with new objectives or initiatives, so health system personnel have a calendar that is packed and untenable. A focused partner in itself can be part of your optimization strategy, knowing that the partner is left in place to not only kick off the initiative but to work within your system to drive the objective forward every day, week, month and quarter. This focus, can be just as valuable as the service or product being delivered, as the focus continues to support the day to day satisfaction of your employees and patients, not only making someone happy but loyal as well.
Please let me know if we here at Cohealo can be of service to you and your health system. Driving assets to full optimization is our service, our IT platform ties all of your facilities and people together and our team focuses on your goals and objectives to ensure we drive incremental case revenue and new asset cost avoidance. If your supply chain is a focus this year for your health system, Cohealo can be the partner you need.