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S U P P L Y C H A I N
M A N A G E M E N T
surgical supplies, items include laboratory, merchant processing, imaging,
construction, cell phone service, office supplies, janitorial supplies, and the list goes on. But you have to take the initiative and follow up on these deals. This requires hard work and diligence.
In addition, GPO members must continually update their GPO-based contracts with vendors. The typical contract between a GPO and a
vendor expires in 3 years. If you do not keep up with expiration dates, you will be in for some nasty surprises. For instance, you get your distributor rep to link you to a great GPO discount, but the discount expires the next month and all those great savings evaporate. GPOs
rarely alert you when contracts are about to expire, so you need to proactively monitor expirations. The burden of GPO utilization falls on you and your staff.
Example of savings: You can lower your medical and surgical supply spending by as much as 30% by linking your vendors to GPO contracts. For example, a surgery center saved more than $140,000 per year by
signing more aggressive GPO contracts.
2. Staying with brand-name products Buying brand-name supplies, devices and pharmaceuticals is always the most costly alternative. A better choice is to take advantage of the "private label" brands that many GPOs and medical distributors offer. Private label brands, which are like generics, cover such items as gloves, gauze, tape and bandages. They may even cover highend products such as orthopedic supplies. The savings for these products come from eliminating the costs of sales reps and streamlining the supply chain.
You can also realize big savings using generic pharmaceuticals
instead of brand names. Some examples of generic substitutions are meperidine instead of Demerol and ondansetron instead of Zofran.
