ly helps us avoid spending $15,000 to $20,000 on a new instrument set
that we'd rarely need.
Shop online
Have you ever reviewed how much your main supply ven-
dor is charging for items that your surgical team rarely
needs? Have you shopped around for alternate sources? At
my facility, we don't use a lot of suture — maybe 1 or 2 per case —
and saved thousands of dollars per year simply by shopping for it
online, where you might find small companies that sell you identical
supplies for 40% to 80% less than what the industry's big players are
charging.
When shopping online, pull up the websites of at least 3 companies
to compare pricing. The cost of one option might be more expensive
at first glance, but take a few minutes to drill down further, because 2-
for-1 discounts or limited-time offers could drop it below the prices of
the others. The smaller companies are usually willing to ship items
overnight and sell one-offs, which are extremely helpful when you're
looking to save money on supplies that a low-volume surgeon
requests.
Know your shipping costs
Instituting just-in-time par levels can keep inventory supply
costs down, but you'll pay tens of thousands of dollars a
year in shipping costs if you're constantly ordering supplies
overnight to keep up with just-in-time inventory management. By
always planning ahead and ordering supplies a week before they're
needed, you'll spend $8 for standard ground shipping instead of $180
for overnight delivery.
Negotiating shipping costs is a potential source of big-time savings,
5
4
4 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 6
