even if you're
not ordering
supplies on an
as-needed
basis. Will
your main
supply vendor
waive ship-
ping fees in
exchange for
all the busi-
ness you pro-
vide? If the
vendor insists
on charging,
use the account your facility has with a delivery service such as
FedEx if frequent use qualifies you for a volume discount.
Some vendors require certain items to be shipped overnight,
because they have to be temperature-controlled in order to maintain
sterility. If that's the case, perhaps you can negotiate a deal that cov-
ers those shipping costs. Our main vendor of orthopedic implants
waives the price of overnight shipping if we pay by credit card at the
time of ordering. That minor detail saves us around $800 on a ship-
ment of $20,000 in hardware. We also have the option when ordering
online to split up orders placed with the vendor, so we pay ground
shipping for basic supplies that don't need to be sent overnight.
M A Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 9
• ON-THE-SPOT REMINDER Instrument tech Hubert Martinez checks the sheet that lists the costs of select
surgical supplies used at Bay Surgery Center.
