Williams contacted her local rep and asked for his best price. Days
later, 3 oximeters arrived on her desk at no charge. All Ms. Williams
had to do was agree to purchase the oximeter's disposable sensors
from the company. "Three years ago, when I started in my position, I
would have called for a quote," she says. "I asked and was able to get
the device at no up-front cost and a reasonable usage agreement."
Mary Peterson, a surgical services consultant based in Ottumwa,
Iowa, has worked in hospitals across the country. She's often called
into facilities to turn red budgets black and knows how rare it is to
find surgical leaders with keen financial sense.
"Surgery is a facility's moneymaker, and leaders who know how to
manage the bottom line and bring in needed equipment at competitive
prices are tremendous assets," says Ms. Peterson. "It's amazing how
many hospital CEOs don't know anything about what goes on in the
OR. They put more responsibilty on us because they know we'll get
the job done."
Ms. Hrnicek's frustration mounts when vendor reps attempt to cir-
cumvent her authority by approaching surgeons directly. If there's
any doubt about who controls access to the hospital's ORs, she sets
the record straight. "I talk to them about the purchasing process we
have in place and make it perfectly clear that requests goes through
me and no one else," she says. "If they don't, the reps won't be back
to do business in the hospital."
Columbus Community spends in excess of $1 million each year on
capital equipment, according to Ms. Hrnicek, who says the facility is
investing in technology upgrades that have been long overdue. She
adds that the hospital's budget typically doesn't have enough funding
to satisfy all of the requests from surgeons and staff. According to the
survey, 50% of hospital respondents and 20% of ASC respondents also
deal with underfunded capital equipment budgets.
4 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A n U A R Y 2 0 1 8
