WORTH REPEATING
“Hospitals around the world have not only experienced unprecedented surges of critically ill COVID-19 patients, but this uncertainty and variability in patient vol- umes have also put significant stress on the healthcare supply network. At the onset of the pandemic, a rapid increase in patient volumes, coupled with the stockpiling of essential infusion consum- ables, created back orders and supply shortages — from PPE to core infusion sets and infusion pumps. In contrast, the volumes of elective surgeries are still far below pre-pandemic levels, placing additional financial burdens on hospitals and healthcare facilities.”
Matthew Hutchings, VP Global
Marketing and Innovation, Infusion Systems, ICU Medical
“Based on assessment findings from hospitals across the country, there is significant need for improvement in QA/ QC practices. The goal should always be that 100 percent of the instruments assembled and sterilized are available when needed, functional and safe to use on the patient. To accomplish 100 percent accuracy on these three critical factors, SPD management must deter- mine the number of inspections that are necessary. These inspections must be conducted by a competent person who was not the person assembling the peel pack or tray. The number of inspected items can change as findings increase/decrease. Findings should be documented so that trends can be identified. Both the SPD and OR must accurately report events for the data to be meaningful. ”
Gregg Agoston, M.B.A., Vice President, Business Development, SpecialtyCare/SPD Transformation Proper protection
“Challenges facilities face include not having the appropriate safe patient positioning devices readily available when needed, insuf ficient policies and procedures in place, and a lack of adequate training and support for staff on patient positioning. It’s no secret that healthcare workers are extremely busy, and as a result of that, the use of proper equipment and techniques can be over- looked. The best patient positioning equipment in the world has no value unless it’s being used.”
Brittany Hahn, Marketing Communications Specialist, HoverTech International
48 January 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
hpnonline.com
PEOPLE & OPINIONS
SMI Executive briefing on demand planning
by SMI members
n an ideal state, providers across the industry would be able to forecast accurately the supplies that they need for clinical care with great precision and adequate lead time. Suppliers would use these demand signals from across the marketplace to fine tune production and distribution. By minimizing the risk of disruption to the supply chain, sophis- ticated demand planning can support uninterrupted clinical care delivery at the front lines.
I
In aspiring toward this state, healthcare must mature as an industry and broadly establish competencies in the fundamen- tals of demand planning. These industry “must haves” include product category prioritization, data standards, and infor- mation sharing between trading partners. While there are pockets of such expertise and activity today, as a whole, the indus- try has yet to meet the milestones neces- sary to engage in demand planning at the same level as other industries. Planning to address spikes in demand
starts by determining what are typical purchasing and utilization levels during normal times. With this as a baseline, sup- pliers can better identify when purchas-
ing or utilization patterns are out of the ordinary. Providers should also attempt to advise suppliers when they antici- pate or are experiencing true changes in demand, given that actual need can be obscured when providers place orders with multiple vendors in an attempt to aggregate necessary volumes in the face of allocation. This executive briefing outlines, in four stages, the fundamentals that healthcare must achieve in order to advance our abil- ity to engage in more advanced demand planning.
Stage 1 – Defining the most critical products
• Purpose: Provides focus to providers and suppliers by defining the most criti- cal products with clear understanding of reason behind criticality.
• Provider Organizations: Plot your 100 most critical items in a grid, such as the one below, based on the volume of the product you use and the risk to your organization. Each organization may develop its own definition of risk, but for the purposes of this exercise, con- sider multi-dimensional risk including
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