SURGICAL/CRITICAL CARE by Rick Dana Barlow


SURGICAL PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE IN SUPPLY CHAIN


Lehigh Valley perioperative business team soars through surgical savings


Eric Ross, Keith Carl, Tamara Gates, Coy Ackerman, Alexandre Warman, Janelle Alfano, Trevor Eisenman, Allison Hontz W


hen it comes to helping surgical ser- vices holistically control expenses and generate cost savings in how they care for patients and equip clinicians across the sprawling Lehigh Valley Health Network in the eastern Pennsylvania, a small team of six certainly means business. Led by Alexandre Warman, Administrator, the Perioperative Business Services (PBS) team specializes in perioperative services support, network perioperative value analy- sis and perioperative data analytics to enable surgeons, physicians and nurses to perform surgical and endoscopic procedures as cost-effectively as possible across 18 distinct locations. This team also manages central- ized scheduling and billing for the Network. Warman’s team reports to the President of Lehigh Valley-Hecktown Oaks and the Vice President, Perioperative Services. The second team, Contracting and Value Analysis, led by Allison Hontz, Director, reports to the Vice President, Supply Chain and Chief Procurement Offi cer.


“We are two teams in two different divi-


sions, but attached to the hip,” Warman noted.


Roughly 90 miles due west of New York City and roughly 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Allentown may serve as the hub for Lehigh Valley’s network, but within the last four years the PBS team has seen its sphere of infl uence span coordinated health sites in nearby Bethlehem, Phillipsburg and


Stroudsburg as well, with the number of sur- gical procedures supported exceeding 88,000 in fi scal year 221 from nearly 5, four years earlier, a 57 growth rate in volume. And they’re projecting more than 91,000 in fi scal year 222, according to Warman. The expansion motivated Lehigh Valley to centralize and standardize processes for sur- gical and endoscopic procedures through- out the network, which helped to bolster enterprise-wide value analysis efforts. The necessity to leverage market share


and partnerships with key suppliers became necessary, Hontz and Warman explain to Healthcare Purchasing News. As LVHN acquired new facilities, the need to cen- tralize and standardize became priority. From a Surgical Services perspective [value analysis] moved to a Business Service func- tion and grew to cover all 18 locations, they emphasize.


Lehigh Valley created a Network Value Analysis Steering Committee in 21 that oversaw seven committees specializing in selected areas, including radiology, patient care, surgical services, pharmacy, cardiology, business/purchased services and physician practice offi ces a k a LVP (for Lehigh Valley Physicians roup). In 22, Lehigh Valley created the Network


role of Director, Contracting and Value Analysis, and hired Hontz for the position. She reports to the Vice President and Chief Procurement Offi cer of Supply Chain but


10 March 2022 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com


also has a connection to all seven of the Value Analysis Committees. And while PBS may mean business, it’s not all business. “I would say that it is not 1 a business function,” Warman said. “I think it is purely just under the name of business, but we are 1 a mix of both clinical and business, utilizing all members of the team.” Rather than launch a value analysis proj- ect exploring a particular specialty, such as cardiology or orthopedics due to the high cost of implants and supplies and recruiting surgeons to participate based on outcomes- based data, PBS instead spread out more holistically across the enterprise, earning the team the inaugural Surgical Performance Excellence in Supply Chain Award by HPN. “It doesn’t make sense to silo the work,” Warman said. “LVHN utilizes physician chiefs and physician leaders in addition to business leaders and other subject mat- ter experts to lead projects. Other (Subject Matter Experts) SMEs include [Information Systems], Infection Control, Supply Chain Analytics, Supply Chain Management, Value Analysis (VA) and other VA teams as necessary, as there is overlap with many products. We collaborate as a team. It does not come from top down or bottom up, but rather from the collective group.” Lehigh Valley wanted PBS to move away from the silo mentality several years ago as an impetus for the Network VA program.


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