SURGICAL/CRITICAL CARE
There are many products, services and devices out there that intermingle with many divisions in healthcare, according to Hontz and Warman, so the steering com- mittee meets monthly to discuss challenges, progress and next steps.
Quick wins, lasting results Warman attributes data analytics and value analysis as integral components to PBS’ success. “This team has designed and implemented innovative solutions [that] offer leadership readily available data to improve efficiency, lower cost and provide the highest quality patient care,” he noted. “The development of key performance dashboards has provided business intelligence around procedural volume, length of stay, and efficiency metrics such as, on-time-first-case-start percentages, turnover times, same-day cancellation rate and case scheduling accuracy. This team continues to push forward with innovation, linking surgical case data with quality and cost data. These efforts continue to set LVHN apart from health systems across the nation.” At press time, with an operational blue- print in place and generating results, Lehigh Valley and PBS were exploring ways to automate this process through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system as well as an automated electronic VA system, according to Hontz and Warman. Achieving perpetual cost savings in sur- gical services can be challenging, Warman indicated.
“While LVHN has implemented quick wins with savings strategies, including reducing the number of vendors utilized across service lines, [such as] urology, orthopedics, and general surgery, LVHN has come up with ways to engage our front-line colleagues to find cost savings while keeping patient safety and quality a priority,” he said. Hontz acknowledges that a series of quick wins can help establish credibility with clinicians, but the process extends much more deeply. Even though items might seem [like] a quick win, such as a surgical blade conver- sion for better price, there is still a great amount of collaboration, education and work processes that must be followed, according to Hontz and Warman. They acknowledge that while monitoring the quick win, they still have to make sure that no other products are being brought in that are similar, and they continuously measure quality and outcomes through monthly VA meetings. Clinical feed- back and integration are critical as they rely on the entire collaborative team – including physicians – so that the VA process is fol- lowed regardless of quick win or not, which drives the integrity of the process.
Pandemic posed challenges Warman says he saw the COVID-19 pan- demic as an opportunity for PBS that he did not want to go to waste. “While we utilized COVID as an opportu-
nity to review sustainability and purchasing power, we were limited to what we could actively achieve,” he said. “While LVHN did postpone inpatient volume in 2020, this was for a four-week period. By May our operat- ing rooms were running at 125% to recover the postponed surgical volume.” They approached contracting accordingly. “Our Supply Chain actively sought contracts that would sustain and cover the increased volume despite strict supplier allocations and backorders,” Hontz indi- cated. “This was an achievement [in and] of itself. Lesson learned, our Supply Chain now incorporates new ideas and language when negotiating new contracts.”
It takes a team Instead of recruiting a single person to spearhead this process and ride herd, Lehigh Valley dedicated a department to drive it. Warman indicates that decision was by design.
“To be successful in VA you must under- stand the theory of constraints,” he said. “You are only as good as getting through the process of your weakest point. To achieve this, it takes a team. Active projects in Surgical Services are approximately 30, and there are an additional six VACs at LVHN.”
Hontz prefers to treat the VACs and clini- cians as customers. “We share and bring initiatives to each other as well as work together on analysis projects and implementations,” she added. “We must co-exist as everyone shares a responsibility in the project.”
PBS motivated teamwork and achieve-
ment using gamesmanship, according to Warman.
Throughout fiscal 22 to date, PBS cre- ated multiple initiatives, such as the “Periop Olympics” and “Super Bowl of Savings,” to recruit nurses and VA teams to participate in cost-saving initiatives. Among the accom- plishments: Supply reduction and PAR level reviews across operating rooms that delayed nearly $161,000 in operational purchases during a three-month period, he noted. “This colleague engagement raised the interest of our surgeons which led them to begin their own campaign of cost reduction by removing the preference from their pref- erence cards and moving to procedure-based cards,” he said. Five notable quantitative examples include the following: • TURP (transurethral resection of the prostate) averaged $577.00 a case, and was reduced to $450.00 a case for $5,461 in annual savings
• TURB (transurethral resection of bladder tumor) averaged $277.00 a case, and was reduced to $186.00 a case for $2,093 in annual savings
Fast Facts on Lehigh Valley’s Perioperative Business Services team PBS FTEs
Number of acute care facilities serviced Number of non-acute care facilities serviced Number of OR suites
Number of beds (operating) Hospital admissions
Emergency department volume Outpatient visits Surgeries Births
Source: Lehigh Valley Health Network Perioperative Business Services, February 2022
STAFF ROSTER Lehigh Valley Health Network Perioperative Business Services • Coy Ackerman, Director, Supply Chain Analytics • Janelle Alfano, Perioperative Business Services Manager • Keith Carl, Manager, Supply Chain Value Analysis • Trevor Eisenman, Contract and Product Manager • Tamara Gates, Contract and Product Manager • Allison Hontz, Director, Contracting and Value Analysis • Eric Ross, Supply Chain Value Analysis Analyst • Alexandre Warman, Administrator, Perioperative Business Services
hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • March 2022 11
2 in PBS, 4 in SC VA
9 includes 1 Children’s Hospital 491 ~90
1,700
72,800 23,500
4.7 million 91,000 7,000
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