STRATEGIC SOURCING & LOGISITICS to “the new nominal” shaping up as the
future marketplace. But this should not surprise anyone in the industry, according to Medline’s Pocklington. “It is natural for the industry to experi-
ence supply chain challenges, whether due to a global pandemic or natural disaster, so we must be willing to adapt and invest for the future,” he advised. “At Medline, we constantly evaluate our supply channels to ensure we are as diversifi ed and redundant as possible. We also continue to invest in people, infrastructure and technology to stay ahead of supply chain challenges.” One noteworthy area where Medline is making inroads, according to Pocklington, involves partnering with customers on insurance billing opportunities. “For example, Medline services a national home health agency, and we receive nearly 5,000 insurance orders per week from them,” he noted. “We work with this customer on third party billing opportunities to help save the home health agency out of pocket expenses as they would normally cover the cost.”
GHX’s Luoma homes in on the differing
logistical complexities across care settings. “Hospital at home necessitates all required supplies for the episode of care be delivered at the same time,” he said. “It’s not acceptable or convenient to have multiple boxes arriving to a patient’s home across several days. Few clinics or physi- cian offi ces will have dedicated supply chain experts on hand so the challenge will be deploying web-based, user-friendly tools that won’t require signifi cant staff training.”
This likely will add pressure to an orga- nization’s IT framework as it will become data-laden and data-reliant. “As care environments expand, health-
care will need to rely on its data like never before,” Luoma insisted. “As an industry, we must do a better job of putting that data to work. For exam- ple, accurate forecasting data is essential to moving inventory to where it’s most needed. Moving forward, the healthcare industry must bring even greater levels of automation to its business processes. he fi rst step is to establish a modern data strategy that integrates and normalizes data across multiple stakeholders and ensures it is clean, accurate and can fl ow easily across systems.”
12 May 2022 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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New market dynamics appear to be challenging traditional norms, according to Crampton.
“Historically, distributor, logistics and supplier models have been built to serve acute care settings,” he said. “These models have already been challenged to serve the fi ed site, non-acute environment, and in settings where even lower units of measure are required — like the home — the models will fi nd even greater impediments. his demanding and ever-expanding health- care landscape requires all of us to break our old habits and reimagine new ways to effi ciently support care delivery. “For example, in our world of logistics,
supply cross docking at our hubs allows for distribution on scheduled routes,” Crampton continued. “This lets health systems benefi t from the economies of scale of purchasing supplies in bulk while saving on shipping costs that would be incurred by shipping low-unit-of-measure supplies to individual locations.”
RDA’s Heywood highlights the growing non-acute service market that likely also will be challenged.
“There are several distributors that already service the non-acute markets effec- tively,” Heywood assured. “They have on- line capabilities to create order templates, complete with images of the products used, and create orders without the need for using a ‘hospital’ [materials management information system] application. “The new ‘nationally’ based systems will
change how manufacturers and distribu- tion representatives’ interface with them,” he continued. “Their primary point of call may be at the corporate offi ce, for eample, but they will also need occasional support from local representatives in other parts of the country. These new models will
also provide similar challenges for service providers – shredding, waste removal, etc. – by supporting 200-300 locations or more, not unlike large retail companies managing locations throughout the country.” Prodigo Solutions’ DeLuca cites Amazon Care, CVS Health, which remains in the early phases of its home-centric approach, and the partnership between Amedisys Inc. and Walmart as demonstrating how large for-profi t companies are strategi- ing to expand home health care access nationwide.
“What these companies have in common is that they are distribution and logistics juggernauts,” DeLuca said. “They have the network to succeed if patients choose to stay in their homes for care. However, I believe large IDNs can also leverage their expertise in sourcing and compliance to compete and win in these home care settings and ulti- mately retain this piece of the revenue pie. Most already have business lines dedicated to taking care of patients in their homes and have perfected their telemedicine approaches during the pandemic. And if they are able to handle the medical surgical supplies needed by the patient and deliver them using existing distribution or logistics carrier contracts, they are better positioned to handle the need. That spend would help them to continue to attack supply cost and their value analysis prowess would ensure the compliance and quality required in the healthcare industry.” HPN
More online: New logistics market modeling involves more clini- cal coordination between Supply Chain, provid- ers, suppliers -
https://hpnonline.com/21263520
Gazing ahead a decade at the new logistical order -
https://hpnonline.com/21263521
Retail care outlets like CVS’ Minute Clinic represent the newest segment of the remote care span.
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