Supply chain

While suppliers are working to mitigate blood collection tube shortages through protective allocation strategies and focusing production on tubes with the highest demand, those actions alone won’t immediately solve the problem. Providers must also consider ways to conserve allocated supplies by approaching blood collection in a more strategic — and flexible — way.

Though providers are short staffed, tired and struggling with the impact of the financial, product and logistical challenges of the past two years, they continue to look ahead at how they can isolate themselves from such challenges in the future. Vizient believes that supply assurance begins with solving for issues more upstream in the supply chain to ensure transparency, data and redundancy make that last mile delivery smooth and reliable.

Deploying effective strategies to maximize MRO spend can help ensure that maintenance, repair and operations remains the invisible hero of your hospital.

Mitigating shortages of IV solutions can be difficult, but preparation makes it less so. The health systems that previously navigated such challenges had several tactics in common, including conservation and collaboration strategies.

Recent innovations in the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging (NMMI) represent several scintillating moments that have a big-picture effect on health care.

By consistently scrutinizing social and environmental impact in all purchasing decisions, health care organizations can leverage their total purchasing power to influence suppliers and vendors to lower their carbon emissions, use safer chemicals, reduce waste, and also improve diversity and social responsibility.

Hospitals can play an important role in reducing the future impacts of climate change through more sustainable planning, design and construction. It requires prioritizing using carbon capture products and working with net zero manufacturers, adding electric vehicles to the fleet and incentivizing employees to transition to electric vehicles. As thought leaders, we must boldly invest in climate-resilient design with health equity at the center.

It has been 20+ years since my first foray into value analysis. Sure, we have more data on patient outcomes, cost and even the benefit of peer benchmarking but to move toward savings goals through less variation in devices and related supplies, a physician champion is still needed to lead the charge. And the burning question remains: “How do you engage physicians?”

Amid all the uncertainties facing the health care industry today, one thing is clear. We need to continue to improve the health of our communities and do so in a way that supports, honors and leverages diversity. One of the most impactful actions hospitals can take is to reimagine their sourcing—from accounting and IT services, to landscaping and laundry, to biomedical services and surgical products—creating a broader, more equitable network of diverse suppliers. The benefits are far reaching, creating local jobs that strengthen the local economy and in turn, improving health outcomes and equity.