Small introduction about the st. Luke medical center that will perform total joint replacements annually that are committed to reducing their costs and maintaining the quality patient outcomes. They are offered a series of proven suggestion to achieve the cost saving process with the support of physician preference items such as:
- Team effort
Make the cost saving a team effort by recruiting the representative from the supply chain and surgical services. And, encourage the legitimacy with the physicians or doctors that include the clinical experts such as the senior technician or nurses who are knowing and understand the products that physicians request. Sometimes, the vendors will try to make you believe that their piece of plastic or metal that is proprietary. These sets of professionals will know whether the product being advertised to the physicians or doctor that is actually a new technology approach otherwise the vendors' marketing will add the costs without adding the clinical value for the patients.
- Try to understand the physician's requirements
Develop a good relationship with the physicians or doctor by understanding their requirements and engaging them in the hospitals at the cost reduction efforts. Most probably the physicians want the high quality patient outcomes and the main goal is the right implant for the right patient at the right time. So, you should achieve the certain objective before that you should know about the implant product and how to construct or define that the matched vendors' products to the patients that are required so old competitive that are required the hip replacement would probably not get the same implant for old years with the self selected sedentary lifestyle activities. The St. Luke physician performed the certain things based on the high demand device that most appropriate for a very physically active patient. When the queried the physician explained at the implant vendor had declined to provide the alternatives as well as forcing the physician into using one size to fit all the solution depends on the problem. When the hospital told the vendor that was unacceptable and provide the alternative solutions that are more closely matched the patients' requirements that are helping to pare the hospital device costs.
- Cross check the price rate
Create the system wide cost saving has important process with the support of cross checking capability to ensure you know exactly what you are getting as well as try to pay with the proper price rate for it. Working with the physicians or doctor try to create the construct process of implant that clearly identified the components and posted OR for every implant procedure that was signed by the doctor or physicians, nurse and vendor avoiding the potentially expensive to purchase the certain set of components to add on the cost rate. Before, you are issuing the payment details and material management that would be watching with the construct of vendor invoice rate to ensure the accurate payment and halted the vendor practice of requesting the payment directly to the physician or doctor that had concluded the joint replacement of the payment option.
- Track the implant costs
Try to compare the case implant cost to the hospital that actual requirement and reimbursement to determine how much of the implant cost represent. The most of standard industry for the implant cost rate is above 30 to 35 percent. So, tracking the implant cost that is quarterly allows you to see the pattern of costs and provides an opportunity to investigate the cost reduction process otherwise the discuss the standardization process for specific implant if the cost spiral upward.
- Finally investigate the cost increase or decrease the range
You should investigate the cost increase and variations when they are occurring to determine their origin. The data analysis tool can help you in tracking the cost rate and it can help the facilitate the effort to find out the cost rate. Is the increase cost rate due to using the new technology or approach that is adding the bells and whistles to existing technology or method. Otherwise, if the physicians using the product from the new vendor and they will share that information with the physicians will open at the dialogue to help in understanding the cost increase as well as help you for paving the way to discussions that could lead to be improved the cost efficiency.