Healthcare Industry News: Premier Purchasing
News Release - October 13, 2006
Hospitals Save $10.7 Million in Laboratory Costs Partnering with Premier Experts
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Premier Purchasing Partners' three-member team of laboratory clinical specialists has saved members and affiliates of the healthcare alliance more than $10.7 million since the unit was formed about 18 months ago."Lab managers, faced with staffing shortages and other pressures, may not have time to keep up with the latest contracts and resources available," said Dennis Sumwalt, Premier's managing principal, Laboratory Performance Improvement. "Our clinical specialists fill that role for them - becoming in essence an extra member of the team. They also work with contracted suppliers to help them with problems and challenges as they work with our members."
Laboratory clinical specialists have produced significant savings opportunities, new contract uptake and contract optimization through laboratory supply chain reviews and rapid laboratory assessments by team members. They have also increased contract volume by nearly $46 million.
At no cost, the laboratory clinical specialists work with Premier's more than 2,000 hospital labs and freestanding clinical laboratories to get the most value from Premier contracts and to help them improve lab operations and profitability. A key aspect of the specialists' work is close coordination with the Premier field force region directors as they help build productive, long-term relationships with laboratory and material management staffs.
Bon Secours Health System Inc. (BSHSI), the Marriottsville, Md.-based Catholic health system that owns or manages 19 acute-care hospitals, will save $1.8 million in its chemistry/immunoassay lab during the next six years. In addition to savings and contract uptake, Bon Secours benefited from a new decision-making process by the system's Laboratory Committee, coached by Helene Gulczynski, the lab clinical specialist serving Premier's east zone.
BSHSI Vice President of Materials Management Ron Brady credited Gulczynski for the savings. "Her knowledge and experience were invaluable to our process. Without her involvement, it is very likely the benefits from our effort would be substantially less." "It's no longer a single hospital making a purchasing decision for the entire system. System standardization choices are now made using an objective decision matrix," Gulczynski said.
In Iowa, 17 member hospitals of Health Enterprises Cooperative (HEc), the group purchasing organization of Health Enterprises in Cedar Rapids, are sharing $500,000 in savings because of the addition of Weland Clinical Laboratories, P.C., as a CoC affiliate.
Debra DeVries, the laboratory clinical specialist who serves Premier's west zone, helped make the savings a reality by working with the former affiliate of Amerinet to get its purchases on Premier contracts. The resulting volume increase pushed all cooperative members into a more favorable contract tier.
In a similar effort, Craig Seaman, region director serving Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Jerry Hummel, a Premier CoC region director; and Susan Helms, a laboratory clinical specialist who serves Premier's central zone, worked together to bring huge savings to Healthcare Laboratory of America of Franklin, Tenn., a new Vanderbilt affiliate.
Simply by bringing existing volume in four areas under Premier contracts, volume increased by nearly $1,050,000 with savings of more than $210,000. "Additional savings are expected as contracts are reviewed," Helms said, "and Vanderbilt could very well experience additional savings through aggregation of Healthcare Laboratory of America volume when it converts to Premier contracts."
About Premier Inc.
With more than 1,700 hospitals and 42,000 other healthcare sites, Premier Inc. is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.
Source: Premier
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