Supply chain executives at the recent Premier Breakthroughs conference in Nashville agreed that physicians are getting more involved and enthusiastic about supply chain decisions.
"The staff of a major cardiology group just became employees of our hospital," said Perry Willmore, director of supply chain management at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis. "They've already established a supply committee, and what's driving their interest is the fact that they now have some 'skin in the game.' They have a different mind-set."
The Breakthroughs conference is Premier's largest membership event, designed to provide a forum for hospital supply chain officials to exchange ideas and share best practices.
As at St. Anthony's, physicians at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, which has 1,200 employed physicians, have cooperated closely with supply chain leaders.
"Things are very different now," said James O'Connor, Henry Ford's vice president of supply chain management. "We've had great success in working with physicians to competitively source spine and cardiology products."
Jim Olsen, vice president of materials resource management at the Carolinas Healthcare System in Charlotte, N.C., said his health system has improved dealings with physicians "when there's been good data to share."
Carolinas uses technology from Premier to compare products by cost, patient outcome, readmission rates and other categories.
"We can show a doctor how a specific physician-preference item is producing the same outcomes as a less expensive product," Olsen said. "The data makes a real difference."
Observers at the event emphasized that standardized product sets are just around the corner.
"Physicians want to retain the core functionality of a product without adding extraneous features that drive up costs," said Mike Alkire, Premier's COO. "And they're not as dazzled by innovation for innovation's sake. Sometimes a technical innovation doesn't improve outcomes at all. Given the changing attitudes, I hope that soon there will be some standardized product offerings coming out of the Premier alliance – perhaps starting with things like knee and hip implants."
Supply chain leaders said working closely with their group purchasing organizations on purchased services is critical to cutting costs.
"This year, I outsourced our laundry business and avoided a $20 million commitment for capital," Olsen said.
For more on supply chain, see bit.ly/hfn-supply