Supply Chain

As Hurricane Sandy made her approach into the New Jersey and New York coastlines, Hackensack University Medical Center, in Hackensack, N.J., was busy taking all possible precautions and preparations in order to continue to safely provide necessary patient care and ensure sufficient supply levels.

The Federal Trade Commission recently held a daylong workshop to examine the ways pet medications are distributed in the U.S. and how the current practices affect consumer choice and price competition. Pet meds are big business -- American consumers spend $7 billion on them annually -- and veterinarians and pharmacists are wrangling for their piece of the pie.

With medication shortages, patient safety and accurate dosing creating daily challenges, some providers have found financial benefits in pharmacy automation solutions.

Beaumont Health System based in Troy, Mich., recently made medication error prevention a strategic imperative for improving patient safety, quality and cost across its three hospitals. In just six months, the organization was able to save nearly $535,000 in equipment purchases through the use of medication barcoding.

While hospitals historically have focused on driving down costs by making improvements in their revenue cycle, nurse productivity and supply chain management efficiency, one area that hasn't received as much attention is the costs associated with the number of assets hospitals own and maintain, said John McCarthy, general manager of asset management professional services at GE Healthcare. McCarthy shares four initiatives to help healthcare organizations reduce overall inventory and drive down costs.

Accountable care organizations are complicated, but the ins and outs of the care model have been discussed long enough. Healthcare organizations are now at a point where they have to focus on specific areas of ACOs to reduce cost and benefit patients say two healthcare consultants.

By implementing evidence-based blood transfusion guidelines and industry-wide standardizations at hospitals, there is an opportunity for hospitals to save millions annually in blood purchasing costs alone.

From intake to the back end, healthcare providers need a revenue cycle management system that will provide a seamless workflow for each episode of care. From the moment a patient registers in the facility, it is imperative that the correct information follow along each point of care so that accurate billing information can be processed and sent, RCM vendors say.

One of the comments I hear often from healthcare financial executives is that they are continuously being pushed to "do more with less." I hear this in relation to workforce management, revenue cycle process improvements, changing reimbursement models, automation efforts and IT projects.

The global market for infertility drugs and devices will reach nearly $4.8 billion in 2017, said a recent report from Transparency Market Research.