With healthcare reform on the doorstep, providers are taking a close look at non-clinical areas – like the supply chain – to cut excess expenditures.
With that in mind, Broadlane has expanded its cost management offerings to 34 products and divided them into six service lines. In addition, the Dallas-based company, which also has offices in Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Nashville, New York City and Oakland, has renamed itself The Broadlane Group.
In related news, the company announced the launch of its Velocity analytics platform. Officials say the software-as-a-service technology will help providers save money by quickly identifying contract-saving opportunities and cost changes and targeting price accuracy and category analysis.
“Healthcare reform coupled with anticipated pay-for-performance reimbursement is creating unprecedented operational challenges for providers at the same time that they are being asked to achieve even higher levels of quality. The result has been decreased operating margins,” said Pat Ryan, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We partner with our clients to meet and overcome these challenges. We have invested millions of dollars to round out our service lines, enabling our clients to realize margin improvements while enhancing the quality of patient care."
"We will continue to broaden our capabilities across the entire continuum of care to ensure that our clients are best positioned to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment,” he said.
The company’s new divisions are:
- The Preference Group, which focuses on physician-provider collaboration and innovative sourcing with vendors;
- Healthcare Performance Partners, a Nashville-based consultant group acquired by Broadlane last October which focuses on lean process improvement methods;
- Supply Chain Solutions, which offers technology, best practices benchmarking and consulting to manage supply chain costs;
- Strategic Sourcing Solutions, which focuses on group purchasing efforts and services and contracts for environmentally preferred purchasing, historically under-used businesses and smaller suppliers;
- Capital Equipment Solutions, which targets capital equipment planning, budgeting, sourcing, selection and disposition; and
- Prolucent Workforce Management, the company’s five-year-old staffing technology and services offering, launched as a stand-alone solution earlier this year, which targets workforce sourcing and scheduling, including vendor management technology platforms.
Formed in 1999 as a group purchasing organization, the company now manages more than $10 billion in contract volume for more than 1,000 hospitals, 500 radiology centers, 500 pharmacies, 500 long-term care facilities, 3,400 ambulatory care centers and 34,000 physician practices.