Comments for The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Comment on Recalls cost hospitals time and money. Shouldn’t we be compensated? by Anna Bandy

Anna Bandy — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:53:53 +0000

I could not agree more that recalls and alerts cost healthcare facilities a great deal of money. Not only from the bullet points described in the article, but also included in that cost maybe the cost of any subscription or service facilities use to manage and document recalls. We regularly get visits from FDA personnel to confirm how the recall was managed. Also, on many of the largest most time consuming and expensive recall, like the Triad swab recall, you have the cost of the product you must return or dispose of and do NOT get replacement product. When you factor in all the kits those products were in, imagine how much that cost all of us. Plus with recalls such as that, you often need to respond to several sources. With equipment, often we also have our Biomed staff time in upgrading or applying the fix.

With so many pieces of equipment having “software” components, the number of recalls has increased significantly in recent years. And, often, the “fix” creates a new issue and on goes the recall.

I would love to see some sort of compensation, but can see where this will require some creativity in situations where the recalls that cost the most are ones where the vendor may not have the financial resources to compensate us. Good article and hope it raises awareness! At the very least, we need to be aware of vendors who more frequently have recalls and start to recognize that as a cost of doing business with them.

Comment on Yolk: Being smart about standardization by Jeffrey A. Wendel, MBA, CBMA/CBMC,CFC, CIPM ® , CPM/PM

Jeffrey A. Wendel, MBA, CBMA/CBMC,CFC, CIPM ® , CPM/PM — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:13:00 +0000

Standardizing as the new term for healthcare seems to run abroad is generally a proactive method of cutting costs for duplication of consumables and supplies. Society in healthcare has become comfortable with availability of options and resources, however with technology, accountability and profit margin, the term Standardization becomes more essential to the needs of profit margin, costs, and Lean Six Sigma actions.

Another factor pushing back from standardization is our healthcare providers whom are acustom to traditional methods, and old and new are conflicting in types of supplies and preferences abroad, which lead to many duplicate supplies and change in habit receives much push back in many cases, whether or not the overall outcome is savings to the company.

In any segement of Lean Six Sigma, value added definitions and outcomes are nearly all outcomes, however require spending in order to implement, but provide effective and managable cost savings to all projects designed and implemented.

As our society grows older, younger professioinals move inward, the need for cost savings will endour over time, and provide standardization by default due to the technology and availability of supplies nationwide. That makes good business sense!

Comment on Quick Poll by Dorothy Gosnell

Dorothy Gosnell — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:46:48 +0000

I am also an Independent Rep in California and I cannot agree more with both of my peers.
Many ISR’s I know are leaving the acute market to sell into other arenas that are less constrictive to doing busines, such as the Long Term Care market.
Credentialling also pushes all of us to do more business via phone and email, which takes away the personal aspect of developing relationships you get with face to face selling.

Comment on Quick Poll by Steve Zindell

Steve Zindell — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:33:32 +0000

I am an independent rep in the Chicago area and I agree 100% with Sheila Jones…the biggest threat to my business is credentialing. I started Acute Care Medical back in 1983 and I built a huge network of professionals in hospitals, who helped me build my business; credentialling has severely limited my ability to see most of these people let alone the cost factor that is involved.

Comment on Quick Poll by Sheila Jones

Sheila Jones — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:18:47 +0000

As an independent manufacturer’s rep, none of the above – the most threatening thing to my business is credentialing. The credentialing organizations are not set up for reps that work for multiple companies – only companies that have multiple reps. With all of the credentialing companies affecting multiple product lines, it could cost a fortune for me to stay up to date on all – not to mention the time.

Comment on Quick Poll by M Casassa

M Casassa — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:16:24 +0000

Decreased reimbursement to below cost in many cases is seriously eroding most hospital’s ability to provide quality services no matter how efficient or lean they become.

Comment on Quick Poll by Brenda Clayton

Brenda Clayton — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:14:21 +0000

It is not Healthcare Reform directly but between the Federal cut backs in healthcare spending and state sharing of services, and the state cut backs due to federal and lack of budget recovery activities, plus the additional coverage to be funded by the states and federal governments, the end game is the hospital will have to give up reimbursement to be able to fund what the federal and state governments do not.

Comment on Quick Poll by Jerry Ryan

Jerry Ryan — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:38:47 +0000

I beleive that Healthcare Reform and Reimbursment are one in the same.

Comment on Quick Poll by Dave Harrington

Dave Harrington — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:21:09 +0000

We need consistent and adequate reimbursement to allow for quality care.

Comment on Medtronic and GPOs – Everything Old is New Again by Bob Yancy

Bob Yancy — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 20:27:02 +0000

Interesting post from a gentlemen in a position to know the GPO market. Our statistically significant experience in processing medical device transactions indicates non-contracted device purchases are consistently lower in price.