At the 19th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago on Oct. 26, Daren Smith, director of clinical services for Surgical Management Professionals, gave several tips on how ASCs can find success with their materials management.
1. Staffing. Determining how many staff members should be devoted to materials management is not an exact science, Mr. Smith said. However, there is a general rule that it takes 0.1 to 0.2 full-time-equivalent employees per 1,000 cases an ASC is doing. Factors that affect that range include specialty mix, supply catalog, software support and job duty distribution.
2. Price. ASCs get the best price on their materials through group purchasing organizations. MedAssets, Novation, Amerinet, Premier and many others are prominent within the industry, and ASCs may also consider affiliate groups, which are affiliates of GPOs.
3. Distribution. A lot of an ASC's material management money goes toward distribution. Distributors mark-up costs and add on shipping charges for GPO-negotiated products, and ASCs must be aware of every penny that is going toward this extra party.
"Hold business reviews quarterly," Mr. Smith added. "If you're not doing this, get a hold of your distributor right away. Sit down with the distributor, and have them give you information on products that you're ordering."
4. Shipping. ASCs should conduct a shipping charge analysis to see what their shipping costs are. Mr. Smith recommended ASCs provide their own UPS and/or FedEx numbers for direct manufacturer and GPO purchases, which could save 40 to 50 percent on shipping costs.
5. Monitoring. ASCs with efficient materials management processes in place should not rest on their laurels. Materials management is a "game of constant change," Mr. Smith said.
ASCs should have several benchmarks, such as percentage of purchases made on contract ("90 percent of things you're buying should be on-contract," Mr. Smith said) and amount of dead stock (less than 2 percent of supplies on hand).
1. Staffing. Determining how many staff members should be devoted to materials management is not an exact science, Mr. Smith said. However, there is a general rule that it takes 0.1 to 0.2 full-time-equivalent employees per 1,000 cases an ASC is doing. Factors that affect that range include specialty mix, supply catalog, software support and job duty distribution.
2. Price. ASCs get the best price on their materials through group purchasing organizations. MedAssets, Novation, Amerinet, Premier and many others are prominent within the industry, and ASCs may also consider affiliate groups, which are affiliates of GPOs.
3. Distribution. A lot of an ASC's material management money goes toward distribution. Distributors mark-up costs and add on shipping charges for GPO-negotiated products, and ASCs must be aware of every penny that is going toward this extra party.
"Hold business reviews quarterly," Mr. Smith added. "If you're not doing this, get a hold of your distributor right away. Sit down with the distributor, and have them give you information on products that you're ordering."
4. Shipping. ASCs should conduct a shipping charge analysis to see what their shipping costs are. Mr. Smith recommended ASCs provide their own UPS and/or FedEx numbers for direct manufacturer and GPO purchases, which could save 40 to 50 percent on shipping costs.
5. Monitoring. ASCs with efficient materials management processes in place should not rest on their laurels. Materials management is a "game of constant change," Mr. Smith said.
ASCs should have several benchmarks, such as percentage of purchases made on contract ("90 percent of things you're buying should be on-contract," Mr. Smith said) and amount of dead stock (less than 2 percent of supplies on hand).
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