When it comes to medical device procurement and patient billing, many surgical services teams at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers use manual, paper-based processes that are inefficient and insufficient for inventory control and device tracking.
During an October webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Discover Global Network, three healthcare experts discussed how a technology-enabled procure-to-pay solution can help surgical services teams reduce administrative work and return to patient-focused care:
- John Hatchell, co-founder & chief executive officer, TYDEi Health
- Charles Weidman, co-founder & chief product officer, TYDEi Health
- Megan West, director of global business development, Discover Financial Services
Five key takeaways were:
- While many hospitals and ASCs have embarked on digital transformation, large numbers are stuck in limbo. "Lots of facilities are in a transitional stage," Mr. Hatchell said. "They've moved away from paper, but their digital solutions don't communicate well with other internal or external systems. This forces teams to rely on paper processes to supplement activities. The result is a friction-filled environment with countless inefficiencies and delays due to fragmentation."
- Buyers and suppliers have limited visibility into transactions. When surgical services teams purchase medical devices, the systems with remittance data and payments aren't integrated. As a result, correlating and reconciling data and payments are time-consuming processes. "Once a payment goes out, it's hard for healthcare organizations to get insight into the status, let alone real-time updates. On the flip side, suppliers are unsure whether payments have gone out," Ms. West said.
- TYDEi Health leverages smart contracts and shared ledger technology to streamline workflows and processes. Smart contracts automate purchase orders directly from the OR and orders based on PAR levels. Instant invoicing with integrated vendors is also possible. "TYDEi Health also uses a shared ledger system so vendors can see actions in real time. Our solution provides one system of truth for hospitals and vendor partners. This eliminates the need for additional checks and balances, reduces the non-clinical burden on surgical services teams and builds trust between vendors and healthcare organizations," Mr. Weidman said.
- TYDEi Health's partnership with Discover Global Network creates a true procure-to-pay solution. Although there is a lot of talk in the market about procure-to-pay systems that can do it all, most solutions don't handle the payment part of the equation. Thanks to the integration with Discover Global Network, TYDEi Health can automate payments directly from the point of care, creating a retail experience for healthcare that's never existed before. "By combining our payment capabilities with TYDEi's knowledge of inventory procurement and management, we have created a payment and reconciliation solution that is fully transparent to all ecosystem partners," Ms. West said.
- Onboarding payers and payees is seamless and easy. Discover Global Network supports two payment options for TYDEi facilities: electronic ACH and single-use pre-paid payments. Vendors that already accept Discover are pre-registered to accept single-use payments. In addition, payers who use single-use pre-paid payments may be eligible for a rebate on their purchase volume, which is a great revenue opportunity for healthcare organizations with slim margins.
TYDEi Health's platform and partnership with Discover Global Network enable surgical services team to renew their focus on patient-centered care. "Our aim is to create a system that empowers the people running surgical services by automating mundane administrative tasks, offering complete visibility into vendor transactions and providing actionable dashboards and data for every user," Mr. Hatchell said.
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