Five industry leaders shared supply chain tips with Becker's ASC Review. Here are their insights:
Cheryl Poplaski, Vizient's senior director of supply chain operations: To prepare for supply chain disruptions, ASCs should plan ahead by reviewing data. "When suppliers regulate product distribution by allocation amounts, check your data and review with your sales rep to ensure allotment is sufficient to cover actual usage," Ms. Poplaski said.
H-Source CEO John Kupice: ASCs can be more efficient when considering alternative supply sources. "Alternate sourcing can reap big savings and eliminate waste by allowing for variable quantity purchases, [like if a practice] needs two instead of a box of six," Mr. Kupice said.
Garry Cooper, PhD. CEO and co-founder of Rheaply: "Data and analytics have made us rethink what the supply chain means in a clinical setting. Value-based medicine is now unanimously considered a better way to approach healthcare. But by and large, there still needs to [be a] better way to connect new technology to everyday ASC processes and turn this data into an opportunity to reduce waste and unnecessary expenses in ASCs. From a resource procurement perspective, manufacturers have to know what they have and what's needed at all times, [as well as] when it's going to expire, and then use that information to be able to make informed decisions about purchasing equipment or exchanging surplus equipment. This could be donating or exchanging items from one healthcare facility to another facility."
Z5 Inventory CEO Carl Natenstedt: "Dedicating someone who has a specialty in supply chain [should] handle the supply chain. As soon as someone is spending all their time focused on improving the system, the system improves. It's like magic."
Chris Childers, the national sales director of strategic accounts for Cardinal Health: "ASCs or surgical hospitals should expect their distributor to be able to help them achieve operational excellence through in-depth assessments of their supply chain and clinical operations. At Cardinal Health these assessments help customers improve first time fill rates, remove excess or expired inventory and find solutions to the space constraints in ambulatory facilities."