St Louis hospital achieves one-third of $9M savings goal in first year
St. Anthony's Medical Center, the third-largest hospital in greater St. Louis, also serves Jefferson County, MO, and St. Clair and Monroe counties in Illinois. A tertiary care facility, its specialties include cardiology, women’s services, cancer care, orthopedics, neurology and emergency medicine. St. Anthony’s has more than 4,000 employees and 800 physicians, dentists and other medical professionals in private practice. It operates urgent care centers in Arnold, Fenton, Crestwood and Lemay.
Situation:
About a year ago, St. Anthony’s Medical Center decided to transition from a materials management mindset to a comprehensive supply chain process concept. The independent Catholic hospital wanted to implement best practices including value analysis, vendor credentialing, partnerships with clinical stakeholders and a capital equipment review process. Leadership also decided to assess its group purchasing relationship at the same time.
Solution:
In December 2007, an independent consultant helped carry out a GPO review. Requests for information were sent to six GPOs; five received an RFP with a blind market basket and in-depth survey. Comparisons included estimated administrative fee; net cash distributions based on share back or equity buildup/stock accounts or both; total cash return; value adds; market basket savings/cost increases; and overall best value.
Result:
According to the consultant’s analysis, Premier’s proposal offered total value in excess of 20 percent compared to other participants. Leadership expected the new partnership to bring $9 million in value to the independent Catholic hospital during the term of the initial contract period. Leadership has not been disappointed. The results are significantly ahead of schedule. In the first year, Premier has attained one-third of that $9 million goal.
" We’re extremely satisfied. We’re one of the few hospitals that not
only made their budgets in the last fiscal year (ending June 30), but we
actually exceeded our budget. Our relationship with Premier had something to do
with that, I’m sure. Our leadership team knows the importance of Premier. We
wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what we have without their support. Not
only has our leadership team been supportive of the initiatives we have
implemented but they have assisted in driving compliance. They understand how
important our relationship with Premier needs to be and have been totally
supportive from day one."
Perry Willmore
Director of Supply Chain Management
St. Anthony’s Medical Center