Yankee Alliance, Premier help hospital engineer financial turnaround
Anna Jaques Hospital, a 123-bed community hospital, serves 17 cities and towns near Newburyport, Mass. In 2007, the wound center was named number one in the nation, recognized for its 96.6 percent healing rate. The hospital has an endocrinology and diabetes center, a Primary Stroke Service, a Level III Trauma Center, and a birth center with neonatal care center. In 2008, AJH completed construction of Newburyport Medical Center, which will include the area’s first comprehensive cancer care center.
Situation:
Anna Jaques Hospital (AJH) needed to find a way to achieve financial stability. Despite seeing revenue growth between 8 percent and 12 percent, they were losing money due to a 10 percent to 15 percent growth in expenses. Further, Moody’s Investors Service changed AJH’s credit-worthiness outlook rating to negative.
Solution:
AJH signed up for Premier’s Supply Chain Advisor™, an online automated contract management system. They also joined the Yankee Alliance, a Premier member that is a regional alliance of 54 hospitals in New England and New York. Doing so allowed them to take advantage of Premier contracts on an aggregated basis as well as access regional Yankee contracts.
Result:
In less than a year, AJH went from a $1.5 million loss to a $56,000 operating surplus. The hospital saved more than $1 million in supply costs, reduced expenses by 4 percent, and gained the ability to benchmark with other hospitals in their alliance. Moody’s has also upgraded AJH’s rating to stable.
" Yankee and Premier are really geared toward my hospital. We get all
the value and benefits of one of the greatest purchasing organizations in the
world, but we also have a local value-add above and beyond that."
Mark Goldstein
Chief Financial Officer
Anna Jaques Hospital