Premier’s ASCEND, MySpend help KY hospital drive supply chain savings
Methodist Hospital, Henderson, KY, provides services to Henderson, Union and Webster counties. The 216-bed hospital also operates a 25-bed critical access hospital in Morganfield. Methodist recently opened a Women’s Pavilion and a new surgery area. In partnership with the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine and the Appalachian Osteopathic Post-Graduate Training School Consortium (A-OPTIC), Methodist operates an osteopathic family practice program. www.methodisthospital.net
Situation:
Independent hospitals – particularly smaller ones in rural areas – must remain viable to compete and serve their communities. They don’t have larger organizations’ deep pockets and buying power. Take Methodist Hospital in Henderson, KY, which must serve its community while competing with larger hospitals within easy driving distance. The economic downturn has not made the job any easier.
Solution:
Recognizing this challenge, Premier developed the ASCEND™ (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) program to help participants achieve and sustain rapid supply chain performance improvement and to encourage ongoing efforts to control and reduce costs through simplified purchasing processes, appropriate clinical utilization, and specially negotiated contracts. Supporting the program are Premier's proprietary analytical tools – chief among them SpendAdvisor® MySpend™, the healthcare alliance’s spend management decision support tool. More than 90 participants with nearly $2.7 billion in purchasing volume are working together to share best practices in supply chain efficiency.
Result:
Materials Management Director Don Nauser Jr., was so impressed with ASCEND when he was invited to participate in the original brainstorming session in August 2008, he fought for Methodist to be a part of it. He and the leadership of Methodist have not been disappointed.
- Methodist has been using MySpend since July and has a much better picture of its spend. MySpend has paid for itself several times over. In one category the hospital was paying over contract price; contracted suppliers owe Methodist tens of thousands of dollars, which would never have been discovered without the tool.
- In September 2009, Methodist reduced supply chain expenses as a percent of operating revenue from 13.46 percent to 12.17 percent.
- In October, the combined total for medical supplies, food and drugs and general supplies was down 9.14 percent when compared to budget..
"Numbers don’t lie. I’ve been very pleased with ASCEND and MySpend. It’s
only going to get better. Not to compromise my position on the ASCEND committee,
but some suppliers have come full circle in their opinion of ASCEND and what
Premier’s trying to do. Some major players realized they were going to be left
behind if they didn’t embrace the concept. Some didn’t give ASCEND any
credibility initially. We have accomplished what we wanted to do, and that’s to
affect market share. . . . MySpend has paid for itself already, several times
over. It’s an incredible tool. If I had enough time, I’d use it for hours."
Don Nauser Jr.
Director, Materials Management Methodist Hospital
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