Electronic catalog, TeleRD give rural hospital access to savings
Located in the state of Washington just north of Spokane, Newport Health and Hospital Services consists of Newport Community Hospital, two family care centers, a long-term care center, and a retirement community/assisted living facility. The hospital is trauma Level IV facility. It is one of the largest hospitals among the 40 members of the Hospital Shared Services Association (HSSA), a regional group purchasing organization that is a member of Premier Purchasing Partners.
Situation:
While Newport Community Hospital—a small, rural hospital—operates profitably, it’s a struggle to manage every cent and maintain high patient care standards.
Solution:
With Premier’s TeleRD Program and e-sourcing, Newport found a way to cut costs significantly through increased penetration of Premier contracts.
Result:
Newport increased its signed contracts from 10 to 36, with 19 aggregated for better tier level pricing through Hospital Shared Services Association (HSSA), a regional group purchasing organization that is a Premier member. Three entire supply categories were converted to on-contract pricing. In office supplies the hospital reduced the stocked items by 30 percent, doubled supply contract penetration and saved more than $4,000 in nine months.
"In the past we relied on a sales rep for information about new contracts and
ended up with tons of paper, inches thick, and most of it not applicable to us.
Even with no previous training in contracts, e-sourcing has streamlined the
process. It puts us into the loop so we understand. That’s been huge for us."
Linda Kelly
Materials Management Supervisor
Newport Community Hospital