Premier helps Tufts Medical
Center identify $5M in savings
Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children are the principal teaching hospitals for Tufts University School of Medicine, which ranks in the top 5 percent of institutions nationwide receiving National Institutes of Health research funding. All full-time physicians hold appointments at Tufts University School of Medicine. The 451-bed medical center is the oldest permanent medical facility in New England and one of the first in the nation; the 128-bed Floating Hospital began in 1894 as a hospital ship. www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
Situation:
When Tufts Medical Center in Boston became a Premier owner, the imperative was to help the principal teaching hospital for the Tufts University School of Medicine identify as much nonlabor savings as possible. That imperative became even greater after the recent economic downturn.
Solution:
Premier Consulting Solutions™ deployed experts to work with medical center physicians and staff. The new partnership called for taking advantage of the full range of Premier resources – group purchasing, Premier’s field force, technology, tools, consulting and insurance – to help the academic medical center reduce nonlabor expenses. The medical center also aggregated its purchases with other members of the Yankee Alliance to drive further savings.
Result:
The engagement has identified nearly $5 million in nonlabor savings in just 14 months and new savings opportunities are still being uncovered. The largest single savings was $600,000 on a new contract for outsourced food and environmental services management. Premier’s Foodservice Operational Strategies experts helped structure and manage an RFP process that drove the savings: in addition, there were significant savings by switching to Premier’s U.S. Foodservice contracts.
" It’s been a good relationship – everything we expected. Consulting
engagements are difficult. They’re a lot of work. They look at hundreds of
things, and you have to mobilize department heads to do things when they’re busy
with other priorities. This is the third time in five years so that made it a
little more difficult, but it has gone well. The transition to Premier contracts
and pricing has gone well. We are pleased with our decision to utilize Premier."
Steve Cashton
Director of Supply Chain Management Tufts Medical Center