Healthcare Distribution Trends and Opportunities in 2019

After reflecting on our 2018 accomplishments we are excited to focus on the year ahead. 2019 is sure to be filled with new challenges for all areas of healthcare; health systems, long term care facilities, surgery centers, primary care practices and more.

When health systems and other healthcare providers are caring for a patient, it’s important that the products and supplies they need are readily available. Products and supplies are easily accessible in an efficient supply chain so providers can care for patients. The procurement process can encounter delays, preventing the delivery of needed supplies, causing frustrations and taking away time from focusing on patient needs. Distributors can alleviate stress caused by delays by building functional end-to-end supply chains to meet your unique needs. 

Trends
Healthcare distributor partnerships are essential in acquiring supplies, managing inventory, reducing costs and saving time. Here are some trends and opportunities we see in 2019:

1. Prime Vendor
   A prime vendor healthcare distributor supports your needs in many ways from streamlining ordering, providing easy access to products and product alternatives during back orders, reducing supply chain costs and much more.

2. Customer Focus
   Healthcare providers want a responsive distributor with strong customer focus. Every market tries to find cost-savings, but in 2019 they also want a healthcare distribution partner focused on their unique needs. Strong customer focus contributes to business growth and success for both the customer and the distributor. 

3. True Distribution Partnerships
   Healthcare providers rely on distributor partnerships for more than just products and supplies. More systems will rely on these partnerships in 2019, transitioning away from basic, transaction-based relationships. Like other consumers, healthcare professionals want a trusted advisor who respects how hard they work on behalf of their communities, patients and team.

Opportunities
Concordance, and other distributors like us, play an integral part in how health systems and other healthcare providers approach their supply chain needs, plans and overall strategies. There are a variety of opportunities and benefits to working with distribution partners. The first of which is that channeling products and supplies via a distributor creates a main source for supplies. This streamlining of inventory management provides the opportunity to reduce costs.

Distributors service multiple healthcare delivery points and understand the uniqueness and complexity of each. Because they work with many manufacturers to offer a wide variety of products, they are able to provide the right products to meet the needs of each healthcare provider. This ensures that providers, at all levels of the health system, have what they need to provide quality care while also giving the health system consistency in supply chain.

Distributors also know that providers working in home care, long term care, acute care and more, perform multiple functions in addition to their position, adding more stress to their jobs. Working with a distributor can assuage ordering stress by creating new efficiencies so providers can spend less time managing supplies and more time caring for patients. In turn, healthcare providers can enjoy less stress and more satisfaction in their positions while patients enjoy similar satisfaction reflected in their quality of care.

Concordance Healthcare Solutions focuses on understanding our customer needs so that we can create customized supply chain management portfolios. Contact us to discuss how we can help meet your supply chain needs in 2019.