In long term care, like other areas of patient care, it is essential to contain costs as much as possible while preserving the quality of care. There will always be a breaking point, at which it does not make sense to choose the least expensive option because it fails to perform adequately.
What can administrators do to ensure that they are ordering supplies that provide the best value for their budget? There are several strategies that may prove helpful.
- Determine actual patient costs
- Evaluate in-stock inventory needs
- Compare available suppliers
- Update treatment protocols
- Enlist expert help
Determine Actual Patient Costs
The first step is to determine actual patient care costs. This is essential in determining your cost-to-revenue relationship.
Evaluate In-Stock Inventory Needs
Know what you are using. By reflecting on planned versus actual use of medical supplies in a long term care facility month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, and year-to-year, administrators may be able to identify inventory categories that could be adjusted without impacting patient care.
Compare Available Suppliers
Consider which vendors are supplying each category of medical supplies. Product purchase price should not be the only criteria. Does your supplier provide tools that help you manage your inventory more efficiently? How quickly are you able to get a shipment if your supplies are running low? Is their customer service exceeding expectations?
Update Treatment Protocols
By regularly reviewing your treatment protocols, you can adopt new approaches to care and incorporate medical supplies that are more effective, potentially decreasing costs and improving patient care outcomes.
Enlist Expert Help
The responsibilities of a healthcare administrator are seemingly endless. Taking time out to compare pricing on hundreds of supplies, comparing use from one period to another and effectively managing inventory can detract from important patient care responsibilities. By enlisting the help of long term care specialists, you can have this important data analysis presented to you, including identification of specific cost-saving measures.
Concordance Healthcare Solutions offers flexible, personalized, patient-friendly service and software tools that help with budgeting, inventory management, benchmarking, product standardization, CEU credits and in-service training. Our Long Term Care team has extensive experience with medical supply chains enabling them to provide customized cost-effective, value-added programs and solutions for our customer partners.
Take the first step toward maximizing the value of your medical supply inventory. Click here to contact a Concordance Healthcare Solutions account manager today.
.svg){kind=icon}
