Key takeaways:
- Watch the full webinar opens in a new tab to learn more about the actionable steps Kaleida Health took to achieve value analysis success and a clinically integrated supply chain for cost, quality and outcomes (CQO) improvement.
- Get a behind-the-scenes look opens in a new tab at Kaleida Health’s transformational success.
Given the supply chain can account for as much as 40 percent opens in a new tab of total hospital expenditures, cost, quality and outcomes (CQO) alignment is paramount with all stakeholders and functional areas of supply chain working as one.
Against this backdrop, a clinically integrated supply chain presents a significant opportunity, with value analysis opens in a new tab a core operational mindset for Kaleida Health. The organization’s contemporary value analysis model fuses perspectives from executive leaders, clinical quality and safety, and purchasing professionals, and incorporates evidence-based decisions to improve CQO, and decrease variability.
In 2022 alone, Kaleida Health recognized more than $17.7 million in savings solely from its data-driven value analysis methodology and process – supported hand in hand with Premier and Nexera experts.
In a recent webinar, Dr. John Pollina of Kaleida Health and Dr. Kristin Boehm, Physician Advisor with Nexera shared how this partnership enabled clinical-supply chain integration that drove significant savings and united key stakeholders to advance quality patient care.
As a foundation, Kaleida Health worked with Premier’s Nexera supply chain consulting team to align team structure and organizational goals, both financial and operational, with the value analysis process and deploy a systemwide, physician-led decision-making structure.
“You have the C- suite individuals, the clinicians, and Nexera/Premier working together to collaborate and communicate individual goals and individual needs. That’s really the first time I have to admit where the initiation of the process started with that, and I think that’s extremely helpful for all the parties to understand what we need and what our pain points are, what are the potential obstacles, and really start to align each other’s goals to be common. So, if I had to say what differentiated this process with many processes in the past, it would be the initial collaboration and communication amongst each of the stakeholders.”
– Dr. John Pollina, Director of Comprehensive Spine Surgery, Kaleida Health
Today, the healthcare supply chain has evolved as a strategic enterprise-wide function – capable of delivering greater value, margin improvement and positive outcomes for providers and the communities they serve.
Beyond internal alignment, Kaleida Health also looked to engage both supplier and GPO partners in the spirit of collaboration and mutually beneficial gain. For instance, the organization leveraged advanced business intelligence capabilities – including integrated and real-time clinical, supply and operational data analytics – to achieve a leg up in standardization, savings and price parity across the system.
“A transactional supply chain focuses on the day- to- day tasks and operations, and it uses basic fundamental supply chain technology and data sets that focuses on contract renewal and price negotiations. A clinically integrated supply chain looks beyond price to process and quality improvements. And this means shifting from a transactional to a more strategic mindset. It means a willingness to work not only within supply chain, but beyond it and with personnel outside it as well. It means a willingness to participate in a forum that fosters collaboration with clinical stakeholders, and it means a willingness to explore more sophisticated data sets that have robust analytics. And this is actually an area where partnerships with the GPO can be very advantageous.”
– Dr. Kristin Boehm, Physician Advisor, Nexera
Evidence-based decision making starts with a foundation of holistic, accurate and actionable data on which to rely.
Data sources ─ including internal, external and GPO-based solutions ─ provided Kaleida Health decision support around cost, quality, safety, outcomes and reimbursement. While there is no substitute for the culture or staff needed to conduct value analysis, an all-in-one research, workflow and communications platform can aid in the evaluation of products and services and enable purchasing decisions that are both fiscally responsible and aligned with quality improvement.
1 – “A key factor that has to be present and brought to value analysis is solid analytics. And again, this is where supply chain and the GPO can really play a notable contributing role. Data is crucial to engaging physicians. You can’t approach physicians to discuss buying patterns and decisions without relevant and factual data. So, supply chain is now key to accessing and presenting these new levels of data that are required to engage their clinical partners and make more strategic purchasing decisions.”
Dr. Kristin Boehm, Physician Advisor, Nexera
2- “Clinicians are sort of data consumers. We need information. That’s how we make decisions, how we execute plans. So, one of the things I found, amongst many, that I found helpful, was the incredible amount of data and information that was provided to us, so that we felt we were making decisions based off of really good information. Data can come in a lot of different forms and data can be good and bad, but having really robust, very valuable, good data, provided an opportunity for us as clinicians to really understand the landscape and where we were at and where we could go, and it allowed us to create a path to get there.”
– Dr. John Pollina, Director of Comprehensive Spine Surgery, Kaleida Health
With important services delivered through two long-term care facilities, outpatient clinics and home healthcare, Kaleida Health is working with Premier and Nexera to address shifts in site of care through an integrated ambulatory care and physician enterprise strategy – aligning relationships with local providers and expanding its focus on population health.
The collective team will continue its work in establishing clinician standards and expectations across the ambulatory enterprise – underpinned by transparent data sharing – to enhance quality and efficiency, reduce provider variation of care and drive revenue enhancement.
Value analysis is at the center of Kaleida Health’s core quality initiatives this year, including coordinated efforts to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) rates, implementation of a unique enteral feeding connector, and decision making through Premier’s pediatric-focused collaborative and purchasing alliance, Kiindo opens in a new tab®.
In a consumer-centric environment of star and other benchmark and rating systems, quality measures have a large-scale impact for providers – affecting consumer choice, inclusion in insurer- and employer-sponsored narrow networks, and reimbursement.
“From the financial perspective, clinically integrated networks with preventative care protocols and their greater efficiencies, are going to yield a better margin in the fixed payment world and potentially avoid hack penalties. The emphasis on value over volume, allows hospitals to achieve market differentiation, and that can be very attractive to healthcare plans and serve as a catalyst for payer partnerships. Hospitals that can show lower lengths of stay, lower readmission rates and more appropriate care, will distinguish themselves in a crowded market space and can potentially benefit from increased business, secondary to consumers and companies that want to have their care within those types of walls.”
– Dr. Kristin Boehm, Physician Advisor, Nexera
7 Key Imperatives for Successful Value Analysis
- Obtain alignment of C-suite for process oversight and management.
- Build enterprise-wide physician leadership in supply chain decision making.
- Establish a systemwide, sustainable process that drives cost reduction while maintaining and improving quality, clinical outcomes, service and safety.
- Identify initiatives based on evidence, best practice, and clinical and financial goals.
- Engender clinical accountability.
- Monitor results and provide metrics against goals/KPIs.
- Create transparency among executives, clinical stakeholders and supply chain with ongoing and regular communication.
Today’s value analysis is a transforming methodology in healthcare that helps providers select products and services based not on personal preference, but on the best overall value they bring to the organization and its patients.
Nexera’s embedded team of subject matter experts joins forces with hospitals and health systems to provide them with the supply chain management tools and services necessary to deliver this value, realize savings and identify positive outcomes for their facilities and communities they serve.
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