Value Analysis Non-Salary Expense Reduction Supply Chain Management Savings

Strategic Value Analysis In Healthcare
	Advancing Healthcare Organizations to the Next Level of Supply Chain Savings^TM
	STRATEGIC VALUE ANALYSIS NEWSLETTER

Home

Weekly Strategic Value Analysis Newsletter

Fast Target Savings

Strategis^TM Value Management

ValueNet Central^TM Value Analysis Software

About HCP

Client List

Articles and White Papers

Contact HCP

SPANNING THREE DECADES OF VALUE MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP

DECEMBER 19, 2002

Our Organization Is Different. MAYBE!

Robert T. Yokl - President - The HCP Group, Ltd.

“ When You Think Your Organization Is Different The Tendency is for

You To Stop Making Savings Happen and Do Nothing!

________________________________________________________________________

Dif’fer-ent: adj. 1. not alike in character or quality; dissimilar 2. not identical; distinct 3. not ordinary.

I consistently have prospective clients tell me that they don’t believe they can save money in the product, service or technology categories we have identified as potential value analysis candidates, because they are different (more sophisticated, more complex, or more specialized) then other hospitals and therefore can’t be compared to anyone else…period. This usually ends our discussion right then and there, because no one has found a cure for this condition which I call DIFFERENTITIS: the chronic state of never feeling that any other healthcare organization can match their unique operational characteristics -- so why try.

All Hospitals Are Different -- But Are They Really?

All hospitals are different in how they are organized, how they are managed, how their culture works, what they do and what they buy, but are they really that different when you look closely at their supply/value chains? Our studies have shown that 80% of the hospitals in the country, purchasing and utilization patterns are almost identical, buying and using the same stuff over and over again. Whereas, 20% of the hospitals (usually the larger teaching or university hospitals) in the country are buying somewhat more complex and sophisticated products, services and technologies, many times in larger quantities, but the same nonetheless.

So what’s so different about what hospitals buy and how they utilize their products, services and technologies…nothing! The big difference is what I call, “they don’t know, what they don’t know”.

	They don’t know that they are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on an IV set that no one else is buying anywhere in the U.S.
	They don’t know that their linen replacement cost is twice that of any hospital in their region.
	They don’t know that their office supply cost is 10x that of hospitals their size.
	They don’t know that no hospital is buying disposable BP Cuffs in the quantities that their hospital is.

And the reason they don’t know is that they have stopped looking for differences and dissimilarities, to other healthcare organizations, because they believe that their hospital is different, unique, dissimilar and distinct that they don’t have to do anything.

The Difference or Dissimilarities Are Where You Will Find Your BEST Savings Opportunities!

Yes, it is important to understand the differences between your hospital purchasing and utilization patterns compared to others, because that’s were your BEST savings opportunities can be identified if you take the time to look for the dissimilarities -- not ignore them.

It is when your hospital decides that it is so different from other healthcare organizations that your organization stops making savings happen and then does nothing. Aggressively benchmarking other hospitals BIG AND SMALL to find golden nuggets will lead you to savings opportunities you never dreamed were possible, because just maybe your health-care organization isn’t so different after all.

Robert T. Yokl, President, The HCP Group, Ltd., has over 35 years of experience as a consultant and manager in the field of Supply/Value Chain Management and is one of the country's leading healthcare experts in value analysis, value engineering and materials management. He is the developer and program leader of the award winning Certified Value Analysis Practitioner Training Program™. Mr. Yokl is also the developer of the healthcare industry's leading ValueNetCentral™ Value Analysis Software. Over the past two decades he has trained thousands of healthcare managers in his patented Strategic Value Analysis™ and Team-Based Project Management™ processes and has assisted scores of organizations in developing their own value management programs. He has published six books, videos and audios on supply/value chain management. His latest book being, “ Strategic Value Analysis™: The #1 Smart Strategy for Taking Cost Out of a Healthcare Organizations’ Supply/Value Chain”.

Advancing Healthcare Organizations to the Next Level of Supply Chain Savings^TM