One of the key tools US hospitals are using to increase margins in today’s healthcare environment is consolidation. By merging operations with other regional hospitals or systems, many executives are looking to pad their margins through economies of scale. However, it appears that consolidation as a strategy to improve margins may not be working, at […]
Is Hospital Consolidation Driving Any Supply Chain Savings? Read More »
A recent study from Navigant Consulting concluded that hospitals across the US are wasting an aggregate of $25.4 billion annually in their supply chain, or $11 million per hospital. The amount of waste is up 10.2% from 2017. With hospitals increasingly focused on eliminating waste from their operations to increase profitability, the supply chain is
Average Hospital Spending $11 Million Annually On Supply Chain Waste Read More »
The hospital supply chain is increasingly being looked at as a way for hospitals to eliminate unnecessary spend. As hospitals continue on their journey from volume to value, the profit per procedure needs to improve in order for hospitals to remain profitable. As the place where most hospitals make and spend 50% of their dollars,
Hoarding In The OR Is Costing Your Hospital Real Money Read More »
The ECRI Institute, based in Philadelphia, has just released its annual list of health technology hazards for 2019. Endoscope reprocessing once again appears on the list, coming in as the number 5 hazard for 2019. The Top 10 Health Technology Hazards List is the result of extensive research by ECRI’s engineers, scientists and clinicians, as
Top Health Technology Hazards List For 2019 Includes Endoscope Reprocessing Read More »
A recent press release from Fitch Ratings noted that not-for-profit hospital operating margins fell for the second straight year. The median operating margin in the not-for-profit hospital space was 1.9% in 2017, down from 2.6% in 2016. Even though balance sheets strengthened for the not-for-profit hospital sector in 2017, the drop in operating margins from
US Hospitals Suffer Profit Drop For Second Straight Year Read More »
A recent research report from Moody’s Investors Service noted that not-for-profit hospital revenue growth rate have been increasing at a slower rate than expenses, leading to shrinking profitability margins. While there has been a slowdown in the growth rate of costs at not-for-profit hospitals, the reduction in the revenue growth rate was even faster in
The Dangerous Trend Of Hospital Costs Outpacing Revenue Growth Rates Read More »
Several recent studies have shown that despite best efforts to follow manufacturer reprocessing guidelines, bronchoscopes deemed ready for patient use are still contaminated at a high rate. Some of the most recent research highlighting the difficulties of disinfecting bronchoscopes was published by Cori Ofstead, MSPH. In a recent presentation at the annual meeting of the
Study Reveals Bronchoscopes Ready For Use On Patients Are Still Dirty Read More »
Academic medical centers (AMCs) play a prominent role in America’s healthcare system. They provide a disproportionate share of charity care, medical research and medical education when compared to non-academic medical centers. It has been assumed for a long time that AMCs also provide higher quality care than comparable non-academic medical centers, however there has been
As hospital executives look for new opportunities to reduce costs in an era when value is taking over for volume, the supply chain is increasingly coming in to focus. For too long, hospital supply chains – more specifically the procedures for managing surgical implants and supplies that make up a large share of supply costs
The Key Inventory Management Metric For Hospitals To Track Read More »
PAR levels (or periodic automatic replenishment levels) have been used in industry for decades to help businesses of all kinds keep just the right amount of inventory on hand without suffering from excess. Many hospitals solely rely on “gut feel” in order to understand how many items of each product type they should keep on
How A Periodic Update Of Your PAR Levels Can Save Your Hospital Millions Read More »