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The Healthcare Leadership Experience

By: Lisa T. Miller
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  • Summary

  • Healthcare management is ever-changing. Join Lisa Miller and Jim Cagliostro where you will hear from innovators and leaders within healthcare and from other industries. Lisa and Jim will bring you topics on the business and clinical sides of healthcare on strategy, finance, managed care contracting, nurse engagement, physician engagement, new patient care models, patient satisfaction, innovation, leadership, communication, marketing, plus much more. This show will challenge you to think differently through proven strategies and innovative approaches that will help you to elevate your healthcare management and healthcare leadership performance for the ultimate goal of providing exceptional patient care. Enjoy diverse and thought-provoking conversations. Lisa and Jim will present best practices, new strategies, and ideas for you to think about and to implement in your career and your healthcare organization. To contact Lisa Miller, please email: lmiller@viehealthcare.com and on linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/ . To contact Jim Cagliastro, please email: jcagliostro@spendmend.com and on linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/ This show is sponsored by VIE Healthcare Consulting; https://viehealthcare.com
    The Healthcare Leadership Experience Radio Show 2021
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Episodes
  • Managing Purchased Services Contracts | E. 107

    Managing Purchased Services Contracts | E. 107
    Apr 10 2024
    Purchased services is often the most overlooked expense in healthcare yet offers opportunities for cost savings. Brian Bartel shares his best practices for effective contract management, with Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Brian explains the unique challenges of purchased services, why a centralized contract repository is the first step to successful purchased services management, and why hospitals should never allow contracts to auto-renew. He also explains why ‘’red flags’’ aren’t always necessarily malicious and why it’s vital to question the line-item details of your purchased services invoices. Show Topics Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis Don’t assume all red flags are malicious The hidden cost savings in your line-item details Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic – and build relationships 06:35 Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare Brian explained the difference between supplies and purchased services. ‘’…When you're talking about supplies, it's pretty easy. You've got a specific item number, you've got your power set, your requisitions, everything is very orderly. So things are coming in, you can track it, you've got the data behind it, there's a contract with that line item pricing. And then when you get confirmations back, usually people are using some form of EDI, which makes it relatively easy, and you can track that. Item A is item A, item B is item B. Purchased services is different because it typically is not on a PO. Again, I've worked places where it is, but that comes with its own challenges. It's very department specific, so you've got usually a department manager or leader that's kind of running that point with it. We don't have as much interaction on the supply chain side of this either. Communication is usually kind of sparse between supply chain and a purchased service provider as compared to a typical supply vendor. And again, the data is just, it's more difficult. When you start looking at how things are being invoiced because there's no PO line, it gets very challenging to try to figure out, "Okay, what's actually happening with this spend?" Typically, an invoice will come in, the department manager signs off on it, it gets paid, and that's it. So a lot of opportunity there.’’ 08:30 #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository Brian said a centralized contract repository was the essential first step to successful purchased services management. ‘’I think that at square one, I think the biggest thing you can do is if your organization or your hospital, your ASC, your clinic, whatever it is, if you don't have a centralized contract repository, that's step one. Again, stepping into certain roles in my past, you've got contracts that might be down in admin. You've got department managers that have signature execution authority and they've got them in their files, and then you realize three years later that there's been this contract that nobody's really paying attention to because it's just a paper copy. Really I think that that's the biggest thing for me is getting your hands around it. Number one, you've just got to have that centralized repository. Again, that doesn't mean that you need to use software. Software obviously makes things easier. I'm a big proponent of that. But again, even just saying, "All right, nobody can sign contracts except for," whether it be your CEO, your CFO. "Send all these down and we're going to put them in a file cabinet." At least then you can go and try to find where those contractual documents are.’’ 10:07 Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis Brian said it’s important not to let contracts auto-renew. ‘’It’s always good to have that check-in annually, even if it’s just pulling the contract, making sure when does this contract terminate? That’s the other thing about automated systems through contract software is that you can set those flags. “Hey, something’s coming up 180 days later.” Again, with things that are just auto-renewing, that’s an issue too. If you miss that window to terminate something that you do want to go out to bid for, or maybe it’s a contract that you don’t need anymore. And I’ve seen, you’ve probably seen it too, 180 day out clause, some of these things. So if you miss that, that’s going to be a problem. As far as reviewing, it depends too on the type of service. Some of them are much more important, and so having a quarterly business review or a semiannual business review is important, and that gives the vendor time to come and showcase what it is that they’re doing too, because at the end of the day, sometimes these people are coming in, they’re doing great work, but nobody really knows except for that department or specific area that they’re there too. ...
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    21 mins
  • Supplier Relationship Management | E. 106

    Supplier Relationship Management | E. 106
    Mar 27 2024
    Flourishing supplier relationships can transform healthcare organizations. Samer Haddad, shares his experience of building and navigating successful partnerships with Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Samer explains why trust is the foundation of all successful supplier relationships, the importance of human-to-human connection and why a partnership sometimes means giving your partner the benefit of the doubt. He also outlines the key to a successful exit strategy (plan, plan, and plan) and why solid leadership means treating others as you want to be treated, and leaving your ego at the door. Show Topics Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword Trust is the foundation of successful relationships Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend ‘’Partnership is a partnership’’ Managing a successful exit strategy Leadership tip: keeping your ego out of the way 04:33 Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword Samer explained how the impact of Covid revealed the importance of strong supplier relationships. ‘’When the world went into COVID and all the crises that came after that, in terms of shortages and everything, I can make a pretty easy judgment that there was a big differentiator between companies who made it and who maybe struggled mainly was supplier relationship management. Because when the real challenge came to the world, companies that invested in relations, companies that had deepened their relationships, especially with the significant suppliers to their production or to their delivery, whatever that is, made a difference. Those were the ones who were able to actually leverage that challenge to their benefit in the market. So they gained market share. The ones who had superficial relations, maybe more towards purely commercial kind of dealings, I think they struggled because, at such a moment, that kind of... I can't call it a human-to-human relation, or personal relation is where things are tested, and when companies need to make decisions, that's always an element. The trust between those organizations is essentially trust between humans that are doing business for years together. So if you just... we learn from the past two to three years it is I think many of my peers in procurement supply chain will vouch to the importance of supplier relationship management in general and not just like a keyword that you use and throw around…’’ 07:09 Trust is the foundation of successful relationships Samer said KPIs can help to measure progress and build trust. ‘’It takes time to build up that trust. So it is very important when we start a relationship that we create the proper agreement because this is why contracts are there. Contracts manage the relationship between parties. And you're establishing basically a baby kind of relation that has no trust yet, and you need to monitor it and start putting in the building blocks of that relation. Usually, in my opinion, that is established by having mutual mechanisms to judging how companies are engaging with each other. That could be the KPIs that you set. And it's not fair only to set a KPI for the supplier that you're establishing a relationship with, especially if you're looking long-term. Some KPIs should be set, maybe not in the contract, not necessarily, but self-imposed as you manage that important relationship that you know about. So you can even monitor internally how you're engaging with that supplier. Now, if you do that kind of fundamental layer of developing that relationship and you start building upon it, with time, trust starts getting improved and starts growing. It's like a baby, and it grows. It becomes an entity.’’ 10:24 Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend Samer said organizations need to understand how suppliers can impact their business. ‘’…... But let's say what are the top 10 suppliers that basically can make or break your business? Because each business needs to know these kinds of suppliers. What are the suppliers that, if they don't deliver, you're going to have challenges actually delivering to your customer, or it'll affect your quality, or it might basically put you in a different pricing position in the market, which could basically hurt your business? So you need to understand those really well. And what I see as a common mistake is people treat category management as just a function, just an area. Like supplier relationship management. "Oh, you're a procurement person, so you do the procurement, invoicing, all of that. And by the way, you need to just take care of categories. Also, take care of the supplier relationship." It doesn't work. So especially when it's big business, when there's lots of money being moved around, you need people to focus on those suppliers and those categories. So I would recommend that you really understand the suppliers that drive the goals of your business and, at the ...
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    24 mins
  • Waste in the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 105

    Waste in the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 105
    Mar 13 2024
    An estimated 40% of expenditure in the supply chain goes to waste. CEO Luká Yancopoulos explains to Jim Cagliostro how Grapevine Technology aims to put the power back into the hands of hospitals. Episode Introduction Luká explains how Grapevine can help hospitals save up to 80% on a single line item, how even small healthcare businesses spend six figure sums on the supply chain each year, and how to frame the reality of years of overspending to his clients. He also reveals three key ways that hospitals can lower the expense of their vendor management. Show Topics The power of building networks Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare Up to 80% of spend may be waste Connecting the source of supply to the end user Framing harsh truths on expenditure Seeing value every step of the way Leadership tip: deliver solutions to real problems 03:12 The power of building networks Luká said Grapevine can help its clients to save 70-80% on a single line item. ‘’So Grapevine is working to make it very easy to basically manage your existing network. We've got healthcare businesses. They usually come to us, and they've worked with a handful of suppliers over the years. They think of each of these suppliers as their supplier for blank, fill in the blank, and Grapevine rewrites that. We think they're all your suppliers, they're all your network. Every time you add an item to cart from one of them, let's make sure it's the best price and that your other suppliers that you already trust and know don't have the same exact product at a cheaper price. Oftentimes, they do. We've basically redirected spend from one major distributor to another major distributor, saving the customer or the healthcare business 70%-80% on a single line item. The thing like a Becton Dickinson or a BD catheter or infusion pump or something they buy, and they have a bad habit of buying it from the wrong guy. So we basically let them link all their suppliers with the click of a button to a single screen, read in their current offerings, and tell them where to redirect their spend, acting as a traffic cop if needed.’’ 05:14 Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare Luká explained that even small healthcare businesses are spending six figure sums on supplies every year. ‘’Certain medical specialties get hit harder than others. If you're performing surgery, obviously, you're burning through a lot of supplies, you're using anesthesia, you're using all sorts of things that maybe your average urgent care clinic won't need. So we focus on specific specialties that have a high consumption rate of important and expensive technologies, things like oncology, dermatology, surgery, these sorts of things. Even a small healthcare business is spending six, seven figures on medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, like, a customer that comes to mind, a family-owned dermatology practice in upstate New York, and Rochester, New York is spending $200,000 a year pre-Grapevine on medical supplies. So like the instruments and whatnot, they're using sutures and implants and this and that, and then they're spending another million a year on injectables. Things like lidocaine, fillers, and different sorts of things of that realm.’’ 08:38 Up to 80% of spend may be waste Luká explained why a single supplier can’t offer hospitals the lowest price for every item. ‘’I think that, in some cases, it's as much as 80% of the spend on supply is fruitless and extraneous. As far as what makes up those inefficiencies, there's a number of things. There's a classic idea that I am a strong believer of, that no one person or entity can be the best at everything. So even if you're comparing suppliers of the same business model, these large distributors, we could talk like McKesson, Henry Schein, Medline, the list goes on and on. Every one of those has built supply chains like warehouse fulfillment, shipping teams, customer service, et cetera, tailored around a specific core competency or level of products. So not one of those suppliers is going to be able to offer you the 5,000 SKUs or different item numbers that you need, all of the lowest price. That's naive. The way this world works is helping specialists, people that have specific skill sets, work together to serve a singular end goal.’’ 10:24 Connecting the source of supply to the end user Luká said simplifying the supply chain is key to reducing costs. ‘’I understand that when I'm buying it from a reseller, it needed to get in the hands of the reseller. That means it needed to get shipped there. That is a cost. Costs get built on the customer service, the labor. It all gets built into the price that hospitals are paying. By working with these downstream distribution companies that are, in some cases, 200 years old, you're just taking on additional costs. So if we can disintermediate supply chains when possible, connect source to end user as much as possible. You...
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    27 mins
Physical Illness & Disease Hygiene & Healthy Living Economics
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