September 21, 2005
Once a disaster situation is stabilized, financial managers must take quick action to address employee needs and business continuity. HFMA's Hurricane Relief Task Force has developed a Financial Management Checklist for Disaster Recovery to provide guidelines for the financial functions of your facility:
- Download the Financial Management Checklist for Disaster Recovery.
- Find additional critical information resources on HFMA's Hurricane Relief Resources and Information page.
HOSPITAL FINANCIAL LEADERS FORESEE INCREASED SUPPLY CHAIN SAVINGS
Financial managers reported that supply chain initiatives reduced their supply chain budget by 1.25 percent per year over the past two years (median), according to HFMA's 2005 Supply Chain Survey, made possible through an educational grant by McKesson. Looking forward, however, respondents estimate twice as much opportunity to improve supply savings.
The survey analyzed the feedback of 225 respondents to identify recent successes, future opportunities, and benchmarking metrics.
Areas of Greatest Opportunity
Survey respondents were asked where they saw the greatest opportunities for improvement in their organizations over the next two years, based on the impact of potential initiatives in supply chain management. Respondents indicated that the highest opportunity can occur in physician and clinical buy-in, information technology investment, and value analysis.
Investments in information technology were seen as offering more significant opportunities compared to the 2002 survey results, yet 2005 respondents found significantly fewer opportunities in automation compared with 2002.
Larger hospitals -- that is, those with patient revenue greater than $315 million -- were more optimistic about opportunity overall. Respondents in this classification were most likely to indicate "tremendous" or "high" improvement opportunity in information technology investments.
What Worked?
When asked to describe recent projects that have led to the greatest improvements, respondents most frequently cited the following:
- Group purchasing organization (GPO) utilization and pricing
- Centralization of supply chain functions
- Investments in and utilization of information technology
- Revising structure, adding staffing, developing teams
- Increasing value-based selection
- Revising and standardizing the item master
- Developing physician/clinical buy-in
- Developing reporting and metrics
Opportunity Over Next Two Years
Looking forward, respondents were asked to estimate supply chain savings opportunity in the next two years. The median response for future opportunity doubled past projections: 2.5 percent compared to 1.25 percent.
Smaller hospitals -- that is, those with less than $125 million in patient revenue -- noted higher opportunity compared to mid-sized and larger hospitals. While past successes in smaller hospitals approximated 1.25 percent (median), they anticipate greater opportunity in the future -- 3.5 percent.
SOURCE:
HFMA's 2005 Supply Chain Benchmarking Survey: Managing Resources to Achieve Improved Economic Outcomes and High-Quality Care
If you have questions or comments about HFMA Wants You to Know, contact editor Laura Noble.
HFMA Wants You to Know ISSN: 1540-0697. Volume IV, Issue 18. Copyright 2005, Healthcare Financial Management Association. All rights reserved.