Measuring Linen Efficiency and Determining Ownership Linen and laundry services are often costly ancillary services within healthcare organizations. Disposable linens, distribution strategies, and internal versus third-party processing are all potential challenges for environmental service budgets. Hospitals and health systems looking to restructure laundry services can look into strategies for cost reduction. According to a 2015 […]
Category: Supply Chain
Insourcing or Outsourcing Interpreter Services, Which Option Is Best?
Date:
January 23, 2019
Category:
Supply Chain
Q&A with HBI Principal Director Tina Williams. HBI Principal Director, Tina Williams, spent three years overseeing the interpreter services program for a 1,000-bed academic medical center. During that time, she gained significant insight into the pros and cons of outsourced and insourced interpreter service models, owing to the demand for services, the culture of the […]
What’s on the Horizon for Supply Chain Departments in 2019?
Date:
January 10, 2019
Category:
Supply Chain
As the supply chain has shifted from a transactional support role to more of a strategic, decision-making role, supply chain is interacting with other departments with greater frequency. Multidisciplinary collaboration at an organization creates opportunities to implement significant, impactful initiatives that bring meaningful improvements to the organization. This holistic approach to complicated questions is the […]
What Role Can Supply Chain Play in Environmental Services?
Date:
December 18, 2018
Category:
Supply Chain
According to a 2016 HBI supply chain survey, environmental services falls under the supply chain umbrella at nearly half of all hospitals and health systems, with the practice being most common in organizations with 100 beds or fewer. As this is an ancillary service new to many supply chain departments, several questions have been floated […]
Top Procurement Trends from 2018 For Supply Chain Leaders
Looking back at the Academy‘s strategies for contracting and vendor relationships this year. The resource crunch in other areas of healthcare operations has been felt in the supply chain as well, with organizations emphasizing consolidation and optimization in the procurement space. In 2018, the Supply Chain Academy covered strategies for standardizing contracting models, including centralization […]
Key Considerations When Choosing and Installing an Infant Security System
Define Your Requirements Before shopping for systems, hospitals should review their existing infrastructure— including security systems, human resources, hardware and software support, technology devices, storage facilities, and IT services—to support a smooth integration of infant protection solution. Hospitals can form an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, safety representatives, nursing leadership, and educators to outline the facility’s […]
Responding to Frequent Drug Shortages
Date:
November 16, 2018
Category:
Supply Chain
Drug shortages continue to pose challenges for provider pharmacies in the final quarter of the year. While the causes for drug shortages can vary from natural disasters to voluntary recalls, one thing remains consistent: provider organizations need to have the ability to react to the inevitable shortages. Hospitals and health systems that are unable to […]
Observing Best Practices in Healthcare Sustainability Efforts
Date:
October 30, 2018
Category:
Supply Chain
One of the leaders in healthcare sustainability efforts has been Gundersen Health System, located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The organization has a centralized sustainability program called Envision that is tackling environmental stewardship from several angles. HBI recently visited Gundersen’s main campus to learn about Envision and observe the program’s operations firsthand. Gundersen originally began exploring […]
Charting Value Analysis Expansion and Evolution
The Supply Chain Academy’s Best Practice Report Preview In the context of broader cost containment efforts, healthcare organizations are identifying the supply chain and product optimization as opportunities for improvement. Specifically, standardization and value analysis are demonstrating the potential to save money and resources without reducing care quality or patient satisfaction, which makes them ideal […]