by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | July 03, 2013
From the July 2013 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
AP: The two things that I’m looking forward to the most would be the launch of the CQO [cost, quality and outcome] movement and the networking. The education sessions are also set to be really good this year. There’s never been a bigger need for people to be educated. We have to be responsible on keeping staff educated on what the best practices are in the continuum.
DMBN: With education being so important today, can you explain how the organization and the supply chain have grown in the past 50 years?
AP: Really, until DRG [diagnosis-related groups] came into effect, the supply chain was focused around purchasing. We used to contract for product and that’s how hospitals were being reimbursed in the early ‘90s. The hospitals were being reimbursed on their costs plus. Then when DRGs came into being, and the government said, “we’re paying x amount of dollars,” that’s when negotiations around costs, standardization and utilization really came into being. Quality moved into the picture in the early 2000s. When health care reform was upheld, it was apparent we [in supply chain management] had to focus on patient outcomes.
DMBN: Do you think that health care reform and the affordable care act will have a major impact on the roles and responsibilities of material managers?
AP: I think the CQO is the biggest piece that supply chains need to focus on. It really is all about the CQO.
DMBN: With hospital consolidation gaining momentum, will there be less material managers doing more?
AP: Some hospitals are becoming mega- systems. Other hospitals are choosing to partner or affiliate with other hospitals. Supply chain is distribution and logistics, so there’s going to continue to be a great need for supply chain managers.
DMBN:Being eco friendly is also a big deal today. How does the AHRMM push that ideal?
AP: We look at sustainable practices. AHRRM is actively involved in sustainability because our members bring all the products and equipment into the hospital. It’s important that they look at those products from cradle to grave. We actually have a sustainability taskforce at AHRMM that works on sustainability all year round. We also collaborated with the American Society of Healthcare Engineering and the Association for the Healthcare Environment to create a sustainability roadmap for hospitals that’s online [www.sustainabilityroadmap.org].
DMBN:Do you build off the success of other industries? For example, the automotive industry has a long history of fine-tuning process.
