Everyone wants to be
operating in the most efficient and effective manner. If you could find
the "best" way to do something, wouldn’t you change your practice to
that method? Of course you would. But "best practice" is often a
subjective term. What one organization sees as a best practice, another
organization finds unacceptable. So are there truly any best practices
in materials management?
I believe the answer
is yes, based on how we define the term. In my definition, a best
practice is one that has consistently demonstrated increased efficiency,
improved customer satisfaction, enhanced patient outcomes, and/or better
cost effectiveness. It must also have been adopted by enough
organizations to have a proven track record, lack controversy over its
effectiveness, and work in most organizations. For example, I would not
classify the use of automated supply cabinets as a best practice. While
many organizations have implemented them and find them to be cost
effective, other organizations have evaluated them and believe they do
not provide sufficient benefit to offset their cost.
Not every best
practice will work in every organization. There can be extenuating
circumstances such as political challenges, environmental limitations,
community issues, facilities limitations, skill set gaps, etc. that can
impede implementing the best practice. But persistence, creativity and
facilitation should be used to minimize these constraints. You can
almost always find a way to make these work if you don’t concentrate on
all the reasons why they won’t.
Given this definition,
we have identified some 50 best practices that we use to evaluate a
hospital’s supply chain. We will present a new best practice every other
month right here. I hope you will find many that you already practice
and others that you can implement to improve your operations.
Leading off the series
is team negotiations.
Current practice
Many materials
departments feel that they should be the only people in the organization
who routinely negotiate contracts and capital equipment purchases. After
all, they are the "experts" at negotiations. They have had some training
in the principles of negotiation, hopefully they understand win-win
techniques and strive to use them, they are cognizant of legal contract
terms and can best protect the institution. Department managers,
administrators and even physicians often take a different view. No one
understands the needs better than the users, so who better to negotiate
the deal? Besides, negotiating can be fun, and the attention one gets
from the vendor representatives can be flattering.
So the usual practice
is that everyone engages or tries to engage in the negotiation process
independently. This leads to discord, suspicion, frustration, and
ultimately a less-than-optimal outcome for the institution. Department
managers, physicians, and materials often work at cross purposes,
inappropriate information is shared with vendors, options are not
explored, and dollars – in the form of discounts, favorable contract
terms, extra services, etc. – are left on the table.
Team negotiations
There is a better way.
Include the interested parties in a team negotiation process. This
allows the department managers, administrators, and even physicians to
be involved in the negotiations while materials management retains a
level of control over the process. It allows the institution to harness
the various skill sets of the individuals and use their individual
expertise jointly to benefit the organization. A well-executed team
negotiation will result in several positive outcomes.
First, you will
present a united front to the vendor. Even if you derived no other
benefit, this should make team negotiating worth the time and effort. By
having all parties being part of and supporting the process sends a
strong message to the vendors that many of their typical negotiating
ploys will not work.
You will also build a
level of trust and understanding among the team members. Nothing builds
relationships like working together towards a common goal. Team members
will quickly learn that their differing points of view are not really
opposed to one another. Rather, they are complementary. Physicians and
department managers find that materials staff really do care that the
clinicians get good quality supplies and equipment. Materials staff
realize that physicians and department managers do care about cost.
The end result of the
negotiation will almost always be better, usually significantly better,
than with the prior practice. Without the ability to play one party off
the other the vendor will make real concessions. By working together the
institution team will assure that all needs are satisfied.
And each subsequent
team negotiation will be easier and even more productive. Certainly the
members of the team will find it easier to work together in the future.
Further, word of the success will spread making it easier to convince
others to negotiate as a team.
Team negotiating takes
some time and a lot of coordination. You must decide who will be part of
the team. Don’t forget that all the team members don’t necessarily have
to be involved in the actual face-to-face negotiations. You can include
team members whose input and expertise are solicited outside of the
negotiating venue. Once the team members are selected they must all
agree on the goals and the strategies to be used in reaching those
goals. It is very important that those team members that will have
contact with potential vendors know and accept their roles – especially
in the negotiations themselves.
