Back Talk

Best practice: Regular formal reporting not ego-driven

I am continually amazed by the number of materials managers who work hard, accomplish much, but appear underappreciated within their organizations.

There are lots of reasons for this phenomenon. One of those reasons stems from a characteristic seen in many (perhaps most) materials managers. I have seen this in so many materials professionals that I suspect it may be genetic. This is a strong tendency to avoid anything appearing to be self promotion. This character flaw is a strong contributor to a less than stellar perception and leads us to the next best practice – regular formal reporting.

Before you flood my in-box with e-mails, I understand that it is good to give credit to others for contributing to accomplishments. When a department manager joins in a negotiation or works to sway physician preference it is a good thing to publicly acknowledge that individual. Likewise for materials staff members who help to move initiatives along. But the director is ultimately responsible for the actions that have led to the accomplishments. While publicly sharing the glory and highlighting others’ contributions, the director should still report the accomplishments to his or her direct supervisor. Further, some form of the report should be shared with the full executive team.

And the verbal updates you make at regular meetings and casual encounters are not sufficient. These verbal reports are important, but they are easily forgotten. There is no substitute for a good written report. It is something you both can refer back to.

The base report should be provided at least quarterly to the director’s boss. It should contain meaningful information about the operation, improvements and difficulties. I suggest eight categories:

1. Goals and Objectives – Every department should have formal goals and objectives established. This provides a nice way to track progress.

2. Supply Cost Benchmarks – This is where you would present some selected ratios like supply cost per adjusted admission, supply cost per adjusted patient day, operating room (OR) supply cost per case, emergency department (ED) supply cost per encounter, etc. While it can be dangerous to benchmark yourself against others, it is very useful to track these indicators and see how you are trending.

3. Operational Measures – Choose measures that are important to you and your organization. Some of the ones to consider are: Inventory turnover, cycle count accuracy, case cart defects, invoice discrepancies, etc.

4. Productivity – Each materials department will have different measures depending on scope of responsibilities and operational considerations. Some we have seen are dollars processed per purchasing full-time equivalent (FTE), instruments processed per central service (CS) FTE, pieces received per receiving FTE, lines inventoried per distribution FTE.

5. Savings – Documenting and reporting savings is a best practice in itself. For purposes of this column just remember to be realistic and accurate in reporting savings. In this report you should break the savings into several categories like value analysis, capital, materials department, group purchasing organization, etc.

6. Budget Variances – Any major variances, either positive or negative, should be presented with a brief comment.

7. Accomplishments – This is your area to shine. Some accomplishments will already be noted in the goals and objectives, but there are usually many more that are not linked to the goals. Be succinct.

8. Open Issues – Always leave room to note roadblocks, projects in progress that are not at the accomplishment stage, and any other piece of information you want to document.

There are a few other things to consider in creating your report. Make it easily readable. That means good construction, large font, lots of white space, etc. Try to use graphics and tables to convey your information rather than words. The graphics will make the report longer, but much easier to read and comprehend. Make sure you have backup documentation for anything in the report. This is especially important for savings. Be consistent with production dates. If doing a quarterly report, try to have it finished before the 15th. You may want to delay the report for current financial data, but do not delay too long.

In addition to the quarterly reports you should consolidate the information into an annual report. This is the report that you should share with the full executive team. It will have all the same categories, just less detail. For example, you would only present the top few accomplishments. If possible, arrange for a live presentation of the report to the executive team. This is an opportunity for both you and your boss to bring them up to date on the great things you are doing. It allows for questions and clarification. Extra time can be spent on any areas of special interest.

One final word – what if your boss tells you he/she is not interested in receiving the report? This does happen from time to time. I think the best approach is to tell him/her that you are creating the report as much for yourself as for him/her. As long as you are doing it already, you might as well provide a copy. HPN

David Kaczmarek, FAHRMM, CMRP, is vice president, The McFaul & Lyons Group LLC, Derry, NH. Kaczmarek has more than 20 years experience in healthcare administration and materials management, including director positions at four hospitals, one integrated delivery network (IDN), a military supply depot and a consulting firm. He can be reached via e-mail at dkaczmarek@mcfaullyons.com