July 2009 - Healthcare Purchasing News

INSIDE THE CURRENT ISSUE

July 2009

News

Connect with this month's featured Advertisers:

Amerinet

Armstrong Medical Industries

ASCENT Healthcare Solutions

ASHES

BD Medical

BlackTie Medical

Cardinal Health

Clorox Professional Products

DeRoyal

Exergen Corp

Global Healthcare Exchange

IRSG

Johnson & Johnson Wound Management - Biopatch

Lawson Software

MedAssets

Messe Dusseldorf

Michael & Company

Mobile Instrument Service

PAR Excellence

PHG Technologies

RF Surgical Systems

Ruhof Corporation

Sage Products

Spectrum Surgical Instruments Corp.

Stanley Innerspace

Status Blue

SteriCert

Strategic Value Analysis

Surgicount Medical

Tronex

Vendormate

VHA

World Congress

Basic instincts drive Mountain States’ forward momentum

Mountain States Health Alliance had a simple goal for its materials management operation – morph it into a centralized, efficient, progressive and technologically advanced supply chain system. MSHA’s monumental efforts, which included a comprehensive vendor relations and recalls sub-department reliant on internally developed information technology tools and a centralized but customized-by-work-unit electronic requisitioning system, earned it Healthcare Purchasing News’ 2009 Materials Management Department of the Year.

Up Close
with MSHA's Dale Claytore

Materials Management Salary Survey -
In the clutch, salaries shift into high gear

For the best possible news coming at the worst possible time, average salaries of healthcare supply chain management professionals actually jumped nearly 13 percent amid an economic recession, effectively reversed a four-year salary slide that started in 2004, according to HPN’s latest salary survey.

Operating Room

Slashing safety risks from simple to substantial

Retained surgical sponges and instruments, medication mix-ups and wrong-site surgeries are just a few of the medical errors that remain a serious threat to patient safety and healthcare organizations’ reputations, as well as to their top and bottom lines. With the right tools and techniques, they can be thwarted.

HPN Online Exclusive:
Silent sentinels send message of hope

A growing number of innovative patient monitoring and communication technologies have hit the market in recent years to connect caregivers to high-quality patient outcomes, paying big dividends.

Infection Connection

Managing change the constant in
wound care

Surgical-site and bloodstream infections represent some of the complications that can hinder a patient’s surgical procedure or inhibit post-surgical recovery as a costly undercurrent of the repair and healing process. But the latest wound management products provide an array of defensive and offensive measures.

Self Study Series
Credentialing healthcare professionals:
A staff certification program that works

CS Solutions

Products and Services

Cart blanche:
Adaptability drives buying patterns

If you’re shopping for any type of cart lately, you’ve likely been inundated by a variety of features and enhancements designed to satisfy user demands for improved efficiencies, increased reliability and expanded functionality. HPN’s Cart Purchasing Guide will give you reliable pointers and information to aid in your search.

Chart of Cart Vendors

People & Opinions

Fast Foreward

Newsmakers
Relationships drive transitional supply chain leaders
by Fred W. Crans, Nick Gaich and Ed Hisscock

Standard Procedure
Tightening those database loopholes
by Rick Dana Barlow

Having My Say
Forecasting growing supply costs vs. increasing labor costs
by Tom Hughes and Gene Kirtser

Back Talk
Establish a protective bond with legal counsel
by David S. Kaczmarek

CLICK HERE to Read Articles from previous issues of Healthcare Purchasing News