We are all searching for the best practices in value analysis in order to obtain greater savings yields and quality gains. The question is where and how can we find them? To speed up your search I am offering you 10 of the top value analysis best practices that we have observed or initiated at healthcare organizations throughout the country that will move your supply value analysis program to the next level of savings and quality:

1. Team-based:
Value teams are now coming into their own throughout the country because they make more sense than value analysis committees. Value teams get the job done faster and better by involving customers, stakeholders and experts who understand their products, services and technologies much better than a committee member or members collectively can or should.

2. Extensive training:
Value analysis is an art and a science with a 63-year history that requires 40 to 80 hours of classroom and just-in-time training to truly become proficient in this discipline. Healthcare organizations that are making this investment in training their value teams are receiving a minimum of 41:1 ROI for their efforts. 

3. Standardized process: 
Too many hospitals are "Winging It" when it comes to value analysis, whereas, best practice hospitals have a defined value methodology that their value team members follow religiously on each and every value study that they perform. By adding this discipline to their value analysis program best-practice hospitals are realizing 6 percent to 9 percent savings annually in addition to greater quality gains. 

4. Function oriented: 
Value analysis is the study of function and the search for alternatives, not price. Value analysis goes beyond price to identify the true requirements of your customers and meets those requirements at the lowest possible cost. Best-practice hospitals who understand this important differentiation are saving on average 26 percent on each commodity group they study. 

5. Customer focused: 
Value analysis begins and ends with the customer at best-practice hospitals. However, spelling out just what products, services and technologies will meet our customer’s exact requirements is the real challenge. This challenge is being met through utilizing techniques, such as, the Value Analysis/Value Engineering Customer Mapping process. This process helps to truly understand a customer’s exact requirements, and then positions customers for the change(s) that you will be proposing to them with your value justifications. 

6. Clinician ownership: 
The No. 1 challenge for value analysis practitioners in healthcare today is obtaining buy-in from their clinicians on product, service and technology changes that they are recommending. Yet best-practice hospitals have solved this challenge by having their clinicians customize the product, service and technology they are purchasing, as opposed to standardizing on products, services and technologies they won’t accept or buy-into. 

7. Strategic planning driven:
Most value analysis programs focus their efforts on their group purchasing organization contracts and requisition driven offerings, whereas best-practice hospitals strategically plan their value analysis candidates and target their savings. This results in the strategic planning driven value analysis programs saving 10 to 15 times more than GPO and requisition driven value analysis programs. 

8. Outcome-based results: 
Best-practice hospitals track their value analysis savings and quality gains through agreed upon metrics and milestones with their executive management team in order to enforce discipline and ensure that outcome-based goals are met and/or exceeded. 

9. Decision support:
Real-time data, in an organized, structured and cleansed format, is provided by best-practice hospitals for their value team members to use to data mine for the gold nuggets that surface with data driven value studies.

10. Knowledge management:
Best-practice hospitals capture all value studies documentation in a centralized electronic database to be shared with all internal and external collaboration partners, as apposed to reinventing the wheel year after year.