CME Insider's Blog Posts

Healthcare Supply Chain Strategist Lynn Everard, C.P.M., CBM, says the challenges faced by hospital equipment and supplies procurement managers include:

Success in design and construction of healthcare facilities is dependent on many factors, including a strong focus on the patient experience, application of cutting edge technology, adherence to a schedule, and strict control of the budget. The most critical factor in assuring the successful completion of a construction project is obtaining adequate financing to cover all of the actual construction costs, along with the attendant equipment costs to properly outfit the newly constructed space.

In addition, with procurement costs consuming between 30% and 50% of total project funds, allowances need to include in the construction budget for shipping, storing, delivering, and installing the equipment. In addition, the involvement of reliable clinical consultants, along with space and equipment planners may be of great benefit to the success of the project.

Success in design and construction of healthcare facilities is dependent on, among other factors, a strong focus on the patient experience, application of cutting edge technology, adherence to a predefined schedule, and strict control of the budget.  

With procurement consuming between 30% to 50% of total project funds, involvement of reliable clinical consultants and medical equipment planners is critical to the success of the project.

The hospital of the future will be significantly different from the hospitals we see today.  According to some reports, not a single administrator, doctor, or patient can clearly tell what these hospitals will look like. According to Gary M. Burk, Principal at Terrie L Kurrasch Senior Associate Ratliff, the future hospital won’t be a healthcare facility.  

Due in part to technological innovations and the general delivery system, amalgamation, consolidation, and the ever-evolving regulatory environment, future hospitals won’t be as richly utilized, nor will they be as resource intensive as the hospitals of today.

Five key features of future hospitals

1. Efficiency - of operations, optimal functional relationships, clinical safety, value for money, low upkeep requirements, and modern systems.
   
   
2. Sustainability – of design, reduced consumption of energy, and intensive 24-hour usage characterized by high occupancy rates.
   
   
3. Flexibility – for expansion and acquisition of new technology.
   
   
4. Patient centered care - where the family is considered part of the care process.
   
   
5. Healing environment - created from hospitality and art alongside science and technology.

When making a large capital equipment purchase for a new construction, major remodeling or expansion, you are under the gun to save money.  A big part of saving money is finding ways to save time.  

Capital equipment procurement can be made easy by using the skills and experience of someone who does it all the time.  At CME Corp we have those skills and experience. Here is how we save you time and money:

New hospital construction projects involve highly specialized, complex, and expensive endeavors.  The construction of new hospital buildings require significant oversight because of patient safety and health requirements, strict regulations and advanced technology that need to be accommodated.

As a Purchasing Director, when faced with the task of assisting in the opening of a new clinic, your role will require equipment delivery pre-planning in order to keep the opening on schedule.

Medical equipment planning for healthcare facilities can be extremely difficult when working with multiple vendors.  You will be faced with piles of paperwork, calendar dates to juggle for the receipt of goods, worries about having equipment installed, and ensuring each department is available to sign off on equipment as it arrives.  

Here is an easy to use checklist that you can use as a guide.

When working with multiple vendors in supply chain management you are faced with multiple approaches to delivery.  This means that in the case of a large order for a new clinic, clinic renovation, or new department, you may be in a position to lose sight of arrivals and even lose equipment and smaller sundry orders with so much tracking required. However, if you take advantage of working with a hospital distribution company you will be dealing with one or two orders coming from one central warehouse making it far easier to schedule your deliveries.