Working with a GPO allows hospitals to benefit from the buying power of combining hundreds of healthcare facilities.  This is a well-known fact among buyers and purchasing managers as it relates to purchasing products from manufacturers.  

However, knowledge of the role that a medical distributor can play in the procurement and delivery services provided through a GPO is far less common.  A medical distributor can save you time and money by providing value added services focused on ordering efficiency and streamlining the delivery process.

Buying equipment is not easy. There needs to be extensive research, at times, to find the right product that meets the needs of the users, fits the space, and communicates with the healthcare facility’s EMR, if required. Once you find the right products, whether it is for replacement or a new construction project, you need a timely, comprehensive quote that includes total costs.

As the nation continues to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, economies are beginning to re-open, and it may be time to start planning your new hospital construction or renovation projects. Where do you begin? How can you even source and procure your equipment when it may or not be backordered?

Veterans Homes are facilities that provide nursing home, assisted living, and adult day care services for American Veterans. They are owned, operated, and managed by state governments and further funded by the federal government. In 2018, approximately 7% of our population were veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Even though the Veteran population has been shrinking, the percentage of Veterans with disabilities is growing, which makes Veterans Homes even more essential. CME Corp is proud to work with many states in providing products and services for new or renovated Veterans Homes. Recently, CME partnered with Rhode Island on their new, 208-bed Bristol Veterans Home to source, procure, assemble, and install the requested medical equipment, furniture, and physical therapy apparatus. 

If you are in charge of ordering medical equipment for a hospital or healthcare facility, you understand the challenges. You’ve searched for easier ways to manage the process, but everything seems to fall short. So what do you really need for ease of mind when it comes to dealing with medical equipment ordering?

We’ve compiled a list of factors you should look for to make the lives of hospital purchasing agents and department managers less stressful.

As healthcare supply chains struggle to meet product demands during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been one noteworthy expectation voiced to CME Corp repeatedly: Healthcare supply chains need more visibility and more accurate communication when it comes to equipment logistics.

Timely and intentional delivery of crucial medical equipment has always been a primary pillar of our industry’s stated mission, but today and into the future, supply chain members must have global visibility into the entire supply chain, from the manufacturer to the end-user, including any issues that arise along the way.

Whether you are a buyer in the purchasing department of an individual hospital or part of an Integrated Delivery Network (IDN), you will likely want knowledgeable equipment specialists who understand the need for medical facility logistics and customized delivery requirements.  

In this regard, the World Health Organization (WHO) offers some tips for IDNs that may assist you when making decisions about equipment and supplies deliveries that will not conflict with patient care scheduling.

The current economic climate in healthcare is causing some health systems to cut back when handling equipment delivery and warehousing.  IDNs and large systems are asking the distributors and vendors to take on more of their logistics needs.  

Instead of bringing large items into a central warehouse, health systems are leaning more toward direct-to-site (DTS) delivery.  While this serves to reduce their warehousing and personnel costs, fine-tuning the processes involved is extremely important.

Biomedical departments in large healthcare systems have a myriad of important responsibilities including: