A Podcast for healthcare supply chain managers, value analysis professional and anyone who manages a supply budget or cost management initiatives in a healthcare organization today. Robert T. Yokl, President & Chief Value Strategist will share (with special guests) his over 35 years of healthcare supply chain operation, consulting and training in the latest strategies in Cost Management, Cost Avoidance and Reducing Overall Supply Chain Spend While Dramatically Improving Quality and Customer ...
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Podcast 89 - 5 Easy Steps to Integrating Advanced Savings into Your Value Analysis Program
18:22
18:22
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Everyone knows that value analysis is a big money saver from the standpoint of cost avoidance with new product requests as well as picking the right products from contract conversions. Not to mention, managing the supply resilience and recall issues that occur oh so often which hospitals cannot afford to throw major dollars at anymore. Value analys…
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Podcast 88 - Getting Max Value Out of Sales Reps for Your Value Analysis Program
43:03
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A Special Interview with Mark CopelandBy Robert Yokl
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Podcast 87 - Savings Beyond Price - You Control the Faucet
19:23
19:23
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19:23
Let’s face it, inflation, clinical labor shortages, and market conditions are doing a number on our health systems’ bottom lines and forcing organizations to find new and better ways to eke out costs while maintaining quality and outcomes. This is easier said than done. Group purchasing organizations and your own custom contracting are readjusting …
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Podcast 86 - What Should Your Priorities Be Going Into 2024?
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19:15
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A new year will no doubt challenge many in our supply chain industry to up our game to new levels that we never thought possible. Let’s face it, there is a heck of a lot of change going on and higher demands from our Chief Financial Officers to optimize costs to mitigate the budgetary shortfalls that all health systems are seeing. All this on top o…
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Podcast 85 - When is the Right Time to Evaluate a Major Product or Service Category
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Timing is everything and it does apply to the cost/value/quality world in our healthcare supply chain. In a perfect world, you would want to take the time and have your value analysis teams review all of their major product and/or service category spends and wring the towel dry on savings. But given that the average hospital purchases anywhere from…
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Podcast 84 - 4 Major Dynamics of Advanced Cost Optimization
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18:56
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Cost optimization is the art and science of saving money for our healthcare organizations and, at one time, used to be fairly easy by just implementing that right group purchasing contract and garnering the savings that the contract would bring at the best tier level. This has dramatically changed in the past few years with the record inflation and…
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Podcast 83 - 4 Ways to Leverage Savings Validation for Maximum Results
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What is the point of signing a new or renewal contract with the goal of saving money if the savings do not materialize as planned? That’s what savings validation is all about. In fact, here are four ways to leverage savings validation for maximum results.By Robert Yokl
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Podcast 82 - Supercharging Your Non-Salary Savings with Advanced Clinical Value Analysis Analytics
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This podcast was a conversation with Rob Corley, Chief Growth Officer, from Impensa Advisors. Rob has previously been a VP of Supply Chain Services and Analytics for major GPOs and has a vast wealth of savings knowledge and experience in advanced non-salary (supplies & services) expenses. Our goal was to share with you the true potential of looking…
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Podcast 81 - 4 of the Most Important Elements to Saving Big in Healthcare Value Analysis
15:33
15:33
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Everyone has a degree of experience in cost management, personal and business-wise, which we bring to the table in our value analysis meetings. There is also common sense that can guide us as well, but these experiences and common sense can only get us so far in the savings game. We need to have solid mindsets, knowledge-based tools, and some cleve…
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Podcast 80 - Big Savings in Retrospective Value Analysis Reviews
19:50
19:50
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We are in tough budgetary times right now with regards to expense reduction at just about every health system in the country. Increased labor costs, supply chain issues, pricing increases, and inflation are really hurting our health systems’ bottom lines. As a value analysis professional, you may ask, how do we make a big splash in the savings buck…
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Podcast 79 - Winning with a Clinically Integrated Value Analysis Process
48:17
48:17
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With Suzanne Smith, Solutions Advisor, Lumere—a GHX Company, and Kerry Lepage, Clinical Nurse Leader and Director of Surgical Services at Maine Health. Suzanne and Kerry discuss how they got into healthcare supply chain and value analysis, successful strategic sourcing initiatives, the key stakeholders in value analysis, and how to gain buy-in for …
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Podcast 78 - 3 Tips About Value Analysis Committees Vs. VA Teams You Can’t Afford To Miss
19:36
19:36
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We continue to see value analysis professionals working through a value analysis committee structure on new and renewal GPO contracts, new product requests, recalls, etc., even if they call them value analysis teams. Let me remind you that there is a big difference. To this end, here are three tips about value analysis committees vs. teams you can’…
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Podcast 77 - Starting Your Own Clinical Supply Utilization Management Program
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I recently had a sales call with a hospital Director who was interested in starting a Clinical Supply Utilization Management (CSUM) program at his hospital. His reasons were that they had been doing as much as possible with GPO/contract price and standardization but that they were doing nothing about clinical supply utilization. Being new to the CS…
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Podcast 76 - It's 2023: How Do You Make Your Clinical Value Analysis Program Even Better?
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23:12
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As we begin a new year, it is good to take a step back and take a good look in the mirror at your value analysis and cost management programs. These are especially important right now in these tough economic times where your Chief Financial Officer is looking for every dollar of revenue and savings they can muster. Plus, it is just a good time to i…
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Podcast 75 - 6 Unwanted Things that Happen When the Products, Services, and Technologies You Buy Are Put into the Hands of Your Customers
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20:24
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Too often when a product, service, or technology is purchased, it is considered a completed transaction by your contract managers once they have obtained the best price, and then it is quickly forgotten. You might not realize it, but this is the #1 reason why you would have higher per patient day supply costs than your competition. Remember, price …
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Podcast 74 - The Next Big Wave to Major Healthcare Supply Chain Savings Success
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32:21
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32:21
Everyone is back in saving money mode in a big way, but many of the streams of savings have fallen off or fizzled out altogether. That does not mean that there are not major savings still left in the healthcare supply chain, because there are. Most healthcare supply chain pundits and afficionados agree that the next big wave of healthcare supply ch…
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Podcast 73 - 5 Strategies for Big Healthcare Supply Chain Savings
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I don’t think I need to tell you that the effects of the double whammy of the pandemic and inflation (8.5% as I write this article) is eating into your healthcare organization’s margins. That’s why the need for big supply chain savings couldn’t be greater as your healthcare organization’s volumes drop, supply costs soar, and increased agency nurses…
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Podcast 72 - How Utilization Reporting Helps You Pick Up Savings Opportunities Including Price
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Price is a very simple element of the healthcare supply chain procurement process. You order the product at that price and get the total spend for that line-item product. This is the total spend that we see every day from the vendors and manufacturers that we purchase from. Now envision this same scenario happening to thousands or even tens of thou…
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Podcast 71 - Healthcare Value Analysis Software Mistakes That Can Be Costly
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18:20
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Now that the value analysis community has embraced value analysis software (VAS) as a best practice, more hospitals, systems, and IDNs are acquiring this easy to master technology. However, for those value analysis practitioners contemplating purchasing value analysis software in the future, here are some of the top mistakes to avoid that can be co…
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Podcast 70 - 3 Powerful Strategies for Dealing With Your Healthcare Organization’s Rising Supply Chain Costs
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20:16
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I don’t need to remind you that the cost of just about everything you buy is increasing due to supply chain shortages, higher labor cost, and surging energy prices, which all contribute to the high inflation rate we are now experiencing. In fact, many economists believe this situation can get worse in the coming months! Is there anything you can do…
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Podcast 69 - Healthcare Value Analysis: Steps for Achieving Better Results
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26:05
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There are many different iterations that value analysis has morphed, evolved, and emerged into leading up to 2022. Value analysis is predominantly applied to products, services, and technologies in the healthcare supply chain. The primary focus of value analysis practitioners is working with hospital and/or system-based value analysis teams that ar…
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Podcast 68 - What Is A KPI And How Can It Help Improve My Supply Chain Department’s Performance?
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We are often asked how a healthcare supply chain organization can get better than just good. Our answer is always to employ KPIs (or key performance indicators) to quantify and measure your supply chain performance over time. This way your employees and teams have goals to shoot for, milestones to meet, and insights into your operations.…
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Podcast 67 - How Value Analysis Software Makes Your Job Easier
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Value analysis software is here to stay in the healthcare supply chain and there are good reasons why. Those who employ value analysis software at their hospital, system, or IDN know that it easily consolidates all of their information in one platform. This aids in vetting new product, service, and technology requests and can provide important reso…
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Podcast 66 - Integrating Utilization Management Into Your Hospital's Value Analysis Program
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We recently conducted a webinar for our value analysis/supply chain community on the benefits of integrating supply utilization management (SUM) into their value analysis program because we believe there is nowhere else to go to achieve double-digit supply chain expense savings. Here are some highlights from this webinar. Over the last 76 years val…
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Podcast 65 - Clinical Integration for Your Value Analysis Program and Supply Chain
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16:43
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With the new term “Clinical Integration in Supply Chain” that has been embraced by many health systems throughout the country, there seems to be a little confusion regarding the actionable steps with this next level modality. You could easily say that you need more physician involvement in value analysis teams or need to add more clinicians to the …
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Podcast 64 - Is It Time to Get Back to Saving Money?
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We are all in a new world of mitigation, PPE, social distancing, etc., that has been a laser focus for over two years now. The goal was to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading and prevent the overwhelming of our healthcare systems. Now that we see a light at the end of the tunnel, we need to start thinking about refocusing our hospital supp…
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Podcast 63 - The Worst Number in the Healthcare Supply Chain Savings Game is One
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The number one strategy for saving money in the healthcare supply chain is by saving on price. When you look at contracting and strategic sourcing, it’s all about price. Standardization is a function of consolidating volume towards a common vendor(s) to attain a better tier or negotiate a better price. When an organization changes their group purch…
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Podcast 62 - 5 Tips On Establishing Your Own Hospital Supply Utilization Management Program
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As hospitals, systems, and IDNs see fewer savings results from their GPO/local new and renewal contracts, more and more healthcare organizations are preparing to launch their own Supply Utilization Management (SUM) Program to make up for these shortfalls. To this end, here are five tips on establishing your own Supply Utilization Management Program…
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Hospitals & health systems have achieved huge savings gains from group purchasing and internal supply chain contracting/sourcing over the past 10-15 years. There is no doubt that the healthcare supply chain contracting and strategic sourcing programs have reached a high level of maturity. A byproduct of this high level of maturity, unfortunately, i…
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PODCAST 60-3 Things You Must Know About Your GPO’s Price Savings to Make Them Stick
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Over the last few decades, GPOs have been the driving force on price and standardization savings for healthcare organizations. However, as Isaac Newton’s third law states, “With every action there is a reaction.” The reaction or result of taking your GPO’s price and standardization at face value is that you are missing three things you must know ab…
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Podcast 59 - 5 Ways to Strengthen Your Supply Chain Expense Management
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Every supply chain professional is looking for that magic bullet to squeeze a few more dollars out of their supply chain expenses this fiscal year. However, let me tell you a secret I have learned in my long supply chain career about saving money. There are no magic bullets; just proven strategies, tactics, and techniques that strengthen your suppl…
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Podcast 58 - 4 Reasons Why Supply Utilization Savings Are Better Than Price Savings
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I was just made aware by my staff last week that they are now seeing annualized price savings for even the most contract compliant hospitals, systems, and IDNs that have shrunk to 1% to 2% from 2% to 4% of overall budget over the last decade. This is a startling change in supply chain economics that I would credit to the positive impact of national…
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Podcast 57 - Healthcare Supply Utilization Management: What It Is and What It Is Not!
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In any industry there is terminology that is slow to be adopted but then becomes mainstream and functional. One of these mainstream terms that we use in healthcare today is supply chain management, which was created in concept in 1961 but not fully adopted by the healthcare industry until the late 1990s. Another one is healthcare value analysis whi…
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Podcast 56 - 11 Ways to Fast Track Non-Salary Savings
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Since hospitals have been asked to temporarily shut down primary revenue sources of their operations, such as major elective surgeries, they will need to reduce costs to the lowest possible levels while regaining their bottom lines. Here are just a few ways that I would recommend this be accomplished:…
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Podcast 55 - Three Key Areas for Dramatically Lowering Your Supply Chain Expenses
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“The pace of decline of profitability margins is slower than it has been in past years, but they are still down. Median operating margins reached 1.7% in 2018, down from 1.8% in 2017. A more sustainable operating margin would be around 2.5%,” said Christopher Kerns, executive director at the Advisory Board. That’s why it is mission critical for sup…
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Podcast 54 - Value Analysis Evolution: The Commitment to Excellence
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The dynamics of value analysis in healthcare have radically changed for the better in the last 20 years. We have watched as healthcare organizations moved from “sole practitioners” managing this VA function to vice presidents (in some healthcare organizations) determining the relative worth of the products, services, and technologies they are buyin…
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Podcast 53 - 3 Ways to Plug Your Leaky Savings Bucket
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Imagine a bucket filled with a dozen holes. Now, imagine trying to keep that bucket full of water by adding more water to the bucket. Guess what. The holes continue to leak water, creating a vicious cycle that can go on forever. Now, change the word “water” in this sentence to “savings” and you can see how your healthcare organization could be losi…
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Podcast 52 - Why Many Supply Chain Professionals Don't Believe Big Utilization Savings are Realizable
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During a recent conversation that Robert W. Yokl (SVAH’s VP, Supply Chain & VA) had with a system supply chain executive. This thought-provoking discussion he had with the system supply chain executive was about how he was targeting supply utilization in a new savings initiatives to achieve his organization’s savings goals beyond price strategies. …
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Podcast 51 – Vested Outsourcing Applied to Purchase Services – Interview with Kate Vitasek
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We are excited today to have Kate Vitasek as our guest today who is a faculty of Graduate and Executive Education at the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business Administration. She is the author of six books on the topic we are going to talk about today…Vested® Outsourcing. She has been featured on Bloomberg, CNN International, NPR, an…
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Podcast 50 - Your Biggest Cost Savings Opportunity Is Often Ignored
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For many in the healthcare supply chain, this this catch phrase (“providing the right product, at the right time at the right place”) has been the cornerstone of the supply chain’s best practices for over 50 years. Yet, we fail to ask these important questions: What happens after the product is in our customers hands? What happens after the contrac…
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Podcast-49-4 Tips You Too Can Use In Your Own Pursuit of Supply Chain Excellence
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My son, Robert W. Yokl, VP of SVAH Solutions, sent me an article the other day from BBC Sports about the Mercedes Formula 1 racing team, who won six consecutive championships, on their “relentless pursuit of excellence”. More specifically, how Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes’s motorsport program, never stops pushing for even higher performance from hi…
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