Pomerene hospital looks at cost savings in inventory
Pomerene Hospital board trustees approved measures to change the way the hospital’s supply purchasing works in hopes of finding savings and eliminating waste.
The board approved a recommendation by chief fiscal officer Jason Justus to form a purchasing advisory committee (PAC) and join a purchasing cooperative of area independent hospitals.
Justus said the idea behind the PAC and cooperative comes from the hospital’s continuing search to cut expenses while maintaining quality care. He identified the supply chain process as an area that can benefit from tougher oversight and the power of collective bidding.
“Our expenses are growing,” Justus said. “The inventory we have on hand doesn’t seem to dwindle down as much as we’d like...(inventory is) sitting on the shelves, then we are having to throw them away.”
The PAC would be hospital based, composed of a “blended view” of business administrators and clinical department heads. By watching what is being used and what isn’t, the hospital can formulate a buying plan that eliminates waste, Justus said.
The cooperative is one in existence through the Independent Hospital Network and includes Alliance Hospital, Dunlap Community, Union, and Aultman. As a cooperative, the hospital can bid in bulk and therefore lower prices, using its leverage as a group.
The affected inventory currently runs $550,000 per year, Justus said. Joining the independent hospital cooperative will have start-up costs of $5,000 to $10,000.
In other business, Nicole Gemma, chief nursing officer, said the overall patient satisfaction scores have improved to the top five percentile of hospitals surveyed by performance evaluation organization Press Ganey. The hospital’s score jumped from 88.6 in the third quarter of 2010 to 91 in the fourth quarter.
Hospital CEO Tony Snyder called the increase “significant.”
“This puts us in the top 95th percentile out of about 1,000,” Snyder said. “This was not random, this was due to something we did.”
Gemma attributed the increase to new efforts that keep patients and their families informed, with nurses giving updates to the patients on the progress of their care. She said the nursing staff intends to follow up patient information by offering shift reports at the patient’s bedside. The shift reports are currently completed at the nurse’s station, away from the patient. The patient may further decide if they wish for family to be present when the reports are read.
The board approved the following privileges for the following providers and physicians: Cynthia Farley, certified nurse midwife, allied health, midwifery services; Ronnell Hansel, M.D., provisional courtesy, radiology; Ibrahim Syed, M.D., provisional courtesy, radiology; Mark Jaroch, M.D., active staff, advanced laparoscopic surgical procedures.
The next meeting of the Pomerene Hospital board of trustees will be held March 24.
The board approved a recommendation by chief fiscal officer Jason Justus to form a purchasing advisory committee (PAC) and join a purchasing cooperative of area independent hospitals.
Justus said the idea behind the PAC and cooperative comes from the hospital’s continuing search to cut expenses while maintaining quality care. He identified the supply chain process as an area that can benefit from tougher oversight and the power of collective bidding.
“Our expenses are growing,” Justus said. “The inventory we have on hand doesn’t seem to dwindle down as much as we’d like...(inventory is) sitting on the shelves, then we are having to throw them away.”
The PAC would be hospital based, composed of a “blended view” of business administrators and clinical department heads. By watching what is being used and what isn’t, the hospital can formulate a buying plan that eliminates waste, Justus said.
The cooperative is one in existence through the Independent Hospital Network and includes Alliance Hospital, Dunlap Community, Union, and Aultman. As a cooperative, the hospital can bid in bulk and therefore lower prices, using its leverage as a group.
The affected inventory currently runs $550,000 per year, Justus said. Joining the independent hospital cooperative will have start-up costs of $5,000 to $10,000.
In other business, Nicole Gemma, chief nursing officer, said the overall patient satisfaction scores have improved to the top five percentile of hospitals surveyed by performance evaluation organization Press Ganey. The hospital’s score jumped from 88.6 in the third quarter of 2010 to 91 in the fourth quarter.
Hospital CEO Tony Snyder called the increase “significant.”
“This puts us in the top 95th percentile out of about 1,000,” Snyder said. “This was not random, this was due to something we did.”
Gemma attributed the increase to new efforts that keep patients and their families informed, with nurses giving updates to the patients on the progress of their care. She said the nursing staff intends to follow up patient information by offering shift reports at the patient’s bedside. The shift reports are currently completed at the nurse’s station, away from the patient. The patient may further decide if they wish for family to be present when the reports are read.
The board approved the following privileges for the following providers and physicians: Cynthia Farley, certified nurse midwife, allied health, midwifery services; Ronnell Hansel, M.D., provisional courtesy, radiology; Ibrahim Syed, M.D., provisional courtesy, radiology; Mark Jaroch, M.D., active staff, advanced laparoscopic surgical procedures.
The next meeting of the Pomerene Hospital board of trustees will be held March 24.
Published: February 25, 2011
