Interdependence in the healthcare industry: How a provider and a supplier collaborated to achieve mutual success

Abstract

A healthcare provider and a medical device supplier partnered to complete three big projects: adopting GS1 standards, using radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, and improving product standardisation. The provider wanted to improve the quality of information that it gathers to make better business decisions. It wanted to reduce labour and supply costs, it wanted to improve the accuracy and efficiency of transactions to reduce or eliminate the need for multiple transactions. To accomplish these goals, the provider needed to adopt data standards. The provider also wanted to use automation to better manage its inventory, and it wanted to eliminate inventory discrepancies and reduce its amount of expired products. To accomplish these goals, the provider planned to put tracking tags on all of the supplier's products and code the tags using data standards so that the products could be logged at every step of the way in the supply chain, from the distribution centre to a patient's bedside. After successfully completing the data standards and product-tagging projects, the provider and supplier found a cost-savings opportunity: standardising the provider's endoscopy products. This standardisation was unique because it was the first standardisation project that was led by the provider's newly created utilisation management team. The team's goal was to get clinical buy-in and train the provider's clinicians to use the supplier's endoscopy products. These three successful projects illustrate how a provider and supplier can build a strong partnership on the basis of trust, transparency and a commitment to working constructively together. Each project laid the foundation for the next project and strengthened the relationship between the partners, allowing them to find new opportunities together and to prove once again that their success is interdependent within the healthcare industry.