Becker's Hospital Review

12 and utilization habits, all of which inform purchasing decisions and product standard- ization. Healthcare organizations can better inform their purchasing decisions with tech- nologies that enable them to share data and drive efficiencies across sites of care. "oughtful health systems realize the out- patient is very different [from acute supply chain] and that the key is transparency into their spend," Ms. Dobson said. "To improve non-acute supply chain in a thoughtful way, it centers on transparency to spend and having appropriate data to know what [supplies] that clinic is using." When your facilities operate on different sys- tems, distribution partners can offer sophisti- cated solutions to aggregate purchase history, utilization rates and other information across non-acute facilities into a single dashboard for measuring overall performance. "We want to make sure we meet our customer expectations, and that means sitting down and figuring out what their needs are and what their spend and purchase history is, and then devel- op a plan so that Day 1 we're successful," said Ammie McAsey, senior vice president of distri- bution operations for U.S. Pharma at McKesson. Safety and integrity. Partnering with a non- acute distributor is an effective way health systems can mitigate risk, patient safety and regulatory concerns in the distribution pro- cess. "It's all about mitigating risk," Ms. Dobson said. "If you save a million dollars in your sup- ply chain, but one person is harmed because of lack of transparency or confirmatory data or that your process was wrong, then you really haven't saved anything." A lot can happen to compromise product in- tegrity during the journey from a distribution center to the final supply closet. Temperature and moisture changes, manual product han- dling and even criminal elements threaten the quality and condition of supplies. "If you think about the hub and spoke [distri- bution] model with the health system, there's a lot of transportation involved, which equates to risk of diversion or being able to confirm chain of custody," Ms. Dobson said. "Many of the products used by the clinic are cold chain, so they require special handling. ink of lab reagents that need to be refrigerated, vaccines are frozen — clinic staff need to know supplies were properly handled and refrigerated the entire way." Cold chain — the management of tempera- ture-sensitive products as they move through the supply chain — is extremely important for pharmaceuticals. If drug quality is com- promised due to exposure to inappropriate conditions during transportation and stor- age, patients may experience adverse results. Having multiple systems and technologies in place to closely monitor temperature control is essential to ensure these high-value products remain viable. "In our system [at McKesson], we have triple redundancy, so that if something happens inside one of our distribution centers there are three different ways we'll be alerted," Ms. McAsey said. Distributors invest in a host of sophisticated technologies and infrastructural elements across their networks to provide the highest degree of safety, compliance and quality assurance. "If you have McKesson deliver your medical surgical and Rx directly to the patient care sites, we provide digital track and trace info, we're compliant with all regulatory and safety requirements," Ms. Dobson said. Operational Efficiency. Inventory and labor are the two main drivers of supply chain costs. Taking control of these expenses requires a focused strategy. Distributors can help health systems manage their non-acute and acute set- tings more efficiently. Utilizing your distributor's operational and technology capabilities to design the most effective method of distribution will provide long-term benefits. For example, if the non- acute facility has limited storage space and high patient turnover, choosing a just-in-time (JIT) distribution method might be the best option. Items are delivered in smaller quanti- ties to maximize the limited space. "If you have your deliveries made as close to the point of care as possible, it's a great way to manage cash that's tied up in inventory," Ms. McAsey said. "[McKesson's] ability to deliv- er quickly and accurately and on time allows acute and non-acute facilities to order inven- tory in a 'just in time' manner so they don't have unused inventory waiting on the shelf." Distributors free up labor. Picking, packing, shipping and delivering to the point-of-care allows clinicians and support staff to focus elsewhere, rather than on the supply chain. "McKesson can pick and pack supply totes in a specific and strategic way so that a delivery of totes that goes to five different floors doesn't need to be unpacked and repacked by hospital or clinic staff onsite," Ms. McAsey said. Conclusion Non-acute spend may only represent a fraction of a health system's supply chain budget, but it is a major source of logistical and operational concern. It is also an increasingly important part of how systems deliver and manage care in an era of value-based purchasing. Visibility into data, integrity and safety concerns, and logistical complexity across disparate care sites present significant challenges for even the most adept supply chain leaders. By partnering with a non-acute distributor, health systems gain an expert resource to more efficiently manage op- erations and patient outcomes across a diverse and growing non-acute portfolio. n © 2018 McKesson Corporation "Thoughtful health systems realize the outpatient is very different [from acute supply chain] and that the key is transparency into their spend." 4. Becker's Hospital Review and McKesson, "3 obstacles to managing the non-acute supply chain — and ways to overcome them (2017). Sponsored by:

• Cover