Regional collaboratives are important due to the ever-changing landscape in healthcare and the overall need to drive additional savings and value for healthcare organizations. Most hospitals have maximized national GPO savings and the price of the “widget,” thus regional collaboratives provide the ability for out-of-the-box thinking and additional opportunities for savings and shared education. If a regional aggregation group can drive a highly committed contract portfolio, this results in value to both the participant and the supplier. By having a highly committed portfolio, this also results in reduction in variation which can have an impact on outcomes which is important in a value based reimbursement environment.

Yes, the Vanderbilt Health Purchasing Collaborative offers a wealth of clinical expertise and numerous educational opportunities. As a member of the Collaborative, you have access to direct interactions to supply chain peers as well as clinical support to help with trials and clinical conversions. Members also enjoy a peer forum which allows for best practice sharing or assistance with a critical need or issue. Fee for service offerings include: Vanderbilt’s Medical Economic Outcome Committee structure, which is a collaborative clinical/supply chain structure for evaluating new products and technology as well as work on bundles and clinical variation initiatives, is recognized by peer groups as a best practice. The Collaborative has the ability to assist organizations develop a similar structure to achieve a clinically integrated approach to supply chain decision making. We also have a clinical advisory board that will allow for a collaborative approach around the assessment of clinical variation utilizing outcome comparisons and quality metrics to drive decision making. Lastly, the Collaborative has an analytics service to help organizations understand their spend, standardization and savings opportunities that extend to areas outside of the contract portfolio.

Supplier partnerships are extremely important in helping support the success of regional collaboratives. As healthcare is in a constant state of change, we ask that suppliers continue to think outside of the box by bringing opportunities for savings across the continuum and various classes of trade. We also are interested in partnerships that include at risk strategies for certain populations and contract categories in return for committed volume and growth through the contract life cycle.

Contact us at info@VHPurchasingCollaborative.com to be added to our vendor roster for updates and RFP notifications.