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Fixing the weak links in hospital supply chain

by Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | February 22, 2021
Business Affairs
From the January/February 2021 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


According to Dyer, suppliers sometimes come in with their bids higher than the benchmark and that requires the hospital supply chain staff to go back and negotiate. It can take two or three rounds of negotiations to get to the price they end up settling on.

But that may now be changing now, as transparency becomes more critical in terms of how the suppliers are dealing with the hospitals.

“There is a higher dependency on electronic transactions and electronic communication with the suppliers,” said Dyer. “You no longer have the supplier’s representative come into the hospitals to visit, and all of those sales calls are now virtual.”

The hospitals no longer have the time nor the staff to go back and forth in negotiations. Instead, they want their quotes to be fully-informed with all of the information they need to make a decision the first time.

“Healthcare supply chain executives are recognizing this issue and are saying they don’t have time for it,” said Dyer. “They want the best and final price and if it’s reasonable and in line with the benchmark, then they will transact with the supplier, but if the supplier forces them to play the games back and forth then they will move to someone else.”

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