Strategic planning is vital to successful healthcare management. President & Co-Founder of The American Healthcare Journal, Cole Lyons, explains his goal of fostering a community of education to Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction Cole explains why transfer of knowledge is a key goal of the Journal, why healthcare strategy can be described as moving from checkers to chess and emphasizes the importance of thinking before you speak. He also explains the importance of competition in healthcare and identifies humility as an essential leadership trait.   Show Topics   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Redefining healthcare strategy </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> A strategic alternative for nonprofits  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Breaking down silos in healthcare </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Join Cole’s community on LinkedIn </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Applying economic theories to healthcare strategy </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Leadership tip: why humility matters </li> </ul>     05:36 Redefining healthcare strategy  Cole explained why thinking about the impact of your actions matters.  ‘’For me, it's kind of thinking before I speak. I think that's the best way that I've come up with how to explain it. In operations, day-to-day, things are quite hectic, especially at high volume clinics. And you have to make very quickly, fairly educated decisions based on standard operating procedures. But sometimes that doesn't always lead us down the best path. So part of that is creating standard operating procedures that allow you time to think about how it impacts things long-term. So, thinking before you speak for me means instead of just saying what I need to say in the moment, I think about what I say, how it will impact the person hearing it, how it'll impact my image. And if you apply that kind of thinking before acting approach to your actions in the operations space, it means taking a step back and looking at the competitive landscape in your industry, looking at the competitive landscape in your institution, different departments competing for funding, different departments competing for exposure, and looking at how even small actions in the operations world will impact that.’’   08:12 A strategic alternative for nonprofits Cole said the Journal aims to foster improvement and education in strategic thinking for nonprofit institutions.  ‘’… the problem right now is VC-backed healthcare firms, those that are backed by venture capital. They have a high concentration of MBAs who have really good strategic insights. So don't get me wrong, and we can always go into this anytime, but there's a problem with a lot of the strategy theories out there in general that are taught to MBA graduates because it's based on economic theories that don't always play out in the real world. But still when they make decisions, it is much more strategic than in nonprofit healthcare. And so, one of the issues is that I'm not a fan of government-run healthcare, which is a little contrarian. I'm just not particularly a fan of it. I think that free market healthcare is good, nonprofit institutions are my favorite. I love nonprofit institutions. I think that that's the best form of delivering healthcare. But they don't act very strategically, especially compared to VC-backed or for-profit healthcare, which employ all these MBAs, they recruit MBAs from the top schools, they can pay them. …I'm not saying that they're any less educated, they're just educated differently. They have MHAs, they have MPAs, a lot of them have MDs, and they are educated in a very different way. So the journal's purpose is how can we foster this community of improvement and education in strategic thinking for these people who are educated in a much more practical way? An MHA isn’t sitting in their office thinking and going into philosophy a lot of times. A lot of times they're figuring out, how can we solve this problem? How can we deal with this emergency situation?’’   13:36 Breaking down silos in healthcare  Cole said administrative fellowships can help to develop a well-rounded approach. ‘’One of the ways that this is going to work out really well, and a lot of programs are doing this, is through administrative fellowships. I actually have a lot of different things that we're involved with with that, trying to get fellowship certified, trying to get fellowships publicized a lot because administrative fellowships have to rotate through every department in the organization usually. They know all the leaders. And so when they go and work in operations, they are very well-rounded. They have a much better strategic vision of the organization. They know clinicians, they know the house staff, they know the janitors, they know everybody. A lot of times they know the people who are on construction teams building the building. And so that gives them a huge, well-rounded approach that's also going to massively improve strategy. So yeah, the majority of organizations are still struggling. They're siloed or they don't even have really a strategy team, but there is a good trend for improvement I think on the way.’’   16:32 Join Cole’s community on LinkedIn Cole said anyone who wishes to get involved with the Journal can connect on LinkedIn and YouTube.  ‘’LinkedIn is one of the best knowledge communities. There's a bunch of knowledgeable people. All my mentors have come from LinkedIn. The past two jobs I've gotten, including the journal, so I guess my past three jobs, have all come from people I've met on LinkedIn. So I would say go to LinkedIn, the American Journal of Healthcare Strategy is on there. I am on there. Happy to network and connect with anyone. Also, just happy to be kind of a funnel connecting you to other people. If you want to meet someone in the Philadelphia region, I know most of the senior leaders here at least casually, so I can always connect you to somebody if there's somebody you want to meet. So yeah, LinkedIn is definitely the best way until we get that website and mobile app up and running…. I know sales teams have told me that they've benefited a lot, our YouTube channel and our LinkedIn, a lot of time our LinkedIn will link to the YouTube channel.’’   19:08 Applying economic theories to healthcare strategy Cole said education is important to help hospitals adapt to strategy. ‘’I think the first reason that it's important is because if you're an MHA grad and you're interfacing with an MBA graduate or somebody who's a consultant, I guess classically trained in business, you need to understand the economic theories that they're going to be using and you also need to understand why they seem flawed. So when you go through a strategic plan and you utilize one of these theories, it could be like Blue Ocean or you utilize Porter's Five Forces, I like them, I think they're excellent, but they are flawed in some situations. And coming from operations, you'll identify, "Oh, there's something wrong with this," but you might not exactly know how to explain it. And it'll give you the language, it'll give you the techniques. You'll be able to construct these Five Forces plans, the Blue Ocean Plan. There's another one I can't remember off the top of my mind. But then it'll take you and say, "Okay, here's the problems with some of them. Here's how you can identify what the issues are, and here's how you can fix them as well." So, when a consultant comes in and gives you this awesome plan, it'll not have you throw plan in the trash. It'll have you say, "Oh, here's how I can adapt it to fit my organization."    21:55 Leadership tip: why humility matters Cole said humility enables leaders to make connections.  ‘’Humility is really, really important. I've been so privileged to sit with most of the CEOs of hospitals in the Philadelphia region. I think that the humility of some of them is really astounding and it leaves a lasting impact on me. I also think that those are usually the ones who are most respected, being down to earth and being humble, speaking with all the members of staff because you actually need to and want to and not just because it makes you look good…Also, the other lesson Six Sigma, the Gemba walk, the... Before you can become a manager in Japan, you have to go through all the departments…When these people rotate through these departments, I was talking to one the other day that she was in the parking lot looking at the road signs in the parking garage and working with the builders in the state to make sure that these parking lot road signs were constructed correctly. A few years later, she's going to be a hospital administrator, but that experience in the parking lot looking at the road signs, invaluable, because now she has a connection to the whole organization. And you can only make that connection if you're humble.’’   Connect with Lisa Miller on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Jim Cagliostro on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Cole Lyons on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/colelyons/">LinkedIn </a>   Check out <a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/">VIE Healthcare</a> and <a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/">SpendMend</a>    You’ll also hear:    Transfer of knowledge, the goal of the American Journal of Healthcare Strategy: ‘’It’s really essential that we think of things differently. …. what we're trying to figure out is how to transfer knowledge around in a better way, whether that is through consulting one-on-one, whether that's through one-on-one coaching, or whether that's through podcast or video. How can we get a community that is knowledgeable and is empowered by that knowledge? That's what our real goal is at the end of the day.‘’     From checkers to chess; another way of looking at healthcare strategy: ‘’So with checkers, you're kind of looking at the very next move. With chess, the best players are looking many moves ahead. And how one move in one side of the board will affect the move in the other side of the board. It's a pattern of thinking that's very hard to develop even. In the first way I mentioned with thinking before I speak, it's very challenging.’’   The role of competition in American healthcare: ‘’Even though we have problems with our population care, our actual procedures that we perform, there are lots of medical tourists coming from other countries to receive care in the United States because our healthcare is really excellent in terms of a lot of the quality. We want want these nonprofit firms to be able to compete really well against VC-backed. And so that's what motivates us.’’   What To Do Next:   <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/">Subscribe </a>to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies. </li> </ol>   <ol start="2"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare: </li> </ol>   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it.  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings.  </li> </ul> <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at <a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com">lmiller@spendmend.com</a> or directly at 732-319-5700. </li> </ol>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Strategic planning is vital to successful healthcare management. President &amp; Co-Founder of The American Healthcare Journal, Cole Lyons, explains his goal of fostering a community of education to Jim Cagliostro. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Episode Introduction&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole explains why transfer of knowledge is a key goal of the Journal, why healthcare strategy can be described as moving from checkers to chess and emphasizes the importance of thinking before you speak. He also explains the importance of competition in healthcare and identifies humility as an essential leadership trait.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Show Topics&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Redefining healthcare strategy&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;A strategic alternative for nonprofits &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Breaking down silos in healthcare&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Join Cole’s community on LinkedIn&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Applying economic theories to healthcare strategy&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Leadership tip: why humility matters&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;05:36 Redefining healthcare strategy &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole explained why thinking about the impact of your actions matters. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’For me, it's kind of thinking before I speak. I think that's the best way that I've come up with how to explain it. In operations, day-to-day, things are quite hectic, especially at high volume clinics. And you have to make very quickly, fairly educated decisions based on standard operating procedures. But sometimes that doesn't always lead us down the best path. So part of that is creating standard operating procedures that allow you time to think about how it impacts things long-term. So, thinking before you speak for me means instead of just saying what I need to say in the moment, I think about what I say, how it will impact the person hearing it, how it'll impact my image. And if you apply that kind of thinking before acting approach to your actions in the operations space, it means taking a step back and looking at the competitive landscape in your industry, looking at the competitive landscape in your institution, different departments competing for funding, different departments competing for exposure, and looking at how even small actions in the operations world will impact that.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;08:12 A strategic alternative for nonprofits&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole said the Journal aims to foster improvement and education in strategic thinking for nonprofit institutions. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’… the problem right now is VC-backed healthcare firms, those that are backed by venture capital. They have a high concentration of MBAs who have really good strategic insights. So don't get me wrong, and we can always go into this anytime, but there's a problem with a lot of the strategy theories out there in general that are taught to MBA graduates because it's based on economic theories that don't always play out in the real world. But still when they make decisions, it is much more strategic than in nonprofit healthcare. And so, one of the issues is that I'm not a fan of government-run healthcare, which is a little contrarian. I'm just not particularly a fan of it. I think that free market healthcare is good, nonprofit institutions are my favorite. I love nonprofit institutions. I think that that's the best form of delivering healthcare. But they don't act very strategically, especially compared to VC-backed or for-profit healthcare, which employ all these MBAs, they recruit MBAs from the top schools, they can pay them. …I'm not saying that they're any less educated, they're just educated differently. They have MHAs, they have MPAs, a lot of them have MDs, and they are educated in a very different way. So the journal's purpose is how can we foster this community of improvement and education in strategic thinking for these people who are educated in a much more practical way? An MHA isn’t sitting in their office thinking and going into philosophy a lot of times. A lot of times they're figuring out, how can we solve this problem? How can we deal with this emergency situation?’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;13:36 Breaking down silos in healthcare &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole said administrative fellowships can help to develop a well-rounded approach.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’One of the ways that this is going to work out really well, and a lot of programs are doing this, is through administrative fellowships. I actually have a lot of different things that we're involved with with that, trying to get fellowship certified, trying to get fellowships publicized a lot because administrative fellowships have to rotate through every department in the organization usually. They know all the leaders. And so when they go and work in operations, they are very well-rounded. They have a much better strategic vision of the organization. They know clinicians, they know the house staff, they know the janitors, they know everybody. A lot of times they know the people who are on construction teams building the building. And so that gives them a huge, well-rounded approach that's also going to massively improve strategy. So yeah, the majority of organizations are still struggling. They're siloed or they don't even have really a strategy team, but there is a good trend for improvement I think on the way.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;16:32 Join Cole’s community on LinkedIn&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole said anyone who wishes to get involved with the Journal can connect on LinkedIn and YouTube. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’LinkedIn is one of the best knowledge communities. There's a bunch of knowledgeable people. All my mentors have come from LinkedIn. The past two jobs I've gotten, including the journal, so I guess my past three jobs, have all come from people I've met on LinkedIn. So I would say go to LinkedIn, the American Journal of Healthcare Strategy is on there. I am on there. Happy to network and connect with anyone. Also, just happy to be kind of a funnel connecting you to other people. If you want to meet someone in the Philadelphia region, I know most of the senior leaders here at least casually, so I can always connect you to somebody if there's somebody you want to meet. So yeah, LinkedIn is definitely the best way until we get that website and mobile app up and running…. I know sales teams have told me that they've benefited a lot, our YouTube channel and our LinkedIn, a lot of time our LinkedIn will link to the YouTube channel.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;19:08 Applying economic theories to healthcare strategy&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole said education is important to help hospitals adapt to strategy.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think the first reason that it's important is because if you're an MHA grad and you're interfacing with an MBA graduate or somebody who's a consultant, I guess classically trained in business, you need to understand the economic theories that they're going to be using and you also need to understand why they seem flawed. So when you go through a strategic plan and you utilize one of these theories, it could be like Blue Ocean or you utilize Porter's Five Forces, I like them, I think they're excellent, but they are flawed in some situations. And coming from operations, you'll identify, "Oh, there's something wrong with this," but you might not exactly know how to explain it. And it'll give you the language, it'll give you the techniques. You'll be able to construct these Five Forces plans, the Blue Ocean Plan. There's another one I can't remember off the top of my mind. But then it'll take you and say, "Okay, here's the problems with some of them. Here's how you can identify what the issues are, and here's how you can fix them as well." So, when a consultant comes in and gives you this awesome plan, it'll not have you throw plan in the trash. It'll have you say, "Oh, here's how I can adapt it to fit my organization." &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;21:55 Leadership tip: why humility matters&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Cole said humility enables leaders to make connections. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’Humility is really, really important. I've been so privileged to sit with most of the CEOs of hospitals in the Philadelphia region. I think that the humility of some of them is really astounding and it leaves a lasting impact on me. I also think that those are usually the ones who are most respected, being down to earth and being humble, speaking with all the members of staff because you actually need to and want to and not just because it makes you look good…Also, the other lesson Six Sigma, the Gemba walk, the... Before you can become a manager in Japan, you have to go through all the departments…When these people rotate through these departments, I was talking to one the other day that she was in the parking lot looking at the road signs in the parking garage and working with the builders in the state to make sure that these parking lot road signs were constructed correctly. A few years later, she's going to be a hospital administrator, but that experience in the parking lot looking at the road signs, invaluable, because now she has a connection to the whole organization. And you can only make that connection if you're humble.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Lisa Miller on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Jim Cagliostro on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Cole Lyons on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/colelyons/"&gt;LinkedIn &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Check out &lt;a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/"&gt;VIE Healthcare&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/"&gt;SpendMend&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;You’ll also hear: &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Transfer of knowledge, the goal of the American Journal of Healthcare Strategy: ‘’It’s really essential that we think of things differently. …. what we're trying to figure out is how to transfer knowledge around in a better way, whether that is through consulting one-on-one, whether that's through one-on-one coaching, or whether that's through podcast or video. How can we get a community that is knowledgeable and is empowered by that knowledge? That's what our real goal is at the end of the day.‘’  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;From checkers to chess; another way of looking at healthcare strategy: ‘’So with checkers, you're kind of looking at the very next move. With chess, the best players are looking many moves ahead. And how one move in one side of the board will affect the move in the other side of the board. It's a pattern of thinking that's very hard to develop even. In the first way I mentioned with thinking before I speak, it's very challenging.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;The role of competition in American healthcare: ‘’Even though we have problems with our population care, our actual procedures that we perform, there are lots of medical tourists coming from other countries to receive care in the United States because our healthcare is really excellent in terms of a lot of the quality. We want want these nonprofit firms to be able to compete really well against VC-backed. And so that's what motivates us.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;What To Do Next:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/"&gt;Subscribe &lt;/a&gt;to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol start="2"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ol start="3"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at &lt;a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com"&gt;lmiller@spendmend.com&lt;/a&gt; or directly at 732-319-5700.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;</description>

Strategic planning is vital to successful healthcare management. President & Co-Founder of The American Healthcare Journal, Cole Lyons, explains his goal of fostering a community of education to Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction...

Healthcare Strategy with Cole Lyons | E. 109

Tech startups are predicted to disrupt US healthcare in 2024. Scott Nelson, co-founder, and CEO of venture backed FastWave Medical, offers his strategies for success in innovation with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Scott reveals the two signs that an idea has potential, why market trumps everything in innovation, and why leaders should focus on eliminating pain points for their end users. He also advises innovators to connect with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage and explains why leaders of startups shouldn’t put all their eggs in the venture capital basket.   Show Topics   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Two signs of a good idea  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Market ultimately trumps everything in innovation </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Engage with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Finding investment in your community  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Flipping the script: eliminating pain points </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Effective ways to raise capital </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Leaders of startups don’t have to be the CEO  </li> </ul> 05:49 Two signs of a good idea  Scott said there are two things for leaders to consider in innovation.  ‘’I guess to answer your question in a little bit more long-winded way, I would say if you've got an idea that you can't seem to shake a little bit… It's sticky and you find yourself maybe waking up at night thinking about it or you thought about it and then two weeks ago you're still thinking about it, maybe a month goes on, you're still thinking about it, that's usually a good signal. Maybe there's something there, but the most important point from my perspective is before you go too far, before you get too latched onto this idea, you really need to think about two things primarily. One, does it solve a real glaring problem? Is it a painkiller? I remember interviewing Dan Hawkins way back in the day. He was actually the founder of Shockwave, the company I mentioned previously, was very early at Intuitive Surgical, was the founder of Avail Medsystems, et cetera, serial entrepreneur. And he phrased, this was back in, I think 2016 or 17, but he mentioned finding a painkiller, not aspirin, not Tylenol, but a real painkiller, something that really causes a lot of pain, whether that's from a cost perspective, whether that's from a workflow perspective, but something that's like, there's a lot of friction there. That's what your idea hopefully solves for, a real painkiller. And then secondarily, if you think you're onto something that solves that real pain point, secondarily, you need to think about this as early in the process as possible. Who's going to pay for it?’’   09:03 Market ultimately trumps everything in innovation  Scott explained why market is the #1 factor for potential entrepreneurs.  ‘’I sort of fundamentally believe that market ultimately trumps everything else, right? Now, don't get me wrong, you could have a great product and a great team, but if it doesn't serve a huge market, you're going to have to think about other ways to fund that, right? Maybe it's a product that you can invest your own money in. Maybe it's a product that you can get to market quite quickly and use revenue and profits to support the company's growth, etc. But the reality is you need a big market to serve in order to give you optionality to capitalize and fund your idea or fund the company moving forward. So I do kind of think market trumps everything, because again, you could be working on a great product, have an awesome team, but if the market just doesn't support it, it's likely not going to have a lot of substance there. On the flip side, you could have an awesome market and maybe a decent product and a decent team, but it's probably going to do fairly well because the market supports that need. So, long story short, there's a couple of different ways to think about it. They're all important. ‘’   12:38 Engage with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage ‘’Obviously you need to be careful and cognizant about not disclosing too much, but the imperative is really to start engaging early on with those, what you perceive as potential strategic acquirers, really under the guise of just an introduction. You're not trying to sell them anything. It's a dating process. You're trying to get to know them, inform them of what you're building, what you're working on, so at least have a high-level idea. And as you continue to make progress against your idea and against your milestones, keep them informed. Not just them, but hopefully potential investors, people that... stakeholders within your community. You want to be communicating the progress that you're making against the idea or the product that you're building. So I can come full circle on your question. I just think it's really sometimes underappreciated, and it's actually a tip that I picked up on from Duke Rohlen, he's the founder of Ajax Health, serial entrepreneurs, had multiple exits under his belt, but he mentioned this, in an interview maybe close to 10 years ago now that I had with him. That was one of the things that he really focused on with some of his early wins is really an evaluation of all of the players in a certain market and what are they missing? What are the gaps in their existing portfolios? And he put together a matrix, and that helped think about how his product could potentially fit into the portfolios and where it fits with the broader space, if you will. And so that I think is sometimes maybe a little bit underappreciated from most founders and CEOs that are highly focused on their idea.’’   14:38 Finding investment in your community.  Scott said your community could be the source of potential investment.  ‘’Generally speaking… you want to engage with your community as early as possible. In your community could be your end users of your product. Your community could be the payers. Your community could be investors. Your community could be those likely potential strategic acquirers. You need to be engaging with them early, having a lot of conversations early under the guise that you want to let them know who you are, what you're building, what you're working on, and you want to keep them informed on your progress, right? Because if you can demonstrate over the course of six, 12, 18, 24 months that you delivered on what you said you were going to do, that's probably the most impressive thing that you do. You could present a fancy pitch deck, you could have an awesome advisory board. Your product could actually be quite cool, but the thing that's going to stand out is your ability to execute against the things that you say you're going to execute against. That's the most impressive thing. That's always going to stand out to strategic acquirers, investors, even your end user stakeholders. So I really, really think it's important.’’   18:41 Flipping the script: eliminating pain points Scott said the key question to ask yourself is how your idea makes life easier for your end users.  ‘’I think oftentimes we might want to flip the script a little bit and not necessarily think about our idea, our technology, offering so many more benefits and so many more improvements. Actually, what does it eliminate from the workflow? What pain points, what friction does it take away from my end users to make their life more simple, more easy to use? And hopefully through that process, we're delivering on those cost savings, right? Because so many times, especially in MedTech, and rightfully so in some scenarios, we think about how to get a pricing bump, or a pricing increase. In reality, your business model might be just delivering a slightly better product, but at a very attractive price. A Costco model. So that's not a bad play. And if your wheelhouse is really more around maybe cogs optimization or supply chain management, and that's what you really know well, there could be some great ideas in there where you can just simply deliver a good enough product, maybe slightly better, but just at a very attractive price. And that could be a phenomenal idea. And so I think those are a couple of things that I would think about under the guise of how do I differentiate myself versus competition? Don't think about your product doing so many great things. Think about how it can remove friction in a process and make your end users' lives more simple, more easy, less stressful. And then maybe just as important, how can it remove costs from the equation?’’   22:30 Effective ways to raise capital Scott said innovators need to be thinking in terms of major milestones about fundraising.  ‘’ I'll probably say fairly high level, but I really would encourage everyone to think about how they're raising capital. Think about it in cycles, if you will. You want to raise enough capital, ideally, not too much per se, but not too little either. But raise enough capital where you can achieve the next major milestone in say, 12 months. And you need to make that very, very clear to all your potential investors, this is what we're raising our money for. This is the next major milestone that we're targeting. So being very, very clear about that and kind of thinking about your fundraising and tranches, if you will, like that. And again, it is really very important. Yes, you want to be in a position where you don't run out of cash for sure, but you also don't want to take so much money upfront that you get so diluted that will impact future fundraisers. So yes, think about these near-term milestones. Those are crucial, but also think about how those may impact the next fundraise as well. So I definitely want to, I'd like to start out there because I think it's a point worth emphasizing for anyone that's working on early stage technology.’’   26:03 Leaders of startups don’t have to be the CEO  ‘’I think as leaders of startups, you don't necessarily have to be the CEO. If you're in some sort of leadership capacity within an early stage company, I would just keep in mind that when you're trying to direct your team and push the ball forward, but you're pushing in essence a boulder uphill with a lot of friction, momentum is crucial. So as a leader, you need to keep that in mind, is do everything within your power to keep the momentum going forward. There's always going to be trade-offs as your company evolves, but ensuring and optimizing for momentum, that's so, so crucial. So that's probably one of the things that probably stands out most as part of this broader startup idea.’’   Connect with Lisa Miller on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Jim Cagliostro on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Scott Nelson on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottnelsonlive/">LinkedIn </a>   Check out <a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/">VIE Healthcare</a> and <a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/">SpendMend</a>    You’ll also hear:    Three things for every innovator to consider: ‘’As your idea begins to evolve and begins to take shape, you need to be thinking about…what product am I building? What market does it serve? And who's the best team to effectively build this?’’ One key piece of advice for startups: ‘’As a startup, if you're working on an idea, the most likely scenario for a potential liquidity event is an exit to a strategic acquirer.’’ The blurred line between payers and providers: ‘’Once my technology is approved or cleared by the regulatory body and I'm ready to sell, then I need to think about who's going to pay for it. Well, the reality is … the lines between payers and providers, is really, quite blurred… They ought to know who you are and what you've been building for hopefully months, if not maybe a couple of years.’’ Don't put your eggs all in the traditional VC basket: ‘’If you're so highly dependent upon traditional VCs, likely they're going to get squeezed…. So the onus on founders, CEOs, in terms of fundraising is to keep a lot of options on the table, go far and wide. It's a lot of work.’’   What To Do Next:   <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/">Subscribe </a>to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies. </li> </ol>   <ol start="2"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare: </li> </ol>   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it.  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings.  </li> </ul> <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at <a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com">lmiller@spendmend.com</a> or directly at 732-319-5700. </li> </ol>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Tech startups are predicted to disrupt US healthcare in 2024. Scott Nelson, co-founder, and CEO of venture backed FastWave Medical, offers his strategies for success in innovation with Jim Cagliostro. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Episode Introduction &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Scott reveals the two signs that an idea has potential, why market trumps everything in innovation, and why leaders should focus on eliminating pain points for their end users. He also advises innovators to connect with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage and explains why leaders of startups shouldn’t put all their eggs in the venture capital basket.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Show Topics&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Two signs of a good idea &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Market ultimately trumps everything in innovation&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Engage with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Finding investment in your community &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Flipping the script: eliminating pain points&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Effective ways to raise capital&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Leaders of startups don’t have to be the CEO &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;05:49 Two signs of a good idea &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Scott said there are two things for leaders to consider in innovation. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I guess to answer your question in a little bit more long-winded way, I would say if you've got an idea that you can't seem to shake a little bit… It's sticky and you find yourself maybe waking up at night thinking about it or you thought about it and then two weeks ago you're still thinking about it, maybe a month goes on, you're still thinking about it, that's usually a good signal. Maybe there's something there, but the most important point from my perspective is before you go too far, before you get too latched onto this idea, you really need to think about two things primarily. One, does it solve a real glaring problem? Is it a painkiller? I remember interviewing Dan Hawkins way back in the day. He was actually the founder of Shockwave, the company I mentioned previously, was very early at Intuitive Surgical, was the founder of Avail Medsystems, et cetera, serial entrepreneur. And he phrased, this was back in, I think 2016 or 17, but he mentioned finding a painkiller, not aspirin, not Tylenol, but a real painkiller, something that really causes a lot of pain, whether that's from a cost perspective, whether that's from a workflow perspective, but something that's like, there's a lot of friction there. That's what your idea hopefully solves for, a real painkiller. And then secondarily, if you think you're onto something that solves that real pain point, secondarily, you need to think about this as early in the process as possible. Who's going to pay for it?’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;09:03 Market ultimately trumps everything in innovation &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Scott explained why market is the #1 factor for potential entrepreneurs. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I sort of fundamentally believe that market ultimately trumps everything else, right? Now, don't get me wrong, you could have a great product and a great team, but if it doesn't serve a huge market, you're going to have to think about other ways to fund that, right? Maybe it's a product that you can invest your own money in. Maybe it's a product that you can get to market quite quickly and use revenue and profits to support the company's growth, etc. But the reality is you need a big market to serve in order to give you optionality to capitalize and fund your idea or fund the company moving forward. So I do kind of think market trumps everything, because again, you could be working on a great product, have an awesome team, but if the market just doesn't support it, it's likely not going to have a lot of substance there. On the flip side, you could have an awesome market and maybe a decent product and a decent team, but it's probably going to do fairly well because the market supports that need. So, long story short, there's a couple of different ways to think about it. They're all important. ‘’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;12:38 Engage with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’Obviously you need to be careful and cognizant about not disclosing too much, but the imperative is really to start engaging early on with those, what you perceive as potential strategic acquirers, really under the guise of just an introduction. You're not trying to sell them anything. It's a dating process. You're trying to get to know them, inform them of what you're building, what you're working on, so at least have a high-level idea. And as you continue to make progress against your idea and against your milestones, keep them informed. Not just them, but hopefully potential investors, people that... stakeholders within your community. You want to be communicating the progress that you're making against the idea or the product that you're building. So I can come full circle on your question. I just think it's really sometimes underappreciated, and it's actually a tip that I picked up on from Duke Rohlen, he's the founder of Ajax Health, serial entrepreneurs, had multiple exits under his belt, but he mentioned this, in an interview maybe close to 10 years ago now that I had with him. That was one of the things that he really focused on with some of his early wins is really an evaluation of all of the players in a certain market and what are they missing? What are the gaps in their existing portfolios? And he put together a matrix, and that helped think about how his product could potentially fit into the portfolios and where it fits with the broader space, if you will. And so that I think is sometimes maybe a little bit underappreciated from most founders and CEOs that are highly focused on their idea.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;14:38 Finding investment in your community. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Scott said your community could be the source of potential investment. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’Generally speaking… you want to engage with your community as early as possible. In your community could be your end users of your product. Your community could be the payers. Your community could be investors. Your community could be those likely potential strategic acquirers. You need to be engaging with them early, having a lot of conversations early under the guise that you want to let them know who you are, what you're building, what you're working on, and you want to keep them informed on your progress, right? Because if you can demonstrate over the course of six, 12, 18, 24 months that you delivered on what you said you were going to do, that's probably the most impressive thing that you do. You could present a fancy pitch deck, you could have an awesome advisory board. Your product could actually be quite cool, but the thing that's going to stand out is your ability to execute against the things that you say you're going to execute against. That's the most impressive thing. That's always going to stand out to strategic acquirers, investors, even your end user stakeholders. So I really, really think it's important.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;18:41 Flipping the script: eliminating pain points&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Scott said the key question to ask yourself is how your idea makes life easier for your end users. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think oftentimes we might want to flip the script a little bit and not necessarily think about our idea, our technology, offering so many more benefits and so many more improvements. Actually, what does it eliminate from the workflow? What pain points, what friction does it take away from my end users to make their life more simple, more easy to use? And hopefully through that process, we're delivering on those cost savings, right? Because so many times, especially in MedTech, and rightfully so in some scenarios, we think about how to get a pricing bump, or a pricing increase. In reality, your business model might be just delivering a slightly better product, but at a very attractive price. A Costco model. So that's not a bad play. And if your wheelhouse is really more around maybe cogs optimization or supply chain management, and that's what you really know well, there could be some great ideas in there where you can just simply deliver a good enough product, maybe slightly better, but just at a very attractive price. And that could be a phenomenal idea. And so I think those are a couple of things that I would think about under the guise of how do I differentiate myself versus competition? Don't think about your product doing so many great things. Think about how it can remove friction in a process and make your end users' lives more simple, more easy, less stressful. And then maybe just as important, how can it remove costs from the equation?’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;22:30 Effective ways to raise capital&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Scott said innovators need to be thinking in terms of major milestones about fundraising. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’ I'll probably say fairly high level, but I really would encourage everyone to think about how they're raising capital. Think about it in cycles, if you will. You want to raise enough capital, ideally, not too much per se, but not too little either. But raise enough capital where you can achieve the next major milestone in say, 12 months. And you need to make that very, very clear to all your potential investors, this is what we're raising our money for. This is the next major milestone that we're targeting. So being very, very clear about that and kind of thinking about your fundraising and tranches, if you will, like that. And again, it is really very important. Yes, you want to be in a position where you don't run out of cash for sure, but you also don't want to take so much money upfront that you get so diluted that will impact future fundraisers. So yes, think about these near-term milestones. Those are crucial, but also think about how those may impact the next fundraise as well. So I definitely want to, I'd like to start out there because I think it's a point worth emphasizing for anyone that's working on early stage technology.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;26:03 Leaders of startups don’t have to be the CEO &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think as leaders of startups, you don't necessarily have to be the CEO. If you're in some sort of leadership capacity within an early stage company, I would just keep in mind that when you're trying to direct your team and push the ball forward, but you're pushing in essence a boulder uphill with a lot of friction, momentum is crucial. So as a leader, you need to keep that in mind, is do everything within your power to keep the momentum going forward. There's always going to be trade-offs as your company evolves, but ensuring and optimizing for momentum, that's so, so crucial. So that's probably one of the things that probably stands out most as part of this broader startup idea.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Lisa Miller on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Jim Cagliostro on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Scott Nelson on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottnelsonlive/"&gt;LinkedIn &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Check out &lt;a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/"&gt;VIE Healthcare&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/"&gt;SpendMend&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;You’ll also hear: &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Three things for every innovator to consider: ‘’As your idea begins to evolve and begins to take shape, you need to be thinking about…what product am I building? What market does it serve? And who's the best team to effectively build this?’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;One key piece of advice for startups: ‘’As a startup, if you're working on an idea, the most likely scenario for a potential liquidity event is an exit to a strategic acquirer.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;The blurred line between payers and providers: ‘’Once my technology is approved or cleared by the regulatory body and I'm ready to sell, then I need to think about who's going to pay for it. Well, the reality is … the lines between payers and providers, is really, quite blurred… They ought to know who you are and what you've been building for hopefully months, if not maybe a couple of years.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Don't put your eggs all in the traditional VC basket: ‘’If you're so highly dependent upon traditional VCs, likely they're going to get squeezed…. So the onus on founders, CEOs, in terms of fundraising is to keep a lot of options on the table, go far and wide. It's a lot of work.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;What To Do Next:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/"&gt;Subscribe &lt;/a&gt;to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol start="2"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ol start="3"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at &lt;a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com"&gt;lmiller@spendmend.com&lt;/a&gt; or directly at 732-319-5700.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong id= "docs-internal-guid-ec1956c4-7fff-188b-8836-3aa07345f742"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Tech startups are predicted to disrupt US healthcare in 2024. Scott Nelson, co-founder, and CEO of venture backed FastWave Medical, offers his strategies for success in innovation with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Scott...

Ideas Worth Pursuing | E. 108

Purchased services is often the most overlooked expense in healthcare yet offers opportunities for cost savings. Brian Bartel shares his best practices for effective contract management, with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Brian explains the unique challenges of purchased services, why a centralized contract repository is the first step to successful purchased services management, and why hospitals should never allow contracts to auto-renew. He also explains why ‘’red flags’’ aren’t always necessarily malicious and why it’s vital to question the line-item details of your purchased services invoices.    Show Topics   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Don’t assume all red flags are malicious </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> The hidden cost savings in your line-item details </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic – and build relationships </li> </ul> 06:35 Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare Brian explained the difference between supplies and purchased services.  ‘’…When you're talking about supplies, it's pretty easy. You've got a specific item number, you've got your power set, your requisitions, everything is very orderly. So things are coming in, you can track it, you've got the data behind it, there's a contract with that line item pricing. And then when you get confirmations back, usually people are using some form of EDI, which makes it relatively easy, and you can track that. Item A is item A, item B is item B. Purchased services is different because it typically is not on a PO. Again, I've worked places where it is, but that comes with its own challenges. It's very department specific, so you've got usually a department manager or leader that's kind of running that point with it. We don't have as much interaction on the supply chain side of this either. Communication is usually kind of sparse between supply chain and a purchased service provider as compared to a typical supply vendor. And again, the data is just, it's more difficult. When you start looking at how things are being invoiced because there's no PO line, it gets very challenging to try to figure out, "Okay, what's actually happening with this spend?" Typically, an invoice will come in, the department manager signs off on it, it gets paid, and that's it. So a lot of opportunity there.’’   08:30 #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository  Brian said a centralized contract repository was the essential first step to successful purchased services management.  ‘’I think that at square one, I think the biggest thing you can do is if your organization or your hospital, your ASC, your clinic, whatever it is, if you don't have a centralized contract repository, that's step one. Again, stepping into certain roles in my past, you've got contracts that might be down in admin. You've got department managers that have signature execution authority and they've got them in their files, and then you realize three years later that there's been this contract that nobody's really paying attention to because it's just a paper copy. Really I think that that's the biggest thing for me is getting your hands around it. Number one, you've just got to have that centralized repository. Again, that doesn't mean that you need to use software. Software obviously makes things easier. I'm a big proponent of that. But again, even just saying, "All right, nobody can sign contracts except for," whether it be your CEO, your CFO. "Send all these down and we're going to put them in a file cabinet." At least then you can go and try to find where those contractual documents are.’’   10:07 Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis Brian said it’s important not to let contracts auto-renew.  ‘’It’s always good to have that check-in annually, even if it’s just pulling the contract, making sure when does this contract terminate? That’s the other thing about automated systems through contract software is that you can set those flags. “Hey, something’s coming up 180 days later.” Again, with things that are just auto-renewing, that’s an issue too. If you miss that window to terminate something that you do want to go out to bid for, or maybe it’s a contract that you don’t need anymore. And I’ve seen, you’ve probably seen it too, 180 day out clause, some of these things. So if you miss that, that’s going to be a problem. As far as reviewing, it depends too on the type of service. Some of them are much more important, and so having a quarterly business review or a semiannual business review is important, and that gives the vendor time to come and showcase what it is that they’re doing too, because at the end of the day, sometimes these people are coming in, they’re doing great work, but nobody really knows except for that department or specific area that they’re there too. So giving that face time opportunity for the vendor, especially on those critical contracts, is important as well.’’   12:21 Don’t assume all red flags are malicious Brian said reaching out to the vendor is important if you notice an invoice discrepancy.  ‘’I think that that's where you've got to have a little finesse, again, realizing that some of these contracts, there's a lot of relationships built in. Again, if you've got somebody that's on site providing this, odds are they built those relationships. So I always take the approach when I notice that something's not going well on my side, if I notice an invoice discrepancy or something, it's an automatic red flag, but don't assume that it's malicious, right? So the first thing that I recommend is definitely reaching out to the vendor, the supplier, the individual, whoever it is that's your point of contact and just have that conversation. Say, "Hey, we noticed that there's a deficiency here," or, "We have a question about this invoice," and give them a chance. Because again, remember, on their side, I think it's probably maybe not quite as complex as it is on ours, but I know that just the conversations that I've had with suppliers in the past is that there are mistakes made when they're sending out invoices on a monthly basis or whatever it is. Again, give them that opportunity to rectify, at least bring it to their attention, and don't assume a malicious intent, even though that's probably from a supply chain standpoint, something that we might tend to do a little bit too much, right?’’   14:22 The hidden cost savings in your line-item details Brian said a detailed review of purchased services invoices can uncover significant cost savings opportunities.  ‘’At the end of the day, we're paying for whatever it is that we've signed up contractually for. And so having that actual invoice in front of you will tell you a lot of different things. Number one, you get the contract. Number two, you get the invoice. And then you start going through, does this make sense? Are things lining up? And I found some just very easy wins, things that they've been charging for, like an EVS vendor that was charging for restroom service, thousands of dollars a year, nobody knew what it was, and all they were doing is just bringing in little scent pads and not even going into the restrooms. But that was a line item that nobody had really questioned before. And so by seeing that actual invoice, again, now you're not just seeing it as X amount, now you can actually go in and see what it is that they're invoicing for. Again, correlating back to the supply chain side, we know that. We know each individual widget, case, box, each, but until you see that invoice a lot of times, if you're looking at it from a GL perspective or an expense, you don't see that line item necessarily all the way down to that detail. So it just tells you a lot. And again, maybe I'm just a nerd, but I like doing that. I like pulling those occasionally and just making sure, do the sniff test. Does this seem like everything that it should be? And then ask those questions. And again, you learn through that too. Some of the services that we have, it's like, "Oh, I didn't know that that was included." So again, that goes back to the communication with the vendor or supplier, give them opportunity to explain what it is that they're invoicing as well.’’   19:05 Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic - and build relationships  Brian said building relationships is vital in leadership.  ‘’I think the biggest thing is just like I mentioned before, be inquisitive, have patience, and be strategic. A lot of the things that we would like to get done, whether it's supply chain or in our personal lives, it takes a while. So build those relationships, know what you want to do and know that it will take time. Rome wasn't built in a day. And so when you have those opportunities come up, if you're strategic about it, that door opens a little bit, you've got all your ducks in a row, then you can walk through and say, "Hey, I've got a solution to try to fix this, because I've been working on it in the background." So I wish that there was more that I could say than that, but I know personally that's what it is. Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic, and build those relationships. Connect with Lisa Miller on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Jim Cagliostro on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Brian Bartel on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bartel-0200a145/">LinkedIn </a>   Check out <a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/">VIE Healthcare</a> and <a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/">SpendMend</a>    You’ll also hear:    From critical care to materials management, Brian’s journey in healthcare: ‘’No day is the same. Hopefully we can bring efficiencies and streamline processes to avoid some of these chaotic fires that pop up, but again, every day brings this new challenge.’’   A straightforward definition of purchased services: ‘’I just keep it simple. Is it a service that we're purchasing and that's usually typically some sort of a purchase or a contract or an outsource of some service that we're taking advantage of.’’   The benefits of a mentor in effective contract management: ‘’If you would've just stuck me in purchased services when I left the critical care access hospital, I would've had no idea, but I had a mentor, I had somebody that was teaching me that. So rely on those people and ask those questions. Ask the department managers, your GPO. Again, I know that there are pros and cons of GPOs, but that's a great place to look too.’’   What To Do Next:   <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/">Subscribe </a>to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies. </li> </ol>   <ol start="2"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare: </li> </ol>   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it.  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings.  </li> </ul> <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at <a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com">lmiller@spendmend.com</a> or directly at 732-319-5700. </li> </ol>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Purchased services is often the most overlooked expense in healthcare yet offers opportunities for cost savings. Brian Bartel shares his best practices for effective contract management, with Jim Cagliostro. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Episode Introduction &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian explains the unique challenges of purchased services, why a centralized contract repository is the first step to successful purchased services management, and why hospitals should never allow contracts to auto-renew. He also explains why ‘’red flags’’ aren’t always necessarily malicious and why it’s vital to question the line-item details of your purchased services invoices. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Show Topics&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;#1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Don’t assume all red flags are malicious&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;The hidden cost savings in your line-item details&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic – and build relationships&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;06:35 Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian explained the difference between supplies and purchased services. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’…When you're talking about supplies, it's pretty easy. You've got a specific item number, you've got your power set, your requisitions, everything is very orderly. So things are coming in, you can track it, you've got the data behind it, there's a contract with that line item pricing. And then when you get confirmations back, usually people are using some form of EDI, which makes it relatively easy, and you can track that. Item A is item A, item B is item B. Purchased services is different because it typically is not on a PO. Again, I've worked places where it is, but that comes with its own challenges. It's very department specific, so you've got usually a department manager or leader that's kind of running that point with it. We don't have as much interaction on the supply chain side of this either. Communication is usually kind of sparse between supply chain and a purchased service provider as compared to a typical supply vendor. And again, the data is just, it's more difficult. When you start looking at how things are being invoiced because there's no PO line, it gets very challenging to try to figure out, "Okay, what's actually happening with this spend?" Typically, an invoice will come in, the department manager signs off on it, it gets paid, and that's it. So a lot of opportunity there.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;08:30 #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian said a centralized contract repository was the essential first step to successful purchased services management. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think that at square one, I think the biggest thing you can do is if your organization or your hospital, your ASC, your clinic, whatever it is, if you don't have a centralized contract repository, that's step one. Again, stepping into certain roles in my past, you've got contracts that might be down in admin. You've got department managers that have signature execution authority and they've got them in their files, and then you realize three years later that there's been this contract that nobody's really paying attention to because it's just a paper copy. Really I think that that's the biggest thing for me is getting your hands around it. Number one, you've just got to have that centralized repository. Again, that doesn't mean that you need to use software. Software obviously makes things easier. I'm a big proponent of that. But again, even just saying, "All right, nobody can sign contracts except for," whether it be your CEO, your CFO. "Send all these down and we're going to put them in a file cabinet." At least then you can go and try to find where those contractual documents are.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;10:07 Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian said it’s important not to let contracts auto-renew. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’It’s always good to have that check-in annually, even if it’s just pulling the contract, making sure when does this contract terminate? That’s the other thing about automated systems through contract software is that you can set those flags. “Hey, something’s coming up 180 days later.” Again, with things that are just auto-renewing, that’s an issue too. If you miss that window to terminate something that you do want to go out to bid for, or maybe it’s a contract that you don’t need anymore. And I’ve seen, you’ve probably seen it too, 180 day out clause, some of these things. So if you miss that, that’s going to be a problem. As far as reviewing, it depends too on the type of service. Some of them are much more important, and so having a quarterly business review or a semiannual business review is important, and that gives the vendor time to come and showcase what it is that they’re doing too, because at the end of the day, sometimes these people are coming in, they’re doing great work, but nobody really knows except for that department or specific area that they’re there too. So giving that face time opportunity for the vendor, especially on those critical contracts, is important as well.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;12:21 Don’t assume all red flags are malicious&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian said reaching out to the vendor is important if you notice an invoice discrepancy. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think that that's where you've got to have a little finesse, again, realizing that some of these contracts, there's a lot of relationships built in. Again, if you've got somebody that's on site providing this, odds are they built those relationships. So I always take the approach when I notice that something's not going well on my side, if I notice an invoice discrepancy or something, it's an automatic red flag, but don't assume that it's malicious, right? So the first thing that I recommend is definitely reaching out to the vendor, the supplier, the individual, whoever it is that's your point of contact and just have that conversation. Say, "Hey, we noticed that there's a deficiency here," or, "We have a question about this invoice," and give them a chance. Because again, remember, on their side, I think it's probably maybe not quite as complex as it is on ours, but I know that just the conversations that I've had with suppliers in the past is that there are mistakes made when they're sending out invoices on a monthly basis or whatever it is. Again, give them that opportunity to rectify, at least bring it to their attention, and don't assume a malicious intent, even though that's probably from a supply chain standpoint, something that we might tend to do a little bit too much, right?’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;14:22 The hidden cost savings in your line-item details&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian said a detailed review of purchased services invoices can uncover significant cost savings opportunities. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’At the end of the day, we're paying for whatever it is that we've signed up contractually for. And so having that actual invoice in front of you will tell you a lot of different things. Number one, you get the contract. Number two, you get the invoice. And then you start going through, does this make sense? Are things lining up? And I found some just very easy wins, things that they've been charging for, like an EVS vendor that was charging for restroom service, thousands of dollars a year, nobody knew what it was, and all they were doing is just bringing in little scent pads and not even going into the restrooms. But that was a line item that nobody had really questioned before. And so by seeing that actual invoice, again, now you're not just seeing it as X amount, now you can actually go in and see what it is that they're invoicing for. Again, correlating back to the supply chain side, we know that. We know each individual widget, case, box, each, but until you see that invoice a lot of times, if you're looking at it from a GL perspective or an expense, you don't see that line item necessarily all the way down to that detail. So it just tells you a lot. And again, maybe I'm just a nerd, but I like doing that. I like pulling those occasionally and just making sure, do the sniff test. Does this seem like everything that it should be? And then ask those questions. And again, you learn through that too. Some of the services that we have, it's like, "Oh, I didn't know that that was included." So again, that goes back to the communication with the vendor or supplier, give them opportunity to explain what it is that they're invoicing as well.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;19:05 Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic - and build relationships &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brian said building relationships is vital in leadership. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think the biggest thing is just like I mentioned before, be inquisitive, have patience, and be strategic. A lot of the things that we would like to get done, whether it's supply chain or in our personal lives, it takes a while. So build those relationships, know what you want to do and know that it will take time. Rome wasn't built in a day. And so when you have those opportunities come up, if you're strategic about it, that door opens a little bit, you've got all your ducks in a row, then you can walk through and say, "Hey, I've got a solution to try to fix this, because I've been working on it in the background." So I wish that there was more that I could say than that, but I know personally that's what it is. Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic, and build those relationships.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Lisa Miller on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Jim Cagliostro on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Brian Bartel on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bartel-0200a145/"&gt;LinkedIn &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Check out &lt;a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/"&gt;VIE Healthcare&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/"&gt;SpendMend&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;You’ll also hear: &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;From critical care to materials management, Brian’s journey in healthcare: ‘’No day is the same. Hopefully we can bring efficiencies and streamline processes to avoid some of these chaotic fires that pop up, but again, every day brings this new challenge.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;A straightforward definition of purchased services: ‘’I just keep it simple. Is it a service that we're purchasing and that's usually typically some sort of a purchase or a contract or an outsource of some service that we're taking advantage of.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;The benefits of a mentor in effective contract management: ‘’If you would've just stuck me in purchased services when I left the critical care access hospital, I would've had no idea, but I had a mentor, I had somebody that was teaching me that. So rely on those people and ask those questions. Ask the department managers, your GPO. Again, I know that there are pros and cons of GPOs, but that's a great place to look too.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;What To Do Next:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/"&gt;Subscribe &lt;/a&gt;to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol start="2"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ol start="3"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at &lt;a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com"&gt;lmiller@spendmend.com&lt;/a&gt; or directly at 732-319-5700.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;</description>

Purchased services is often the most overlooked expense in healthcare yet offers opportunities for cost savings. Brian Bartel shares his best practices for effective contract management, with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction ...

Managing Purchased Services Contracts | E. 107

Flourishing supplier relationships can transform healthcare organizations. Samer Haddad, shares his experience of building and navigating successful partnerships with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Samer explains why trust is the foundation of all successful supplier relationships, the importance of human-to-human connection and why a partnership sometimes means giving your partner the benefit of the doubt. He also outlines the key to a successful exit strategy (plan, plan, and plan) and why solid leadership means treating others as you want to be treated, and leaving your ego at the door.   Show Topics   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Trust is the foundation of successful relationships  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> ‘’Partnership is a partnership’’ </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Managing a successful exit strategy  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Leadership tip: keeping your ego out of the way </li> </ul> 04:33 Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword  Samer explained how the impact of Covid revealed the importance of strong supplier relationships.  ‘’When the world went into COVID and all the crises that came after that, in terms of shortages and everything, I can make a pretty easy judgment that there was a big differentiator between companies who made it and who maybe struggled mainly was supplier relationship management. Because when the real challenge came to the world, companies that invested in relations, companies that had deepened their relationships, especially with the significant suppliers to their production or to their delivery, whatever that is, made a difference. Those were the ones who were able to actually leverage that challenge to their benefit in the market. So they gained market share. The ones who had superficial relations, maybe more towards purely commercial kind of dealings, I think they struggled because, at such a moment, that kind of... I can't call it a human-to-human relation, or personal relation is where things are tested, and when companies need to make decisions, that's always an element. The trust between those organizations is essentially trust between humans that are doing business for years together. So if you just... we learn from the past two to three years it is I think many of my peers in procurement supply chain will vouch to the importance of supplier relationship management in general and not just like a keyword that you use and throw around…’’   07:09 Trust is the foundation of successful relationships Samer said KPIs can help to measure progress and build trust.  ‘’It takes time to build up that trust. So it is very important when we start a relationship that we create the proper agreement because this is why contracts are there. Contracts manage the relationship between parties. And you're establishing basically a baby kind of relation that has no trust yet, and you need to monitor it and start putting in the building blocks of that relation. Usually, in my opinion, that is established by having mutual mechanisms to judging how companies are engaging with each other. That could be the KPIs that you set. And it's not fair only to set a KPI for the supplier that you're establishing a relationship with, especially if you're looking long-term. Some KPIs should be set, maybe not in the contract, not necessarily, but self-imposed as you manage that important relationship that you know about. So you can even monitor internally how you're engaging with that supplier. Now, if you do that kind of fundamental layer of developing that relationship and you start building upon it, with time, trust starts getting improved and starts growing. It's like a baby, and it grows. It becomes an entity.’’   10:24 Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend Samer said organizations need to understand how suppliers can impact their business.  ‘’…... But let's say what are the top 10 suppliers that basically can make or break your business? Because each business needs to know these kinds of suppliers. What are the suppliers that, if they don't deliver, you're going to have challenges actually delivering to your customer, or it'll affect your quality, or it might basically put you in a different pricing position in the market, which could basically hurt your business? So you need to understand those really well. And what I see as a common mistake is people treat category management as just a function, just an area. Like supplier relationship management. "Oh, you're a procurement person, so you do the procurement, invoicing, all of that. And by the way, you need to just take care of categories. Also, take care of the supplier relationship." It doesn't work. So especially when it's big business, when there's lots of money being moved around, you need people to focus on those suppliers and those categories. So I would recommend that you really understand the suppliers that drive the goals of your business and, at the same time, the suppliers that probably could hurt you if you don't nurture them. And that has nothing to do with spend, by the way.’’   14:41 ‘’Partnership is a partnership’’ Samer said treating suppliers as partners can help to navigate challenges during the contract period.  ‘’You can't go purely by contract. If I have a relationship with a significant supplier and they're misperforming, I can't just jump in and I basically come in with the request that, "You're not meeting the contractual agreement, and we need to go to remedies." That will destroy the whole thing. Partnership is a partnership. When you have a partner, you need to work with the partner. So yes, at some points, you might have to make hard decisions for the business, and yes, your top priority should be your business goals and your business targets. Nevertheless, I would say, depending on the situation, there's no one answer I can say here, but depending on the situation, you need always to give the benefit of the doubt for the partner. If they need help or support, you need to pitch in and help if you can. You need to offer that. You need to understand what's happening because it's easy always to blame the other party for the issues and challenges. You might be either contributing. If not, at some times, you get surprised, and you're causing some of that kind of challenge. So you need to deal with it as a partnership. So you look at the people, so the people you know, call them up or you meet them, you have a conversation around the challenge, you try to understand it, analyze it, break it down, go down a route where you're looking at a structured, logical approach to that problem. You're not there to blame. You're not there still to go for a contract. You're there to solve a problem with them as a partner.’’   17:26 Managing a successful exit strategy.  Samer said it’s essential to have a Plan B before exiting a contract. ‘’…. I assume someone who reached a point where they want to break up a relationship with a supplier, probably, we're talking about here, hypothetically, someone with a deep relations, one of those significant suppliers that affect your business, you need to have your own plan B. And this takes us to the first point I covered. I assume also that you did your job in creating contract that has a clear pathway to exit that relationship. If you have that, okay, so at least you have your map to exit that relationship, but also, you need to get things sorted before you go there. And the point comes where if you ask me, why would you do that? What's the tipping point that could take my company or me personally managing that department or procurement, in general, to go from point A, we have relationship, I need to break it. Well, it's a plethora of things. So it could be simply the attitude of the team on the supplier side that I'm dealing with. Once I see that there's zero care to the business I'm bringing, because sometimes they could grow as a company, my business is not growing at that rate. So I might become a much smaller piece of the pie for them. So things change, but the attitude towards my company is very important… there are red flags and red lines I think you should keep always, even with the best relationship, where you need to say, "I need to stop here, and I need to make a decision."    21:56 Leadership tip: Keeping your ego out of the way  Samer said knowing that your organization will succeed in your absence is the sign of an effective leader.   ‘’At the end of the day, a solid leader is the one who can have confidence saying, "If I leave today, work will not be affected." I think our ego gets in the way in many cases. I try not to let it affect me. It's a human thing. Everyone has it. I try always to make my decisions separate from fear. So I want my team to be able to generate leaders that could replace me at any moment. It's a hard mental thing to wire, but from my experience, it only pushes you towards growth in your career actually. It doesn't hurt you. It helps you a lot, and it gives you your life back because, today, when I go on leave, I do not look back because I know I have a solid organization, solid leaders in my team that if things go wrong while I'm away, they can take care of things. So treat people like you want to be treated and grow the next generation leaders in your organization.’’ Connect with Lisa Miller on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Jim Cagliostro on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Samer Haddad on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/samerkhaddad/">LinkedIn </a>   Check out <a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/">VIE Healthcare</a> and <a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/">SpendMend</a>      You’ll also hear:    Samer’s role within Emerson Automation Solutions and the push for sustainability: ‘’…now we're pushing more, especially in this region around sustainability, which again, gives you more reasons to enjoy what you do, and you feel that you are a little bit maybe contributing to that big change that's happening in the region and hopefully for future generations when it comes to the environment here.’’   Human-to-human connection is vital to successful partnerships: ‘’If you do the perfect KPIs and you always hit them, and you do the perfect contract, but you don't meet them, and you don't really engage with the supplier, members, and peers at that company, it'll never happen. So people, in my opinion, will establish you as a partner when you meet them, especially face-to-face.’’   Effective supplier management needs constant monitoring: ‘’Are we getting the best service? Are they satisfied? Do they have issues from our side? If there are issues from our side, are we addressing them on time? … And I think with that, you address 90% of the challenges and the problems.’’   The end of a relationship; deciding early and moving on: ‘’And do not hesitate .. because if you see really good reasons to exit a strategy, it's like maybe, I don't know if it's the right thing to do it, but it's like a divorce, right? Sometimes, if you spend too much time, it might hurt you and hurt your customers more. So, sometimes, it's just better to make a hard decision early and move things on, even if there are challenges. But make sure your business and your customers, first and foremost, are getting the service that they expect from your business.’’   What To Do Next:   <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/">Subscribe </a>to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies. </li> </ol>   <ol start="2"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare: </li> </ol>   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it.  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings.  </li> </ul> <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at <a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com">lmiller@spendmend.com</a> or directly at 732-319-5700. </li> </ol>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Flourishing supplier relationships can transform healthcare organizations. Samer Haddad, shares his experience of building and navigating successful partnerships with Jim Cagliostro. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Episode Introduction &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer explains why trust is the foundation of all successful supplier relationships, the importance of human-to-human connection and why a partnership sometimes means giving your partner the benefit of the doubt. He also outlines the key to a successful exit strategy (plan, plan, and plan) and why solid leadership means treating others as you want to be treated, and leaving your ego at the door.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Show Topics&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Trust is the foundation of successful relationships &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;‘’Partnership is a partnership’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Managing a successful exit strategy &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Leadership tip: keeping your ego out of the way&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;04:33 Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer explained how the impact of Covid revealed the importance of strong supplier relationships. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’When the world went into COVID and all the crises that came after that, in terms of shortages and everything, I can make a pretty easy judgment that there was a big differentiator between companies who made it and who maybe struggled mainly was supplier relationship management. Because when the real challenge came to the world, companies that invested in relations, companies that had deepened their relationships, especially with the significant suppliers to their production or to their delivery, whatever that is, made a difference. Those were the ones who were able to actually leverage that challenge to their benefit in the market. So they gained market share. The ones who had superficial relations, maybe more towards purely commercial kind of dealings, I think they struggled because, at such a moment, that kind of... I can't call it a human-to-human relation, or personal relation is where things are tested, and when companies need to make decisions, that's always an element. The trust between those organizations is essentially trust between humans that are doing business for years together. So if you just... we learn from the past two to three years it is I think many of my peers in procurement supply chain will vouch to the importance of supplier relationship management in general and not just like a keyword that you use and throw around…’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;07:09 Trust is the foundation of successful relationships&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer said KPIs can help to measure progress and build trust. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’It takes time to build up that trust. So it is very important when we start a relationship that we create the proper agreement because this is why contracts are there. Contracts manage the relationship between parties. And you're establishing basically a baby kind of relation that has no trust yet, and you need to monitor it and start putting in the building blocks of that relation. Usually, in my opinion, that is established by having mutual mechanisms to judging how companies are engaging with each other. That could be the KPIs that you set. And it's not fair only to set a KPI for the supplier that you're establishing a relationship with, especially if you're looking long-term. Some KPIs should be set, maybe not in the contract, not necessarily, but self-imposed as you manage that important relationship that you know about. So you can even monitor internally how you're engaging with that supplier. Now, if you do that kind of fundamental layer of developing that relationship and you start building upon it, with time, trust starts getting improved and starts growing. It's like a baby, and it grows. It becomes an entity.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;10:24 Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer said organizations need to understand how suppliers can impact their business. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’…... But let's say what are the top 10 suppliers that basically can make or break your business? Because each business needs to know these kinds of suppliers. What are the suppliers that, if they don't deliver, you're going to have challenges actually delivering to your customer, or it'll affect your quality, or it might basically put you in a different pricing position in the market, which could basically hurt your business? So you need to understand those really well. And what I see as a common mistake is people treat category management as just a function, just an area. Like supplier relationship management. "Oh, you're a procurement person, so you do the procurement, invoicing, all of that. And by the way, you need to just take care of categories. Also, take care of the supplier relationship." It doesn't work. So especially when it's big business, when there's lots of money being moved around, you need people to focus on those suppliers and those categories. So I would recommend that you really understand the suppliers that drive the goals of your business and, at the same time, the suppliers that probably could hurt you if you don't nurture them. And that has nothing to do with spend, by the way.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;14:41 ‘’Partnership is a partnership’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer said treating suppliers as partners can help to navigate challenges during the contract period. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’You can't go purely by contract. If I have a relationship with a significant supplier and they're misperforming, I can't just jump in and I basically come in with the request that, "You're not meeting the contractual agreement, and we need to go to remedies." That will destroy the whole thing. Partnership is a partnership. When you have a partner, you need to work with the partner. So yes, at some points, you might have to make hard decisions for the business, and yes, your top priority should be your business goals and your business targets. Nevertheless, I would say, depending on the situation, there's no one answer I can say here, but depending on the situation, you need always to give the benefit of the doubt for the partner. If they need help or support, you need to pitch in and help if you can. You need to offer that. You need to understand what's happening because it's easy always to blame the other party for the issues and challenges. You might be either contributing. If not, at some times, you get surprised, and you're causing some of that kind of challenge. So you need to deal with it as a partnership. So you look at the people, so the people you know, call them up or you meet them, you have a conversation around the challenge, you try to understand it, analyze it, break it down, go down a route where you're looking at a structured, logical approach to that problem. You're not there to blame. You're not there still to go for a contract. You're there to solve a problem with them as a partner.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;17:26 Managing a successful exit strategy. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer said it’s essential to have a Plan B before exiting a contract.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’…. I assume someone who reached a point where they want to break up a relationship with a supplier, probably, we're talking about here, hypothetically, someone with a deep relations, one of those significant suppliers that affect your business, you need to have your own plan B. And this takes us to the first point I covered. I assume also that you did your job in creating contract that has a clear pathway to exit that relationship. If you have that, okay, so at least you have your map to exit that relationship, but also, you need to get things sorted before you go there. And the point comes where if you ask me, why would you do that? What's the tipping point that could take my company or me personally managing that department or procurement, in general, to go from point A, we have relationship, I need to break it. Well, it's a plethora of things. So it could be simply the attitude of the team on the supplier side that I'm dealing with. Once I see that there's zero care to the business I'm bringing, because sometimes they could grow as a company, my business is not growing at that rate. So I might become a much smaller piece of the pie for them. So things change, but the attitude towards my company is very important… there are red flags and red lines I think you should keep always, even with the best relationship, where you need to say, "I need to stop here, and I need to make a decision." &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;21:56 Leadership tip: Keeping your ego out of the way &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer said knowing that your organization will succeed in your absence is the sign of an effective leader.  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’At the end of the day, a solid leader is the one who can have confidence saying, "If I leave today, work will not be affected." I think our ego gets in the way in many cases. I try not to let it affect me. It's a human thing. Everyone has it. I try always to make my decisions separate from fear. So I want my team to be able to generate leaders that could replace me at any moment. It's a hard mental thing to wire, but from my experience, it only pushes you towards growth in your career actually. It doesn't hurt you. It helps you a lot, and it gives you your life back because, today, when I go on leave, I do not look back because I know I have a solid organization, solid leaders in my team that if things go wrong while I'm away, they can take care of things. So treat people like you want to be treated and grow the next generation leaders in your organization.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Lisa Miller on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Jim Cagliostro on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Samer Haddad on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/samerkhaddad/"&gt;LinkedIn &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Check out &lt;a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/"&gt;VIE Healthcare&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/"&gt;SpendMend&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;You’ll also hear: &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Samer’s role within Emerson Automation Solutions and the push for sustainability: ‘’…now we're pushing more, especially in this region around sustainability, which again, gives you more reasons to enjoy what you do, and you feel that you are a little bit maybe contributing to that big change that's happening in the region and hopefully for future generations when it comes to the environment here.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Human-to-human connection is vital to successful partnerships: ‘’If you do the perfect KPIs and you always hit them, and you do the perfect contract, but you don't meet them, and you don't really engage with the supplier, members, and peers at that company, it'll never happen. So people, in my opinion, will establish you as a partner when you meet them, especially face-to-face.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Effective supplier management needs constant monitoring: ‘’Are we getting the best service? Are they satisfied? Do they have issues from our side? If there are issues from our side, are we addressing them on time? … And I think with that, you address 90% of the challenges and the problems.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;The end of a relationship; deciding early and moving on: ‘’And do not hesitate .. because if you see really good reasons to exit a strategy, it's like maybe, I don't know if it's the right thing to do it, but it's like a divorce, right? Sometimes, if you spend too much time, it might hurt you and hurt your customers more. So, sometimes, it's just better to make a hard decision early and move things on, even if there are challenges. But make sure your business and your customers, first and foremost, are getting the service that they expect from your business.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;What To Do Next:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/"&gt;Subscribe &lt;/a&gt;to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol start="2"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ol start="3"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at &lt;a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com"&gt;lmiller@spendmend.com&lt;/a&gt; or directly at 732-319-5700.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong id= "docs-internal-guid-626ddecf-7fff-06c5-cea2-f2f473307edf"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Flourishing supplier relationships can transform healthcare organizations. Samer Haddad, shares his experience of building and navigating successful partnerships with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Samer explains why trust is...

Supplier Relationship Management | E. 106

An estimated 40% of expenditure in the supply chain goes to waste. CEO Luká Yancopoulos explains to Jim Cagliostro how Grapevine Technology aims to put the power back into the hands of hospitals.   Episode Introduction  Luká explains how Grapevine can help hospitals save up to 80% on a single line item, how even small healthcare businesses spend six figure sums on the supply chain each year, and how to frame the reality of years of overspending to his clients. He also reveals three key ways that hospitals can lower the expense of their vendor management.      Show Topics   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> The power of building networks </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Up to 80% of spend may be waste </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Connecting the source of supply to the end user </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Framing harsh truths on expenditure </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Seeing value every step of the way </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Leadership tip: deliver solutions to real problems </li> </ul> 03:12 The power of building networks Luká said Grapevine can help its clients to save 70-80% on a single line item.  ‘’So Grapevine is working to make it very easy to basically manage your existing network. We've got healthcare businesses. They usually come to us, and they've worked with a handful of suppliers over the years. They think of each of these suppliers as their supplier for blank, fill in the blank, and Grapevine rewrites that. We think they're all your suppliers, they're all your network. Every time you add an item to cart from one of them, let's make sure it's the best price and that your other suppliers that you already trust and know don't have the same exact product at a cheaper price. Oftentimes, they do. We've basically redirected spend from one major distributor to another major distributor, saving the customer or the healthcare business 70%-80% on a single line item. The thing like a Becton Dickinson or a BD catheter or infusion pump or something they buy, and they have a bad habit of buying it from the wrong guy. So we basically let them link all their suppliers with the click of a button to a single screen, read in their current offerings, and tell them where to redirect their spend, acting as a traffic cop if needed.’’   05:14 Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare Luká explained that even small healthcare businesses are spending six figure sums on supplies every year.  ‘’Certain medical specialties get hit harder than others. If you're performing surgery, obviously, you're burning through a lot of supplies, you're using anesthesia, you're using all sorts of things that maybe your average urgent care clinic won't need. So we focus on specific specialties that have a high consumption rate of important and expensive technologies, things like oncology, dermatology, surgery, these sorts of things. Even a small healthcare business is spending six, seven figures on medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, like, a customer that comes to mind, a family-owned dermatology practice in upstate New York, and Rochester, New York is spending $200,000 a year pre-Grapevine on medical supplies. So like the instruments and whatnot, they're using sutures and implants and this and that, and then they're spending another million a year on injectables. Things like lidocaine, fillers, and different sorts of things of that realm.’’   08:38 Up to 80% of spend may be waste  Luká explained why a single supplier can’t offer hospitals the lowest price for every item.  ‘’I think that, in some cases, it's as much as 80% of the spend on supply is fruitless and extraneous. As far as what makes up those inefficiencies, there's a number of things. There's a classic idea that I am a strong believer of, that no one person or entity can be the best at everything. So even if you're comparing suppliers of the same business model, these large distributors, we could talk like McKesson, Henry Schein, Medline, the list goes on and on. Every one of those has built supply chains like warehouse fulfillment, shipping teams, customer service, et cetera, tailored around a specific core competency or level of products. So not one of those suppliers is going to be able to offer you the 5,000 SKUs or different item numbers that you need, all of the lowest price. That's naive. The way this world works is helping specialists, people that have specific skill sets, work together to serve a singular end goal.’’   10:24 Connecting the source of supply to the end user Luká said simplifying the supply chain is key to reducing costs.  ‘’I understand that when I'm buying it from a reseller, it needed to get in the hands of the reseller. That means it needed to get shipped there. That is a cost. Costs get built on the customer service, the labor. It all gets built into the price that hospitals are paying. By working with these downstream distribution companies that are, in some cases, 200 years old, you're just taking on additional costs. So if we can disintermediate supply chains when possible, connect source to end user as much as possible. You make things overall much more efficient. Then the third and really important major point, just to exemplify the inefficiencies and the lack of belief I have in these major distributors, is, you've got these distributors that people still buy everything they need from. These are the same companies that were selling cocaine pills to pregnant women in the late 1800s and arsenic pills for patient treatment and temperature up until the mid-1900s.’’   13:33 Framing harsh truths on expenditure Luká said understanding the extent of potential cost savings can be a shock to hospital executives.  ‘’People are definitely surprised, and honestly, I need to figure out a better way to frame sometimes exposing harsh truths to our customers because we've had people... When you find out that something bad's been going on for a long time and you're the victim of that bad thing, it does not feel good. We've got customers that are hurt by that. They don't blame us, but I wish we could deliver that more as an opportunity to win as opposed to an exposé of historic losses. I think you could do that with the right framing, with the right user interfaces, but it's something that we're not doing the best job of now, just packaging that and making it a digestible change for them. But yeah, people are shocked when they're working with, let's just say, even two distributors. They're working with... We've talked about the names already, so I won't name them here, but one 200-year-old company and they have another 100-year-old company that they've worked with, and when they add to cart for the first time on Grapevine that same IV catheter that they've purchased thousands of times, that they've spent literally millions of dollars on over the last couple of years, that one item number, and they add it to cart and it says, "But wait, you could buy the same exact item from the other supplier that you already trust and know for 70% cheaper." That happens. They feel a level of frustration, and rightfully so.’’    22:47 Seeing value every step of the way  Luká said that hospitals need to be able to see the win and the reason when they’re stepping out of their comfort zone.  ‘’So work with your existing suppliers, and you're going to save a lot of money by having them on one screen and us alerting you, and there's a cheaper alternative. Once you've done that, then, "Hey, why don't we introduce you to this broad network of new suppliers that we know, that we've vetted, that we trust?" And you can connect them and start subbing in not exact matches from your trusted network, but new suppliers or specialists that can add way more value, exponential value, and achieve even more savings. That's why we could deliver this all in month one as a 60%, 70% savings, but it's not palatable. People would rather get month one of halfway there, big win, see their wins and their hard work paying off, and see the value of what they're doing every step of the way. Every time we make them do something outside of their comfort zone, they need to be able to see the win and the reason. If it ties back to financial savings, that's part of it. For the people that actually shop, we're putting things into one screen, and that's a part of it. They don't need to flip between tabs and windows anymore. So showing what we do and showing why it's helpful to them every step along the way to mitigate the pain of adopting a new solution is a big part of our philosophy here.’’   25:19 Leadership tip: deliver real solutions for real problems  Luká said solving the biggest problems for your target customers is the way to unlock real value as a business.  ‘‘…So I think if you are following the white rabbit of real problems for real people, real struggles, and you constantly and iteratively try to come up with smarter and better solutions to solve those pain points, and once you do look for new problems, the next biggest problem they're facing, and continuously deliver real solutions based on those problems, I think that's the key to financial success as a business, is make yourself important, make yourself valuable, make yourself the solver of the biggest problems for your target customers, and that's the way that you unlock real value as a business and the money, the revenue, the whatever it comes all from that. If you're not important to solving someone's real problem, mending someone's real problems, then you shouldn't play the game of business in the world that we live in.’’ Connect with Lisa Miller on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Jim Cagliostro on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/">LinkedIn</a> Connect with Luká Yancopoulos on <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/luk%C3%A1-yancopoulos-50051a1a8/">LinkedIn </a>   Check out <a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/">VIE Healthcare</a> and <a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/">SpendMend</a>    You’ll also hear:    How Grapevine is putting the power back in the hands of healthcare providers: ‘’We do that by showing doctors what they should be paying for the supplies that they use on a regular basis. We make it incredibly easy to achieve savings of more than 50% on their healthcare, medical supply, and even drug, pharmaceutical spend.’’   Helping healthcare organizations to shop smarter: The hospital that saved 40% in one month: ‘’We've got a public company that uses Grapevine. They have 80 locations. They're in the oncology space. They went from spending $400,000 a month on supplies down to $250,000 in their first month, which was January 2024. So they are down 40% in the first month. There's a lot more work for us to do there. I think we can get them down to close to 80%.’’ Recognizing that every hospital has unique needs: ‘’So yes, we need to have standardization. We need to have the best practice, best ways of doing things, but this hospital, this large health system in New York has different needs than a rural hospital out in Kansas or wherever it may be. So meeting those needs is going to look different. So we need to find ways to do that in order to minimize those inefficiencies.’’ Putting all of your data into one screen is the first step to reducing waste: ‘’If you're managing 100 different suppliers, and that means you have a person or maybe dozens of people or hundreds of people that log into one screen and then they are pulling up listings that look totally different, and then putting another window up and looking at it on the other screen and then trying to do that across 12, you're hopeless at that point. You need to have all of your options in one place. ‘’   What To Do Next:   <ol> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/">Subscribe </a>to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies. </li> </ol>   <ol start="2"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare: </li> </ol>   <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement. </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it.  </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings.  </li> </ul> <ol start="3"> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at <a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com">lmiller@spendmend.com</a> or directly at 732-319-5700. </li> </ol>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;An estimated 40% of expenditure in the supply chain goes to waste. CEO Luká Yancopoulos explains to Jim Cagliostro how Grapevine Technology aims to put the power back into the hands of hospitals.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Episode Introduction &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká explains how Grapevine can help hospitals save up to 80% on a single line item, how even small healthcare businesses spend six figure sums on the supply chain each year, and how to frame the reality of years of overspending to his clients. He also reveals three key ways that hospitals can lower the expense of their vendor management. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Show Topics&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;The power of building networks&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Up to 80% of spend may be waste&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Connecting the source of supply to the end user&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Framing harsh truths on expenditure&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Seeing value every step of the way&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Leadership tip: deliver solutions to real problems&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;03:12 The power of building networks&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká said Grapevine can help its clients to save 70-80% on a single line item. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’So Grapevine is working to make it very easy to basically manage your existing network. We've got healthcare businesses. They usually come to us, and they've worked with a handful of suppliers over the years. They think of each of these suppliers as their supplier for blank, fill in the blank, and Grapevine rewrites that. We think they're all your suppliers, they're all your network. Every time you add an item to cart from one of them, let's make sure it's the best price and that your other suppliers that you already trust and know don't have the same exact product at a cheaper price. Oftentimes, they do. We've basically redirected spend from one major distributor to another major distributor, saving the customer or the healthcare business 70%-80% on a single line item. The thing like a Becton Dickinson or a BD catheter or infusion pump or something they buy, and they have a bad habit of buying it from the wrong guy. So we basically let them link all their suppliers with the click of a button to a single screen, read in their current offerings, and tell them where to redirect their spend, acting as a traffic cop if needed.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;05:14 Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká explained that even small healthcare businesses are spending six figure sums on supplies every year. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’Certain medical specialties get hit harder than others. If you're performing surgery, obviously, you're burning through a lot of supplies, you're using anesthesia, you're using all sorts of things that maybe your average urgent care clinic won't need. So we focus on specific specialties that have a high consumption rate of important and expensive technologies, things like oncology, dermatology, surgery, these sorts of things. Even a small healthcare business is spending six, seven figures on medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, like, a customer that comes to mind, a family-owned dermatology practice in upstate New York, and Rochester, New York is spending $200,000 a year pre-Grapevine on medical supplies. So like the instruments and whatnot, they're using sutures and implants and this and that, and then they're spending another million a year on injectables. Things like lidocaine, fillers, and different sorts of things of that realm.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;08:38 Up to 80% of spend may be waste &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká explained why a single supplier can’t offer hospitals the lowest price for every item. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I think that, in some cases, it's as much as 80% of the spend on supply is fruitless and extraneous. As far as what makes up those inefficiencies, there's a number of things. There's a classic idea that I am a strong believer of, that no one person or entity can be the best at everything. So even if you're comparing suppliers of the same business model, these large distributors, we could talk like McKesson, Henry Schein, Medline, the list goes on and on. Every one of those has built supply chains like warehouse fulfillment, shipping teams, customer service, et cetera, tailored around a specific core competency or level of products. So not one of those suppliers is going to be able to offer you the 5,000 SKUs or different item numbers that you need, all of the lowest price. That's naive. The way this world works is helping specialists, people that have specific skill sets, work together to serve a singular end goal.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;10:24 Connecting the source of supply to the end user&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká said simplifying the supply chain is key to reducing costs. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’I understand that when I'm buying it from a reseller, it needed to get in the hands of the reseller. That means it needed to get shipped there. That is a cost. Costs get built on the customer service, the labor. It all gets built into the price that hospitals are paying. By working with these downstream distribution companies that are, in some cases, 200 years old, you're just taking on additional costs. So if we can disintermediate supply chains when possible, connect source to end user as much as possible. You make things overall much more efficient. Then the third and really important major point, just to exemplify the inefficiencies and the lack of belief I have in these major distributors, is, you've got these distributors that people still buy everything they need from. These are the same companies that were selling cocaine pills to pregnant women in the late 1800s and arsenic pills for patient treatment and temperature up until the mid-1900s.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;13:33 Framing harsh truths on expenditure&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká said understanding the extent of potential cost savings can be a shock to hospital executives. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’People are definitely surprised, and honestly, I need to figure out a better way to frame sometimes exposing harsh truths to our customers because we've had people... When you find out that something bad's been going on for a long time and you're the victim of that bad thing, it does not feel good. We've got customers that are hurt by that. They don't blame us, but I wish we could deliver that more as an opportunity to win as opposed to an exposé of historic losses. I think you could do that with the right framing, with the right user interfaces, but it's something that we're not doing the best job of now, just packaging that and making it a digestible change for them. But yeah, people are shocked when they're working with, let's just say, even two distributors. They're working with... We've talked about the names already, so I won't name them here, but one 200-year-old company and they have another 100-year-old company that they've worked with, and when they add to cart for the first time on Grapevine that same IV catheter that they've purchased thousands of times, that they've spent literally millions of dollars on over the last couple of years, that one item number, and they add it to cart and it says, "But wait, you could buy the same exact item from the other supplier that you already trust and know for 70% cheaper." That happens. They feel a level of frustration, and rightfully so.’’ &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;22:47 Seeing value every step of the way &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká said that hospitals need to be able to see the win and the reason when they’re stepping out of their comfort zone. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘’So work with your existing suppliers, and you're going to save a lot of money by having them on one screen and us alerting you, and there's a cheaper alternative. Once you've done that, then, "Hey, why don't we introduce you to this broad network of new suppliers that we know, that we've vetted, that we trust?" And you can connect them and start subbing in not exact matches from your trusted network, but new suppliers or specialists that can add way more value, exponential value, and achieve even more savings. That's why we could deliver this all in month one as a 60%, 70% savings, but it's not palatable. People would rather get month one of halfway there, big win, see their wins and their hard work paying off, and see the value of what they're doing every step of the way. Every time we make them do something outside of their comfort zone, they need to be able to see the win and the reason. If it ties back to financial savings, that's part of it. For the people that actually shop, we're putting things into one screen, and that's a part of it. They don't need to flip between tabs and windows anymore. So showing what we do and showing why it's helpful to them every step along the way to mitigate the pain of adopting a new solution is a big part of our philosophy here.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;25:19 Leadership tip: deliver real solutions for real problems &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Luká said solving the biggest problems for your target customers is the way to unlock real value as a business. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘‘…So I think if you are following the white rabbit of real problems for real people, real struggles, and you constantly and iteratively try to come up with smarter and better solutions to solve those pain points, and once you do look for new problems, the next biggest problem they're facing, and continuously deliver real solutions based on those problems, I think that's the key to financial success as a business, is make yourself important, make yourself valuable, make yourself the solver of the biggest problems for your target customers, and that's the way that you unlock real value as a business and the money, the revenue, the whatever it comes all from that. If you're not important to solving someone's real problem, mending someone's real problems, then you shouldn't play the game of business in the world that we live in.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Lisa Miller on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Jim Cagliostro on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/"&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Connect with Luká Yancopoulos on &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/luk%C3%A1-yancopoulos-50051a1a8/"&gt;LinkedIn &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Check out &lt;a href= "https://viehealthcare.com/"&gt;VIE Healthcare&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href= "https://www.spendmend.com/"&gt;SpendMend&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;You’ll also hear: &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;How Grapevine is putting the power back in the hands of healthcare providers: ‘’We do that by showing doctors what they should be paying for the supplies that they use on a regular basis. We make it incredibly easy to achieve savings of more than 50% on their healthcare, medical supply, and even drug, pharmaceutical spend.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Helping healthcare organizations to shop smarter: The hospital that saved 40% in one month: ‘’We've got a public company that uses Grapevine. They have 80 locations. They're in the oncology space. They went from spending $400,000 a month on supplies down to $250,000 in their first month, which was January 2024. So they are down 40% in the first month. There's a lot more work for us to do there. I think we can get them down to close to 80%.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Recognizing that every hospital has unique needs: ‘’So yes, we need to have standardization. We need to have the best practice, best ways of doing things, but this hospital, this large health system in New York has different needs than a rural hospital out in Kansas or wherever it may be. So meeting those needs is going to look different. So we need to find ways to do that in order to minimize those inefficiencies.’’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Putting all of your data into one screen is the first step to reducing waste: ‘’If you're managing 100 different suppliers, and that means you have a person or maybe dozens of people or hundreds of people that log into one screen and then they are pulling up listings that look totally different, and then putting another window up and looking at it on the other screen and then trying to do that across 12, you're hopeless at that point. You need to have all of your options in one place. ‘’&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;What To Do Next:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6864672266584641537/"&gt;Subscribe &lt;/a&gt;to The Economics of Healthcare and receive a special report on 15 Effective Cost Savings Strategies.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol start="2"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;There are three ways to work with VIE Healthcare:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;Benchmark a vendor contract – either an existing contract or a new agreement.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;We can support your team with their cost savings initiatives to add resources and expertise. We set a bold cost savings goal and work together to achieve it. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;VIE can perform a cost savings opportunity assessment. We dig deep into all of your spend and uncover unique areas of cost savings. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ol start="3"&gt; &lt;li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr" role="presentation"&gt;If you are interested in learning more, the quickest way to get your questions answered is to speak with Lisa Miller at &lt;a href= "mailto:lmiller@spendmend.com"&gt;lmiller@spendmend.com&lt;/a&gt; or directly at 732-319-5700.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;</description>

An estimated 40% of expenditure in the supply chain goes to waste. CEO Luká Yancopoulos explains to Jim Cagliostro how Grapevine Technology aims to put the power back into the hands of hospitals.   Episode Introduction  Luká explains how...

Waste in the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 105

Healthcare management is ever-changing.  Join Lisa Miller and Jim Cagliostro where you will hear from innovators and leaders within healthcare and from other industries. Lisa and Jim will bring you topics on the business and clinical sides of healthcare on strategy, finance, managed care contracting, nurse engagement, physician engagement, new patient care models, patient satisfaction, innovation, leadership, communication, marketing, plus much more.
 
This show will challenge you to think differently through proven strategies and innovative approaches that will help you to elevate your healthcare management and healthcare leadership performance for the ultimate goal of providing exceptional patient care.
 
Enjoy diverse and thought-provoking conversations. Lisa and Jim will present best practices, new strategies, and ideas for you to think about and to implement in your career and your healthcare organization. To contact Lisa Miller, please email: lmiller@viehealthcare.com and on linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamiller/ .

To contact Jim Cagliastro, please email: jcagliostro@spendmend.com and on linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcagliostro/
 
This show is sponsored by VIE Healthcare Consulting; https://viehealthcare.com

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