The Premier
healthcare alliance has introduced a new value analysis solution to
help hospitals effectively evaluate product and treatment options to
improve quality and safety while reducing costs.
“ValueAdvisor transparently connects the supply chain, finance and
clinical healthcare staff by providing the means to effectively
communicate as a team on product, service and care delivery decisions”
ValueConnect™
offers Premier’s 2,300 hospital members the opportunity to standardize
an approach to value analysis across the entire alliance. It supports
the value analysis process through automated workflow management,
tracking and measuring results, peer-to-peer collaboration and knowledge
sharing.
“Having Premier as a partner is of great importance as we build our
value analysis program,” said McLaren
Healthcare Director of Purchasing Dave Bueby. “Premier provides the
expertise, knowledge, and technology to help us engage the right staff,
build a sustainable process, and realize true results.”
Said Mike Alkire, Premier’s Purchasing Partners president, “Premier’s
resources, expertise, technology and evidence-based data help hospitals
effectively evaluate products and treatment options and rapidly take
advantage of cost savings and quality improvements. But more
importantly, ValueConnect provides the framework to help us function
more efficiently as an alliance by allowing Premier hospitals to
capitalize on shared knowledge, minimize redundancies and make more
informed decisions.”
ValueAdvisor™,
the cornerstone of ValueConnect, is a Web-based application that offers
hospitals an automated solution to manage their value analysis
processes, and realize clinical and financial return on investment.
Product functionality is geared toward the management of requests,
access to comprehensive information to support evaluations, and
goal-oriented measurement of results.
A vital component to the ValueConnect solution is the availability of
value analysis experts in Premier
Consulting Solutions. ValueConnect includes an array of consulting
support ranging from a simple value analysis assessment to more
transformational services. As part of the ValueAdvisor implementation,
Premier Consulting Solutions conducts an assessment to provide guidance
on the cultural and process infrastructure that is critical to success.
“ValueAdvisor transparently connects the supply chain, finance and
clinical healthcare staff by providing the means to effectively
communicate as a team on product, service and care delivery decisions,”
said Bill Marquardt, vice president of Product Development and Adoption
at Premier. “It is being developed with real-time member input and a
vision for collaboration that includes integration of other Premier
applications and the ability to share knowledge between members
throughout the alliance.”
ValueConnect allows hospitals to collaborate and share knowledge
building on the best practices demonstrated from Premier collaboratives
such as the ASCEND™
(Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) program to identify and implement
supply chain performance opportunities, and the QUEST®:
High Performing Hospitals collaborative to drive hospitals to new
levels of performance and inform public policies with meaningful
solutions, supported by real results.
In addition to ValueAdvisor, ValueConnect uses a comprehensive mix of
other Premier products, including:
-
Supply
Chain Advisor® – allows users to analyze all purchases
and manage contracts online with access to expert support along the
way.
-
SpendAdvisor®
– analyzes total supply spend and identifies savings opportunities.
-
QualityAdvisor™
– allows users to benchmark with top performers and to prioritize
resource utilization and quality improvement efforts.
-
SafetySurveillor®
– improves infection prevention efforts and reduces costs associated
with healthcare-associated infections.
-
OperationsAdvisor™
– offers productivity monitoring, assessment and comparative data.
-
Clinical Focus tools – provide price benchmarks on physician
preference items including implantable devices.