Would you like to make or save a lot of money in a short period of time?
Sounds like a trick question, right? We’ve often heard that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. In this case, we helped a client save $23,000. All it took was reviewing our benchmarking studies, a three-minute conversation and an email.
Medical supplies are one of the biggest expenditures for ambulatory surgery centers. Finding medications at the lowest possible price can be overwhelming and very time-consuming. As a result, facilities will settle for the price they are paying and assume it is the best deal available. Because most facilities do not know what their competitors are paying, they have no way of knowing if a better deal is available.
That’s where the OctariusRx Benchmarking Studies come in. One of the most useful benchmarking studies we provide is the financial initiatives study.
We know facilities need to obtain and monitor both internal and external benchmarking as a requirement of accrediting organizations such as the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). We also know finding cost effective medications is a priority that can have a big impact on profitability. Is it possible to use benchmarking to save money? Yes! And here is how.
Benchmarking provides an opportunity to look at costs compared to your competitors. Does your current benchmarking enable you to compare what you’re paying for a drug to what your competitors are paying? Due to our large footprint, our clients can! If not, you may have a difficult time obtaining that information. We always advocate working with a consultant pharmacist to enhance patient safety and survey success, but not all consultant pharmacists have the capability to provide meaningful benchmark data. It’s important to thoroughly examine benchmarking capabilities prior to engaging a consultant pharmacist.
Okay, so your consultant pharmacist is providing you with benchmark data on drug costs. What medications are you comparing? We recommend having comprehensive data on the most commonly use medications in your facility. We provide a broad range of cost data. For most facilities this includes common anesthetics as well as controlled substances such as fentanyl and midazolam. What about antibiotics and antiemetics? Yes, we include cost information on those too. Knowing where you stand on the cost of these medications in relation to similar facilities allows you to be a more informed consumer and negotiate better prices. Better prices could ultimately mean savings thousands of dollars for the facility.
Unrelated to cost savings but still important, as I wrote in a previous blog Ambulatory Surgery Center? Get Benchmarking Done with a Consultant Pharmacist, benchmarking empowers facilities to compare their current performance to their previous performance (and to the performance of similar facilities). These comparisons pave the way for improvement and lead to increased quality-of-care for the facility’s patients.
Our new and improved benchmarking service is more robust, and we routinely add new facilities which provide more data points for comparison. In addition to a new look, our presentation now includes expanded data points like specialty specific averages, industry trends, and additional drug cost comparisons.
As we discussed before, a consultant pharmacist can be your greatest asset or a potential liability. Not only is a great consultant pharmacist a good clinical and regulatory asset, but they should also be a financial asset.
How our client saved $23,000 a year using our benchmarking studies:
During one of our quarterly meetings, I noticed our client was paying significantly more for one of the benchmarked medications. We compared their invoice pricing to our averages to confirm the discrepancy. Our client used this information to contact the drug distributor and was offered a new and lower price. With the new pricing, our client is now saving roughly $23,000 annually. Improving patient care is the main benefit of great benchmarking studies. A bonus benefit is using them to improve your bottom line.
If you need help with your benchmarking or someone to assess your costs and give solid advice, please contact us. Our clients rely on us to enhance patient safety, survey success, and reduce costs and liabilities. Let us do the same for you!
The Consultant Pharmacists at OctariusRx provide guidance on safe medication management, survey readiness and cost savings to ambulatory healthcare facilities/surgery centers, senior care facilities and pharmacies. We also help individual patients optimize their medications to improve their quality of life and save money. Contact us for assistance.
