As hospitals and other healthcare facilities face tighter profit margins tied to care costs and cuts in reimbursement rates, more organizations are turning to just-in-time inventory management to keep supplies lean and costs low. But the approach comes with risks.
Cardinal Health is exploring just-in-time inventory management routines and processes to maximize reimbursement, especially since reimbursement pressures have them moving towards bundled payments over traditional fee-for-service.
“Many of our customers are realizing that their current methods are becoming irrelevant in the ‘new’ era,” said Rebecca Hellmann, vice president of services marketing for the Dublin, Ohio organization. “While change is difficult and painful, they’re not alone; many of their peers have already moved away from those dated methods and are examples of improved performance with lower costs.”