Modernize Healthcare Procurement Strategy

There is no doubt that 2022 was an extremely difficult year financially for healthcare providers. Burnt-out staff, skyrocketing labor and non-labor costs, volatile economy, and continuing supply chain disruptions have put a great pressure on the healthcare industry’s revenue and expenses. There is increasing scrutiny and attention paid to the procurement function as every purchase has an impact on the organization’s bottom line.
When reshaping their procurement strategy, leaders should focus on several areas: cost reduction, streamlined purchasing, and spend visibility. With its solution for Bulk Spend, Amazon Business helps organizations achieve all three.

Reduce costs in healthcare supply chains

Traditional healthcare supply chains and supply sources often aren’t as agile or responsive as the industry needs them to be. With an online store like Amazon Business, healthcare organizations can consolidate their purchases through a single channel, saving time and energy for patient care. With Amazon Business, you can get access to a large number of suppliers and get quantity discounts on thousands of products. Access eligible products across categories with quantity discounts and bulk suppliers who compete to offer the competitive pricing. “Amazon Business has solved so many problems for us. The sheer amount and range of inventory meets our challenge of getting what we need, when we need it. The staff and the residents love this because now they have the freedom to plan activities the way they want to with the supplies they really want. It saves us time and money simultaneously.” Kevin Turner, Vice President of Supply Chain, Five Star Senior Living

Deep discounts are often available on high-volume purchases with the Bulk Buying Tool and Request for Quote

The Bulk Buying Tool (BBT) can help you meet your bulk buying needs by:

• Consolidating inventory from multiple suppliers when a single supplier doesn’t have enough inventory
• Combining offers from multiple suppliers to find the low price - even if a single supplier has enough inventory to fulfill your order

Any single-product, one-time purchase > $10,000 or 999 units that requires custom pricing and/or additional inventory than listed on Amazon Business. A quote can be requested using our Request for Quote (RFQ) tool. When buying in bulk, the RFQ tool can help when:

• You need more inventory than what’s available on Amazon Business
• You expect a better price or a bulk discount when buying in volume
• You need specific B2B selection (pack sizes/pallets/product assortment

Streamline purchasing for healthcare organizations

When healthcare leaders are constantly asked to do more with less, increasing operational efficiencies has become top of mind. The need for agility calls for simplified, smart procurement. Digitizing your supply chain can’t wait for another public health crisis. Automating processes such as product identification and workflow approvals can improve inefficient, manual processes to allow buyers to focus on more high-value work. Empower your staff from nurses to admins to make guided purchasing within guardrails; use Business Lists for frequently purchased items and manage employee spending with Guided Buying (a Business Prime feature). Meanwhile, the central procurement team can create Buying Policies within the shopping experience to meet your criteria. Direct your team to Preferred Products or Preferred Suppliers. Steer them away from Restricted Categories. Apply Spending limits for product categories.
Of course, ease of ordering is nothing without dependable shipping — and Amazon Business gives you both. You can trust that your orders will show up at your locations quickly and reliably. Don’t wait days (or weeks) for your supplies to get to you — you can choose a cadence for recurring delivery or select one day of the week to receive eligible ordered items with Amazon Day, a Business Prime feature. You can also have orders shipped to multiple locations with Personalized Delivery Options. 

Healthcare spend visibility

Short-term cost reduction is simply not enough; healthcare leaders are proactively looking for long-term cost saving opportunities. Data, unlocked from digital transformation, can empower even the most risk averse. A central channel of data is a stark contrast to a fractured and incomplete data landscape. For example, with tools like Amazon Business’ analytics and custom order fields, you can quickly drill data into insights you might not see with traditional reporting methods.
According to Mary Alexander, Chief of Staff and VP of Business Development at Home Instead, a Nebraska-based home care service company that provides personalized, home care to seniors, Amazon Business adds value to procurement by identifying buying trends across their franchises with clear, real-time reporting, which isn't something Home Instead previously had access to. These insights are now used to inform better, data-driven purchasing decisions. "The reporting and analytics allow us to see what our locations are purchasing," Alexander describes. "With a holistic view on purchasing, our Amazon Business advisor helps us understand how we can be more efficient and save more money."

The future is now
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Procurement and supply chain leaders have been and will continue to be the change agent in their organization to optimize costs, drive operational efficiency, and identify saving opportunities.