Team approach best for making purchasing decisions
AT THE 2015 AGA TECH SUMMIT
Another speaker, David A. Pierce, senior vice president and president of the endoscopy division for Boston Scientific in Marlboro, Mass., said that since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, “the future is going to be population health, so [device manufacturing] models and structures are going to have to be built to survive in capitation and bundling situations. For a device company, we’re going to have to demonstrate better outcomes and the ability to manage patients across the entire continuum.” He went on to note that “our whole existence has been in a price mix world, where innovation and technology have always been taken in [and] reimbursed aggressively. But in a population management world, we have to [adopt] a volume-based mindset; we have to make that switch. Our cost structure is probably misaligned with that reality that’s on the horizon. Return on investment for R&D is decreasing all the time.”
Dr. Brill, who is based in Paradise Valley, Ariz., characterized the supply chain purchasing environment as evolutionary. “Traditionally, the hospital was the workshop where the physician did his or her work,” Dr. Brill said. “You came in and performed surgery there, but the hospital still made the purchasing decisions. While the Ambulatory Surgery Center is often more physician-centric, frequently focusing on one specialty such as orthopedics or gastroenterology or ophthalmology, it still has the same issues of staffing and purchasing supplies and capital equipment. As we start thinking about the transition from volume to value, supply chain purchasing is of critical importance, for the margins and overhead will impact what you are willing to contract for with a purchaser or payer when providing an episode or bundled payment for a service, whether an endoscopic procedure or a condition such as reflux or obesity. As we move from silos to collaboration, health care is becoming a team sport: purchasing decisions are a critical component of health care professionals and facilities working together in order to achieve the desired outcomes, demonstrate value, and to drive patient volume.”
On Twitter @dougbrunk
