ASC has saved close to 20 hours per week ordering supplies, allowing the materials manager to spend more time for assisting surgeries.
The Situation
Does this sound familiar? “When I would get ready to place orders, I‘d have to go to each of four different departmental supply rooms, manually check the number of supplies in inventory and write down what I wanted to order. I’d go back to my computer, into an antiquated system, create purchase orders for each of up to ten different vendor companies. Once created, I had to print them out, to each company’s website and enter my order there, or worse – have to call or fax it in. Fax! When the orders came in, I’d have to go through the whole process and paperwork routine. It became my full-time job.”
That is surgical technologist Terry Crow explaining what her job was like before Hybrent.
Terry works at Springhill Surgery Center, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. A multi-specialty surgical and endoscopic center, its six operating rooms offer a wide array of procedures including orthopedic, general, ophthalmology, urology, neurology, gynecology, and ENT, and an additional four procedure rooms support the Center’s active GI and pain management programs.
With approximately 11,000 procedures performed every year at Springhill, the busy surgery center supports more than 87 medical staff members. When Terry took on the responsibility for materials management, it left no time for her to scrub in for surgeries. She knew Springhill needed a more streamlined way to order supplies, manage costs and track inventory.
The Solution
Springhill switched from its manual and time-consuming handling of materials management to the Hybrent solution. Springhill not only gained efficiencies in the process, but captured better insights and transparency into its supply chain process.
Hybrent saved Springhill time and money because the application allowed Terry to instantly search all approved distributors and manufacturers for available products at optimal prices. She was able to place one order for all the medical, surgical, pharmaceutical and office supplies at the same time. Because the application is mobile, she was able to check the status of the supplies whenever she needed and add to her order.
“What used to be four hours a day is now more like four hours a week. Using Hybrent has cut out so much time that now I can scrub in almost every day,” Terry says. “Now I’m able to scan all my items, and Hybrent separates everything by vendor company. I hit send and the order is placed.”
Along with simplifying the ordering process, Hybrent also provided valuable operational data in the form of metrics and reports to help the surgery center analyze its materials management process. Springhill administrators are able to manage inventory, understand backorder situations in advance, keep track of discrepancies between what’s ordered and what is delivered, and manage for optimal prices by understanding which items are under contract through Springhill’s General Purchasing Organization (GPO).
The Results
Hybrent has reduced the amount of time required to navigate costing and ordering supplies, increased the managers’ knowledge of the center’s inventory, and secured Springhill the best prices on the items it orders. The additional advantages of automating the administrative front end of its materials management process have included an increase in accuracy and enhanced visibility into the data collected throughout the process — insights that fuel both planning and problem-solving to impact profitability on the back end.
“Using Hybrent means fewer mistakes in inventory levels and pricing because there are fewer hands in the pie thanks to the automation. Data is entered correctly because of the scanning ability of the solution which reduces our margin of error. Hybrent also ensures we’re staying in compliance on contracts, letting us know in real-time whether a contract has expired, for example. We get the right prices the first time, rather than having to correct the billing after the fact via an adjustment or rebate.”
Springhill has greatly improved its efficiency which has allowed its staff – like Terry – to spend more time on patient care, which is why she and the surgery center are there in the first place.