It is a time of change across the healthcare sphere. A unique combination of challenges including financial pressures from inflation, instability, turnover in the workforce, and changing population demographics are impacting operations and financial resilience—and getting the attention of industry leaders.
Procurement officials, working in the interconnected web of healthcare operations, see the pace of change from a particular perspective. Some of the greatest challenges from change that impact their work include:
Financial Constraints
With profit margins thinning across the healthcare industry, procurement officials feel the pressure to find cost savings and efficiencies across the supply chain and inventory processes.
Vendor and Supplier Relationships
Strong relationships with vendors mean opportunities for savings and communication about efficiencies in products and services. Changes in the industry can strain these connections.
Inefficient Systems
Every aspect of the procure-to-pay process—from ordering and purchasing to accounts payable and inventory management—is subject to pressure from change when manual and often inefficient and inflexible workflows and systems are in place.
Contract and Regulatory Compliance
Contact compliance with vendors and suppliers means accountability, transparency, and efficient spending. Regulatory compliance is a baseline condition for continued operations and a healthy bottom line. Change and instability can make both a challenge.
Resistance to Change
Because of its unique culture and regulatory requirements, the healthcare field can be resistant to change, particularly when it comes to investments in technology and upgrading systems and workflows.
Don’t Fear Change. Manage It Proactively with Automated Solutions.
While change can seem daunting, it can also present an opportunity for procurement officials and financial executives. Accepting the inevitability of change, and getting out ahead of challenges, are keys to ensuring that change management isn’t a negative and fear-filled experience, but rather a transformational moment that strengthens the financial bottom line, streamlines processes to bring out the best in staff resources, and improves resiliency for the challenges of tomorrow.
Healthcare industry experts increasingly point to automated solutions such as P2P software for procurement systems as tools that save money and time, in some instances paying for themselves by identifying savings, managing supply chain, reducing inefficiencies and training time, and enabling proactive planning and coordination between procurement and finance. These tangible benefits include:
Powerful Reporting and Alerts
With an automated P2P software solution, procurement officials have real-time, easy-to-access data at their fingertips. Reports can identify major costs and areas for spend savings, and alerts can help manage spending to budget across multiple cost centers.
Streamlined Processes and Workflows
Procure-to-pay automation removes the inefficiencies and drag on profitability that inevitably accompany time-consuming paper-based processes.
Flexible Purchasing
With the right software partner, procurement professionals can choose their vendors and suppliers, order from a single intuitive portal rather than scrolling through multiple websites, and utilize functions such as Procurement Partners’ PunchOut catalog option to place orders outside of regular vendors when circumstances make it necessary.
Automated Contract Compliance While overseeing contract compliance can be a major headache in times of change, procure-to-pay automation means contracts can be monitored every day, reducing inefficiencies and financial waste.
Total Inventory Oversight Inflationary price hikes and supply chain disruptions can mean chaos for procurement officials. With P2P automation, inventory management across multiple facilities are ready in an instant for all permitted users, reducing waste such as from expired perishable items and making sure supplies are restocked before emergencies arise.
On-Time and Accurate Accounts Payable
Paper-based invoicing and accounts payable are prone to errors such as duplicate billing and unnecessary expenses such as late fees. AP automation and centralized invoicing drive immediate savings and oversight for the finance office.
Easy Onboarding and Training With streamlined and standardized procedures from P2P automation, training staff and onboarding new hires becomes efficient and maximizes staff time.
Better Vendor Relationships Whatever changes in pricing and supply chain lie ahead, automated software solutions enable the kind of transparency and accountability that foster mutually constructive relationships between procurement professionals and their vendors and suppliers.
Data-Driven Planning
Change can mean confusion, disconnection between procurement and finance, and an inability to make the kind of plans that make healthcare organizations nimble and resilient. P2P automation means that conversations are backed by reliable, accurate data.
Integration Capabilities
The best procure-to-pay automation solutions integrate seamlessly with existing financial and operational software and systems, meaning procurement teams can hit the ground running to convert the fear of change into the excitement of opportunity. 
Looking to Reduce Your Annual Spend?
Procurement Partners helps customers reduce their annual spend by more than 10% with an easy-to-navigate procure-to-pay solution where users can place orders and process invoices for all suppliers. Procurement Partners is the leading procure-to-pay management system for post-acute, non-acute, and continuum of care providers and has helped organizations achieve 40% time savings and 95% supplier contract compliance through automating the procure-to-pay process.
