Many of the disruptions arising from COVID-19 have eased for the healthcare industry, but it’s increasingly evident that a new series of challenges are presenting a new reality, particularly in the areas of supply chain, procurement, and inventory management.
Healthcare procurement professionals as well as financial leadership are facing the repercussions of continued supply chain disruptions, along with the ripple effect of inflation being felt across all sectors of the industry. Post-acute and non-acute care healthcare facilities face pressures around all aspects of supply chain goods and services. 
This means daily pressures to keep facilities well stocked and responsive across the continuum of care, along with ongoing financial anxiety springing from rising costs across supply chains from production to procurement.
Automation of back-office workflows and functions from procurement to inventory management to accounts payable is a powerful tool for stabilization and informed decision-making in times of supply chain pressures. P2P automation makes possible:
- Accountable and Accurate Inventory.
Outdated paper-based inventory, or inaccurate “guesstimates” are all -too -common in the healthcare industry. With procure-to-pay software automation, procurement professionals enjoy inventory oversight and accuracy across all facilities at their fingertips. - Flexibility in Vendor Choices.
The best procure-to-pay automated solutions allow customers to make their own choice from a range of vendors, rather than producing cost inefficiencies by locking into vendor-restricted options. - Single Platform Ordering.
It is essential to have a simple and user-friendly platform for procurement orders. Allowing authorized employees to place orders at any time, even on their tablets or smartphones, is crucial. - Easy “Punch-Out” Function.
When specific goods aren’t available from pre-selected vendors, a Punch-Out function facilitates easy ordering from outside vendors while keeping financial and inventory data integrated and up to date. - Centralized Invoices.
P2P automation delivers centralized invoicing and eliminates wasteful and often inaccurate paper-based workflows and back-office processes.
- Financial Oversight and Reporting.
Robust financial data and responsive reporting on areas such as spend against budget curtail wasteful spending, duplicative ordering, and other errors that undermine strength in the bottom line in times of supply chain pressures. - Strong Contract Compliance.
To ensure proper procurement procedures, P2P automation must oversee contract compliance. This involves verifying that purchased goods and supplies adhere to agreed-upon prices and monitoring discounts to ensure accurate ordering and pricing. - Efficient and Accurate Accounts Payable. Automated accounts payable functions in P2P software solutions promote financial accountability and eliminate areas of unnecessary cost such as overbilling.
- Procurement Alignment and Communication.
With granular data at a procurement professional’s fingertips, proactive conversations can take place about what goods and supplies are being bought at each facility, areas of stress or worry in the supply chain and inventory, and potential time and cost savings.
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.
