SINGAPORE: Public healthcare group SingHealth said it has managed to save some $200 million over the last decade by streamlining its procurement practices.
SingHealth said cutting down the variety of surgical implants is the key to lowering cost.
SingHealth's group
chief procurement officer Tan Jack Thian, said: "With the assistance of
senior clinicians, we managed to convince the orthopaedic surgeons to
show them why we can actually streamline 20 plus surgical implants down
to about five surgical implants.
"So by doing that, that helped
us to cut down the number of varieties that we have created. The bulk
(of savings) can go out to negotiate for better pricing. We can transfer
the savings to the patients through a lower implants cost as well."
Mr Tan said they also work closely with suppliers by giving them advance notice.
"At
the beginning of the work year, we inform the suppliers what are the
products we wish to purchase in this full year. Once we call the tender,
they are ready to respond with the best possible price."
Apart from cost savings, having a smaller inventory also reduces errors and confusion for hospital staff.
Mr
Tan said: "For the warehousing people, they have less items to manage
so that will help us to reduce errors in picking, errors in the
distribution because it is now much more streamlined and there are
lesser items to manage."
SingHealth's Group Procurement Office was set up to consolidate clinical purchases for its public healthcare institutions.
SingHealth's experiences were also shared with other healthcare institutions at a recent congress.
Mr
Tan said: "We thought that it is about time that we organise some
congress to share our expertise, our knowledge, our experience with the
rest and also for us to invite overseas experts to share on making the
entire supply chain more efficient.
"By doing that, we hope to
achieve even greater savings and to help the entire Singapore public
healthcare scene manage the supply chain cost."
- CNA/fa
Of course lah, they don't spend the money buying $800 office chairs for their employees.
over 10 yrs.....
so it's not a lot actually.......