CEO expectation: the Star Wars materiel manager of the 1990s, or C-3PO as role model

Materiel-intensive expenditures account for a significant portion of all hospital costs, second only to salaries and wages, yet materiel managers may often be overlooked as key members of the management team. This is alarming since the potential exists for materiel managers to impact annual savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars by operating efficient departments. Materiel managers have a tremendous opportunity to enhance their image and improve hospital productivity in the coming decade. The challenges of the 1990s will stretch materiel managers' skills toward enhancing their professionalism and achieving the expectations of themselves and top management. If materiel managers will effectively utilize (C3)PO they will increase their educational levels, continue to learn new skills, maintain a customer-oriented management style, exercise creativity, develop and adhere to standards, and be proactive in their responsibilities. The benefits of their success will be felt by patients, hospitals, the industry, and materiel managers everywhere.     

Materiel management reengineering: value creation through innovation

By reengineering their department's core processes, materiel managers can expand their role in the health care setting while realizing significant cost savings. Using a team model, Inova Health System materiel management staff integrated their processes for vendor selection, purchasing, inventory reduction, and utilization across three hospitals and ancillary services. An integrated approach at all levels of the organization gained buy-in from administrators and staff systemwide.     

Strategic imperatives for managing materiel into the next century

The next century of opportunity is less than a decade away. Materiel management must involve itself in the strategic changes occurring within the health care industry and its respective institutions. Those materiel managers who are aggressively ensuring that their operations are supported by a well-developed and well-orchestrated operational infrastructure are now well positioned to address the future challenges of this decade. Unfortunately, many other materiel managers are focusing their attention and efforts solely on the management of materiel for which they currently have control. Materiel managers must develop an acute awareness of the support needs of their respective organizations. Those who are not apprehensive about venturing from the traditional materiel management world will be exposed to incredible educational opportunities and will receive responsibilities of unparalleled organizational importance.     

The materiel manager's role in executive management

The ability to achieve advancement for materiel management is a potential that few have challenged and achieved. Reasons for this lack of growth vary in degree, but the opportunities in the 1990s will be tremendous. The political skill and team leadership ability expressed by materiel managers throughout hospitals will ultimately result in whether this challenge is met or not. Materiel managers will need certainly to change their perception of their own role, as well as the perception of hospitals, in order to achieve this. The road will be challenging, but with the winning attitude, skill building, and proven management ability, I believe that materiel managers will become successful in hospital executive management in the 1990s.     

Survival strategies in the era of managed care

The era of managed care has forced an unprecedented restructuring of the health care environment. As hospitals downsize in response, materiel managers should consider adopting strategies that may help ensure their survival, including innovative approaches to supply management and the development of individual responses that will best position them to succeed in this new reality.     

Empirical comparison of just-in-time and stockless materiel management systems in the health care industry

Despite the limitations, this study is the first comparative empirical investigation of two relatively new materiel management systems applied in hospitals. The results show that hospital managers have significantly rated the possibility that more effective use of some materiel management resources can be achieved by adopting either a JIT or stockless system over conventional materiel management systems.     

Organizational change and survival skills for materiel managers

In an effort to be cost effective and meet changing customer needs, organizations are evolving in their structure. In this environment, leading edge organizations change their culture and create knowledge to continuously improve. Hospital materiel managers need to understand and support their organization's culture changes and respond by adapting or acquiring new skill sets.     

Restructuring materiel management functions: a method for prioritizing changes and reducing costs

The success of any manager depends highly on the ability to seize on opportunities that will achieve the organization's goals. Hospitals are currently searching for ways to reduce costs while maintaining or enhancing the quality of services. Quality services are increasingly being defined as those that are most responsive to customer needs. It is important, as hospital management restructures materiel systems or methods of operation for reduced costs, to focus on the user departments as the customers. The consolidation of materiel management activity should not be seen as a loss of control at the user department level. Instead it can be seen as a new way of providing service with higher quality. User departments should see concrete benefits on a weekly basis, including reduced time spent on materiel management functions; increased planning of purchasing, inventory, and distribution functions; and assistance in meeting restricted supply budgets.     

Pressure ulcers and materiel management: cost-effective prevention and care

In summary, it's important for the materiel manager to have an understanding of the clinical aspects of pressure ulcers. By understanding how ulcers are staged, treated, and prevented, the materiel manager will have a better idea why certain products are needed and how they are used to reduce overall patient costs. Specialty beds, replacement mattresses, and high-end overlays represent a significant cost--approximately $500,000 to $1 million based on studies cited in this article. Further proven by research is the fact that these costs can be reduced by carrying out utilization plans with specific criteria for patient selection. Finally, materiel managers can be key coordinators in the entire process since they are often on the front lines in any institution's cost containment efforts.     

Survival depends on effective partnerships with suppliers, management, and physicians

Partnering in health care materiel management circles is a concept that has been discussed for years. We, as materiel managers, have never accomplished effective partnering; but I propose that if we are to have a professional future, we should learn to establish effective partnership arrangements with our various customers--externally and internally.     

Health care system redesign: a strategic management framework

The current health care environment can best be characterized as uncertain, unfamiliar, ambiguous, unexpected, untraveled, and amorphous. All administrators and managers are facing a tremendous challenge in managing available human, technological, materiel, and fiscal resources to accomplish their organization's mission. They must be able to assess organizational environments, identify strategies to align the organization and the environment, implement these strategies, and continuously evaluate the outcomes of those strategies. Therefore, health care administrators and managers must adopt a management perspective that is responsive, dynamic, comprehensive, systematic, and both process and outcome oriented. Such a perspective is strategic management.     

Materiel management and reimbursement in the American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals

Simply stated, understanding how hospitals receive money enables materiel managers to save money. Reimbursement in the health care industry is a complex phenomenon, and the rules and regulations change annually, so that it is sometimes difficult to budget appropriately and estimate the hospital's bottom line accurately. The savvy materiel managers who can utilize the reimbursement concepts effectively will be highly regarded within their institutions.     

World-class materiel flexibility: one plant's victory over materiel-related downtime

It is not uncommon for the materiel managers in a manufacturing company to be blamed for downtime and the consequent failure to meet production targets. To avoid downtime, materiel managers need to look at their role in solving materiel-related downtime and to address the problems that cause downtime in the same way they would address other process quality problems.     

Just-in-time and stockless programs for hospitals: fad or trend?

The JIT and stockless approach to provider-supplier relationships has proven to be a win-win proposition for the partners that have implemented it in many manufacturing industries and health care organizations as well. This strategy will fundamentally impact the entire cost structure within the hospital supply distribution chain. rewards have proven attainable and more comprehensive than had been hoped in the health care applications. The sweeping changes the health care industry experienced during the 1980s are leading creative materiel managers to seize the initiative to improve the current operating costs of their hospitals. They do not want to be left behind "holding the inventory."     

Managing unofficial inventory: a piece of the materiel management foundation

The implementation plan will remain the same: target an area of opportunity, measure and document the amount and value of the unofficial inventory, establish PAR levels, implement the use of hand-held terminals to assist in inventory control, and integrate inventory control with the implementation of new programs that will impact ordering, receiving, distribution, and invoicing. It is anticipated that the inventory in the main OR alone can be reduced by $1.5 million if we move forward with a stockless JIT system. This would reduce the days of inventory on hand from approximately 100 days to between 7 and 14 days. This could also mean a holding cost reduction of $150,000. The merit of reducing unofficial inventory is evident. Managing unofficial inventory is merely one piece of the successful materiel management foundation. The other foundation pieces include contract compliance and price negotiations, systematic methods of ordering products, and timely distribution of products to the end user. PHS cannot effectively move forward to a new, innovative materiel system for the future until we first measure, analyze, and document the present conditions. Once the foundation is laid by improving present business practices, then the framework of the structure can be designed and constructed. The goal is to implement a system that utilizes the full potential of people, equipment, logistics, and information so that our customers, the patient caretakers, do not have to worry about anything except the delivery of quality care.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Developing price, charge, and cost rationales.

The health care industry has experienced some turbulent years recently, and the end does not seem near. Payment methods are being established that are entirely new and have not stood the test of time. For hospitals to remain competitive, they must be able to understand and master the different payment methods. The one common thread discussed throughout this article is that intelligent decisions concerning payment cannot be made until the costs are known. Hospitals cannot commit to these contracts and cannot expect to perform well and generate profits without this knowledge--without detailed cost information, it is a "stab in the dark." A good working relationship between cost accounting and materiel management is needed to accumulate timely and accurate information. This is why their relationship is so important. Those hospitals that master this information requirement will have the best chance of survival in the increasingly competitive field of health care.     

Balancing clinical priorities in an era of diminishing resources

By learning to ask both manufacturers and clinicians why a technology is needed, how it compares to the existing technology, and whether it will eliminate the need for the existing technology and by demanding specific answers, much more rational decisions can be made, which will be in the best interests of the community the hospital serves. Materiel managers can play a key role in fostering this process. In addition, by helping department managers develop long-range multiyear plans, materiel managers can help hospitals better manage their existing assets and make better long-term purchasing decisions.     

How is your materiel management audit program?

This article has provided a view from the auditor's eyes of some key components inherent in a sound materiel management system. Every system, however, has its own unique characteristics, some of which may contain internal control situations that are not addressed herein. Although most will apply, not every comment contained in this article will be practical to all systems. The hospital size, utilization, patient mix, service mix, physical outlay, organizational structure, financial condition, and management philosophy will all have an influence on the role of materiel management. Automation of various materiel management functions can be beneficial by providing informational and control enhancements not feasible in a manual system. However, automation also raises new internal-control concerns that need to be addressed. Strong internal control techniques and compliance with adequate policies and procedures will prepare materiel management for its role in future hospital operations.     

关于企业成本管理的探讨

成本管理是预算管理和绩效管理的前提,企业需要正确地将成本进行分类、计量和归集。恰当的成本管理制度可以帮助企业提升运营效率和业务绩效,同时企业的流程改善、突破和优化与成本管理密不可分。另外,管理者需要令客户对产品和服务满意,并且有效控制各项成本。企业成本管理不是单纯地降低成本,而是通过利用成本分析工具,有效地管理和规划资源,进而提高总体运营效率,保证企业总体绩效的持续改善。论文通过成本计算制度的制定方法和业务流程改善分析技术两方面对成本管控进行探讨。     

Purchasing principles to reduce acquisition and inventory costs

Knowing how, what, when, and where to negotiate are all part of the system that finally determines how much you pay for products and services. Knowing the primary and secondary objectives of materiel management is important in establishing purchasing and inventory policies and procedures. Negotiating all of the terms and conditions up front, before you finalize any deal, is important to minimize your acquisition, operating, disposal, and inventory costs and to maximize profit. Most purchasers and negotiators only bargain for part of the costs; then they have to bargain to try to control the rest of the costs or they are at the mercy of others. Prepare to negotiate for all the factors that will influence the final operating cost from the beginning to the end of the negotiation process.