Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange Attendees
Collaborate To Tackle Business Challenges
October 12, 2018
Alexandria, Va. – The 2018 HIDA Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange provided unprecedented collaboration opportunities between healthcare supply chain trading partners. Some 900 participants from healthcare distributors, manufacturers, GPOs, and health systems took part in more than 1,200 meetings in two and a half days.
Participants in this year’s event came together to work on common solutions to thorny industry challenges. Examples include:
- Emergency preparedness. To strengthen coordination between distributors, manufacturers, and federal agencies, HIDA brought representatives from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR/HHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR/CDC) to this year’s meeting. Attendees brainstormed ways to ensure product availability, particularly during emergencies and epidemics.
- ►Takeaway: Industry leaders must continue to work closely with government agencies to identify ways to integrate their respective capabilities faster and more efficiently.
- Defining product quality. During the “Making the Case for Quality Products” session, health system supply chain leaders talked with supplier executives about how they judge “quality” when it comes to medical products. Despite the growing focus on outcomes, supply chain leaders said their primary focus is still on costs and the measures that contribute to costs, such as patient length of stay.
- ►Takeaway: Suppliers who say their product improves outcomes must bring credible evidence to back up their claims.
- Information management. Participants in the Independent Distributors Summit observed that keeping product information up-to-date in their systems and on their websites can be a full-time job. The prospect of investing in standards, technology, and infrastructure, on top of current product information management (PIM) needs, seems daunting for many but can yield dividends.
- ►Takeaway: Distributors that invest in PIM technology can benefit from lower operational overhead and better cost planning.
- Value-based payment. The shift away from fee-for-service reimbursement is a common discussion topic in healthcare, but this transition is occurring more slowly than many commonly believe. Mills Schenck, Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, noted, “Every hospital system is exploring value, but 60% of them are still getting paid on a per-case basis.”
- ►Takeaway: Recognize that your customers are still struggling with the transition to value-based reimbursement, and that they still have a long road ahead.
HIDA’s next Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange takes place in Chicago, IL, September 23 – 26, 2019.
About HIDA
The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) is the premier trade association representing medical products distribution. HIDA members offer services that increase the efficiency of the nation's hospitals, nursing homes, physician practices, and other healthcare providers. For more information, visit www.HIDA.org. For more information on HIDA’s Streamlining Healthcare initiative, visit www.StreamliningHealthcare.org.
About HIDA’s Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange
HIDA’s Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange is the industry’s go-to-market event connecting manufacturers with all the channel and trading partners that direct or influence the selection, contracting, evaluation, sale, and delivery of thousands of medical products and solutions across the care continuum. For more information, visit www.HIDAStreamlining.org.