The industry’s ongoing transition from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare requires that hospitals be more clinically focused and fiscally responsible than ever before. Healthcare executives are challenged to develop a clinically integrated, evidence-based process for evaluating products, technologies and services to deliver quality care.

 A highly functioning Value Analysis program ensures financial efficiency and optimal patient outcomes through clinical efficacy. But how does a hospital or IDN go about maturing its Value Analysis program to achieve greater process rigor, transparency and physician engagement?

 As a healthcare organization moves toward mature Value Analysis, it must understand the total costs associated with caring for individuals and communities, deliver quality care aimed at achieving the best possible health, and realize financial results driven by exceptional patient outcomes. This requires an approach to Value Analysis that includes integrated teams, a comprehensive scope and a strategic planning framework.

First, adopt a comprehensive approach.

“The focus of value analysis programs historically has been on commodity-type products,” said Drew Preslar, Assistant Vice President of inSight Advisory℠ Services at HealthTrust. “It was nursing and med/surg focused and didn’t include medical devices or purchased services. Today, we’re trying to refocus value analysis through a comprehensive lens, looking at any product or service that a hospital is buying. We’re using the same thought processes and methodologies we’ve used in the past, but it’s not compartmentalized; it’s a holistic approach across categories.”

Clinical Integration

Clinical integration with supply chain is changing the way hospitals view purchasing. The mature Value Analysis process can help guide clinical strategy by assessing opportunities from a value-based approach, identifying waste – even initiating care redesign focused on evidence-based protocols.

“Value Analysis has been brought to a new level because clinical evidence is more readily available,” said Victoria Alberto, Vice President of Clinical Resource Management at HealthTrust. “Better access to clinical studies helps us identify the products that produce the best outcomes and marry the financial with the clinical. Good data takes center stage because it ‘creates an epidemic of common sense,'"

Value Analysis Program Design

Designing or enhancing a Value Analysis program can be prompted by several factors – a service line that is gearing up or sunsetting, a change in physician leadership, or a contract that is ready to expire. Regardless of the impetus, it’s critical (and sometimes challenging) to get clinicians to commit to the product evaluation process. The ultimate goals are 1) to move supply expense management from reactive to strategic, 2) to develop a culture of accountability, and 3) to achieve engagement across departments. Most hospitals and IDNS have some form of Value Analysis, but they can be in very different stages of the maturity model. To help an organization reach the next phase of its value analysis evolution, the HealthTrust Value Analysis team uses a systematic approach to program design.

Click here to learn the steps in this systematic approach and to download the full roadmap, “Taking Value Analysis to the Next Level.”