Private hospitals can slash between 10% and 15% of their pharmacy costs by implementing an effective electronic procurement (e-procurement) system.
So says Bertus Blom, a partner at Hospinet, a process improvement company, which has joined forces with e-procurement specialist company, Miraculum, to establish SA`s first private electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) for the private hospital industry.
The Hospinet private e-marketplace is hosted by Miraculum on its robust B2B infrastructure alongside other vertical and private e-marketplaces, including Miraculum`s own Miraculum Xchange. In addition, Miraculum enables Hospinet`s e-procurement software product to be provided to hospital pharmacies on an ASP (application service provider) basis.
According to Blom, orders for pharmaceuticals and surgical equipment valued at over R8 million are currently channelled through the Hospinet e-marketplace every month. This figure is expected to grow significantly as the roll-out of the service to private hospitals accelerates in the months ahead.
"Current users of the e-marketplace have already realised a measured improvement in their cost savings of between 10% to 15%. And that saving is the result of little more than improved efficiencies in the end-to-end procurement process, of which the e-marketplace component forms a critical part," he explains.
Blom points out that large hospital pharmacies have to maintain stocks of thousands of items, procured from a vast number of suppliers.
"Pharmacists working in these hospitals have to order around 1 000 stock items a day. As this ordering is done manually, with the pharmacist phoning or faxing the order to the supplier, it`s not unusual to have several pharmacists on the phone all day ordering supplies.
"But pharmacists are highly qualified professionals trained to dispense drugs. Using them as glorified procurement clerks does not do justice to their skills - or their salaries. Indeed, much of what these hospital pharmacists do to procure and pay for supplies can be automated, freeing the professional pharmacist to be a pharmacist," he says.
The e-procurement solution, developed by Hospinet over the past 30 months to complement the company`s other services including process improvement in the hospital environment and training, was initially provided directly to private hospitals.
"However, the provision of a secure e-procurement service demands a robust, state-of-the-art Information Technology infrastructure - with supporting IT skills. This is what Miraculum provides and for Hospinet to attempt to replicate it would have been both impractical and unaffordable.
"In any event, Hospinet is not an IT company - we`re a process improvement operation. By outsourcing our technology needs to Miraculum, we are able to offer our customers the best of both worlds: a solution tailor-made for the hospital industry supported by a company with proven technological expertise. The fit between Hospinet and Miraculum is perfect," he adds.
Gavin Vermaas, sales director, Miraculum, says the Hospinet e-marketplace provides a clear indication that vertical e-marketplaces for specific industries such as the motor, healthcare and mining sectors, offer tremendous value to participants.
"And with pressure increasing on healthcare providers to reduce - or at least contain - costs, the Hospinet/Miraculum solution offers a painfree, proven way for private hospitals to lower their pharmacy overheads," he concludes.
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