This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
FAST FOREWARD


FAST FOREWARD Stand up


An oft-quoted old joke about data standards still rarely fails to elicit a smirk if not a muffl ed guffaw. It goes something like this: “The great thing about standards is that you can choose from so many of them.” Insert the ba-dum-bump rimshot here. Perhaps its cultural successor to attract the younger crowd (be- cause that’s all the rage these days) is the presumably New York-


New Jersey-fl avored double-entendre retort, “I’ve upped my standards, now up yours!” Manufacturers, musing about their reticent provider customers, no doubt are snickering at that one. We laugh somewhat sheepishly because we all recognize the seemingly everlasting


futility of healthcare’s attempts to adopt and implement data standards for medical/ surgical supplies. The ongoing debate and discussion for more than three decades centers on accountability and responsibility, composing two of the tenets of President Obama’s healthcare reform initiative. Greek philosopher Aristotle reportedly once exclaimed, “The securing of one individual’s


good is cause for rejoicing, but to secure the good of a nation or of a city-state is nobler and more divine.” Some believe this inspired the writers of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” to give Spock his famous line “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” which the writers of the reboot “Star Trek: Into Darkness” bequeathed to Captain Kirk more than three decades later.


Apparently, the med/surg supply data standards movement requires a reboot, too. Many manufacturers — not all — hesitated and procrastinated to adopt and implement med/surg supply data standards because it was an expensive proposition, one they were unwilling to invest in if their provider customers either willingly used or were required to use by the government. Of course, the providers, who epitomize the “pro” in procrastina- tion, weren’t going to disrupt their status quo, feel process pain and pay extra for something (presuming the suppliers would pass those costs on) that stood to benefi t the payers more in the end. Both “sides” looked to the federal government to play more of a parental King Solomon and solve the dispute once and for all. Last fall, the federal government called the industry’s bluff and instituted a far less dra- conian measure to adopt and implement data standards with an unusually long phase-in period as well as an anemic compensatory and punitive response (no reimbursement cuts or excessive fi nes) for non-compliance. By the time President Obama’s successor fi nishes his or her fi rst (or only) term, we should see how this all fares for patient care and healthcare operations. Frustrating, yes, particularly for those patients and their families who fall victim to


some kind of device-related or human-related clinical/medical error during the phase-in. Nonetheless, the government answered the resistance and now the resistance must act. Late last summer SmartMoney.com’s “Real-Time Advice” blog reported that the credit


reporting bureaus (that’s plural) don’t produce standardized products. In fact, they provide 49 different scores. These scores are used by “mysterious” individuals and institutions to determine if we’re “credit-worthy” to qualify for a loan to purchase a house or a car or some other big-ticket item. Imagine if that were healthcare and the big-ticket item were a life-saving big-ticket surgi- cal procedure. It’s not so far-fetched. You might portray this as the “pre-existing conditions” clause that payers used to ferret out riskier patients to pad shareholder value. Mr. Obama’s healthcare reform initiative, however, purports to put the kibosh on that mentality, the fi scal aftershocks of which we’re all just starting to witness. Yet the federal Medical Information Bureau (MIB) still collects economic background data on all of us that it supplies to payers that they then use to infl uence their coverage decisions. Conceivably, this organization serves a congruent and parallel purpose as the credit reporting bureaus, even using data from those agencies that aren’t even standardized. If anything, this all seems like a closed-loop quagmire that requires multiple players in


the healthcare industry to swallow some castor oil instead of passing costs onto taxpayers to preserve profi ts. However, the standards buffet does have a bright side of short-term redeeming value that just might be attractive to certain high-profi le retailers today in that the data disorder makes it harder for hackers to track and trace you. Or maybe it inspires them.


4 March 2014 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • www.hpnonline.com


EDITORIAL Publisher/Executive Editor Kristine Russell krussell@hpnonline.com


Senior Editor Rick Dana Barlow rickdanabarlow@hpnonline.com


Managing Editor Contributing Editors


Jeannie Akridge jakridge@hpnonline.com (941) 927-9345, ext. 202


Kara Della Vecchia kdellavecchia@hpnonline.com Susan Cantrell susan_cantrell@bellsouth.net


ADVERTISING SALES East Coast Blake and Michelle Holton (407) 971-6286


Midwest Donna Boatman-Riley (815) 393-4624


West Coast Blake and Michelle Holton (407) 971-6286


ADVERTISING & ART PRODUCTION Ad Contracts Manager Tiffany Coffman


(941) 927-9345, ext. 203


Graphic Design Tracy Arendt Art Services Gail Kaiser


MARKETING SERVICES Marketing Director Dick Page


MAILING LIST RENTALS Kristine Russell


(941) 927-9345, ext. 201 CORPORATE President Kristine Russell


Healthcare Purchasing News (ISSN: 1098-3716) is published monthly by KSR Publishing Inc., 2477 Stickney Point Road, Suite 315B, Sarasota, FL 34231, Phone: (941) 927-9345, Fax: (941) 927-9588, www.hpnonline.com, Business hours: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST.


EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Joe Colonna, Vice President, Supply Chain Management, Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA; Karen Conway, Executive Director, Industry Rela- tions, GHX, Louisville, CO; Michele Dawn De Meo, CRCST, (Ret.) Sterile Processing Manager, Memorial Hospital, York, PA; Dee Donatelli, Senior Vice President, Provider Services, Hayes, Inc., Lansdale, PA; John Mateka, FAHRMM, Executive Director of Supply Chain Operations, Greenville (SC) Health System; Melanie Miller, RN, Manager Central Processing/Supply Chain/Materials Management, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dennis Orthman, Senior Director, Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI); Rosalind Parkinson, Chief Supply Chain Offi cer, The Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Michael Rudomin, Principal, HealthCare Solutions Bureau LLC, Bolton, MA; Jean Sargent, Director, MedAssets Advisory Solutions; Rose Seavey, RN, BS, MBA, CNOR, ACSP, Seavey Healthcare Consulting Inc.; Richard W. Schule, MBA, BS, FAST, CST, FCS, CRCST, CHMMC, CIS, CHL, AGTS, Director, Clinical Education, STERIS Corporation; Robert Simpson, CMRP, President and CEO, LeeSar Regional Service Center and Cooperative Services of Florida, Fort Myers, FL; Deborah Petretich Templeton, R Ph., MHA, Chief of Care Support Services, Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA; Ray Taurasi, Eastern Regional Director of Clinical Sales and Services, Healthmark Industries


SUBSCRIPTION RATES U.S.: $74.00 for one year (prepaid orders only) Canada: $90.00 Foreign: $122.00


Single copies: $7.00 Industry Guide: $49.95


Special issues and back issues: $11.00 per copy, prepaid. Certain individuals qualify for free subscriptions.


CHANGE OF ADDRESS Subscribers: For change of address, send your old and new addresses to Healthcare Purchasing News, 2477 Stickney Point Road, Suite 315B, Sara- sota, FL 34231. Fax: (941) 927-9588, E-mail: subscriptions@hpnonline.com. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for correction. All other inquiries, call Tiffany Coffman at (941) 927-9345, ext. 203.


KSR Publishing, Inc.


Printed in USA • Paper manufactured in USA Soy ink made in USA • Keep jobs in USA


Copyright 2014 by KSR Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage-and-retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Healthcare Purchasing News is a registered trademark used herein under license. Offi ce of publication: Periodicals Postage Paid at Sarasota, FL 34242 and at additional mailing offi ces. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Healthcare Purchasing News, P.O. Box 17517, Sarasota, FL 34276-9801.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72