Keep the Faith

By Robert W. Yokl, President - SVAH Solutions

“These are just a few ideas for when you and your team are feeling the pinch of the everyday pressures of the hospital supply chain/value analysis world.”

Avoiding the Grind of the Supply/Value Chain World

There are a lot of challenging things going on in the hospital supply chain and value analysis world inside and outside our organizations that affect us in many ways. Many things have positive impacts, but others become more difficult to deal with on an ongoing basis. Let’s face it, our world is not always the glamorous environment that we would like it to be. Supply/value chain is really about a lot of good old-fashioned tough work every day. There are vendors trying to circumvent your processes, doctors running to the CEO to get what they want, or even those that don’t believe in your processes and are difficult altogether. It can be a grind.

The good news is that we are moving the needle on supply/value chain every day. It may not seem to be readily apparent, but the needle is moving. Nothing seems to move as fast as we want it to but that is okay. I am here to encourage you to keep the faith. We are moving forward no matter what comes to us. We got this!

You just need to keep pushing the envelope to move your supply/value chain program forward in a positive way. And yes, some days will be the grind where we have dug ourselves into a big ditch of work that we need to climb out of, but we always seem to make it out okay.

Below are just a few ideas for you when you feel like you are burning out or feeling the grind from your supply chain/value analysis duties:

• Learn Something New – The only way to move your program and your mindset forward in a positive way would be to learn new things to add to your skill set. Yes, taking a class or webinar may seem like more work but it really isn’t because it is reenergizing your brain to new capabilities that will make your job easier and more efficient. Make a list of the things you want to learn about and schedule some time to make it happen. It is invigorating when you learn something new.
• Schedule a Walk-Around VA Review – We are all often stuck behind a desk and find that we are not out where the value is being performed which limits our view of what is actually going on in our healthcare environment. Getting out from behind the desk and viewing the product you are reviewing in the clinical departments (or even non-clinical) is a great break from getting stuck behind a desk. Plus, you will gain valuable insights into the products you are reviewing. I like walking through the storeroom whenever I am invited by clients as there is a goldmine of ideas when you view the products on the shelves.
• Take a Step Back and Review/Promote Your Successes – Don’t be afraid to promote your successes. Most don’t, but they should. If you think your leaders in your organization are aware of all your successes, think again. They might know about one or two things going on, but rarely do they know about them in detail. Value analysis teams are formed and do a lot of work in order to keep costs and quality in check, and nobody is getting paid any more to do this. So promote your successes, especially when you have a big win or come off a big fiscal year in which you have met all of your senior leadership’s goals and celebrate the wins with your team.?This makes your value analysis job more valuable for you and refreshes your VA team members as you roll into the next year.

These are just a few ideas for when you and your team are feeling the pinch of the everyday pressures of the hospital supply chain/value analysis world. Supply chain/VA professionals are tough cookies to say the least, but that does not mean that you don’t need to be motivated and encouraged from time to time. We are all human and let’s face it, the most important element to any supply/value chain organization is the leaders and team members. Keep the faith, fellow supply chain/value analysis professionals!

About Robert W. Yokl, Sr. VP of Value Analysis & Supply Chain Solutions

Robert is the Program Leader for SVAH Solutions that provides value analysis, clinical supply utilization, and savings validation tools to help organizations to gain the next level of savings beyond price and standardization. https://www.SVAH-Solutions.com https://www.SavingsValidation.com

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