Doctors and nurses are confused by your process. Can you help?
We have a problem in healthcare. Doctors and nurses are a bit frustrated. And the Value Analysis process has caused some of it.
I’ve talked to hundreds of doctors and nurses in Operating Rooms, Emergency Departments, ICUs, and NICUs in academic centers, community hospitals, and specialty facilities. I’ve found one thing they all agree on…No one knows how to get a new product approved. And they think you only want the cheapest product.
Read that again. Your clinical team, who deliver the highest-quality care possible every day, thinks that you only want the cheapest products available.
“Mark, unless your new product is less expensive than what we have now, (Value Analysis) will never approve it. The Bean Counters only care about saving money.”
I’ve heard this “less-expensive only” description from clinicians in Maine down to FL.
I’ll be honest… I don’t share their position. I know it’s not an accurate assessment. You aren’t just picking the cheapest products.
But let’s also be honest with ourselves. If we walked in our clinical teams’ clogs, is it possible we would come to the same conclusions?
Consider….
Requiring physicians to submit new product requests through some portal that asks for HCPCs codes while demanding names of competitive products. Having a 2-sentence box to describe the clinical benefits and 5 pages of CPT, DRG, ICD-10, and Revenue Code/Modifiers. Having no feedback loop on where the request sits in the process, or if there even IS a process.
I know what you are thinking. “Mark, we explained the process to our providers in an email and at a meeting. Our clinicians are very clear with how our process works.”
I’m sorry to break it to you. Your clinicians do NOT know the process. Value Analysis is a newer process in healthcare, and one explanation is NOT going to ingrain YOUR process into your clinicians’ minds. No one remembers something the first time they hear it.
How many NEW physicians and nurses have joined your facility since you last delivered the message? Between mergers, acquisitions, and attrition, your current team is likely different than it was 2 years ago!
New habits require constant support and explanation, and you’ve introduced a new process to hyper-busy professionals with NO background in Value Analysis and even less interest. Doctors and nurses don’t know GPOs from EIN numbers, yet Value Analysis requires all of it before the Committee even permits the new product request form to be submitted.
Here are 5 ways to improve the process for both Value Analysis Committees AND the Clinicians with whom they work:
#1. Clarify – Explain the Process
Explain the process. Are there multiple steps? Can you simplify them for clarity? Can you use terms that non-Value Analysis people would immediately understand?
- Submission, Research, Decision
- Clinical, Financial, Operational, Strategic
Can you give the clinician a reasonable understanding of HOW you make a decision? I’ve had several of you say, “We want the best possible product for the lowest possible price.” I love the saying, but the saying is an outcome. How do you assess the product? Is there an algorithm? A score? Something that automatically knocks out a product from consideration.
Describe it in a way a clinician would understand. Ask them to repeat it back to you. If they can’t repeat your process back to you, they don’t understand your process.
#2. Shepherd Doctors and Nurses Through the New Product Request Process
You assess new product requests all the time. Doctors and nurses don’t. A surgeon might request 5 new products a year, and a nurse 1 a decade. How could we make it easier for doctors and nurses?
- Don’t expect them to fill out some form online. Do it with them.
- Give the doctor or nurse a direct contact in Value Analysis who can help shepherd the request.
- Show them GOOD new product requests you’ve gotten, and why the request was good. Examples are great ways to help clinicians model great new product requests.
#3. Think Bigger Than the Acquisition Price
Thinking bigger than the acquisition price is the single-biggest change clinicians and vendors want and need from Value Analysis. No one thinks seeing the big picture is easy. Seeing the bigger picture is difficult in all walks of life, but even more so in healthcare. Decisions the Value Analysis Committees make not only affect healthcare WORKERS, but more importantly, PATIENTS.
I recently helped a company whose main product was a sterile kit of instruments that made getting trauma patients into traction a breeze. No more having ortho residents run around in the hospital at 2:00AM looking for drills from the OR, specialized beds on the 7th floor, or a Kirschner Bow Frame in the ICU when these patients roll into the ED.
Currently, hospitals pay about $200 per episode of care on the drills, bed, and Kirschner Bow, but the time wasted (60-90 minutes on average) looking for all of this stuff while the patient waited in the ED was costing them over $1,200 – $1,500 in operational waste. The bulk of the “cost” was in the staffing time wasted and the poor patient experience. None of these costs show up in an acquisition price or cost spreadsheet.
Going deeper to understand the health system’s strategies of faster, better experiences in the ED and the operational costs that go into the current process allows the Value Analysis Team to make a much more informed decision.
Putting the onus on the clinician to either explain the full value of the new product (or face rejection of the request) isn’t really a logical option.
#4. Collaborate with Your Clinicians AND Vendors
We know you are trying to get more clinicians on your committee. We know it’s difficult. It’s an unpaid position that requires the clinician to give up clinic or patient time. Keep trying…Getting doctors and nurses to the table is worth the effort. Maybe AI and videoconferencing could make the potential a little easier.
Regarding vendors, we understand that having vendors at a Value Analysis meeting is wrought with problems. Vendors can be disrespectful, frustrating, and disruptive. I will tell you most aren’t, in my opinion, but I hear horror stories of what some reps have done at meetings.
But vendors DO have knowledge of their product or service as the subject matter expert, and some have insights into other health systems that might be of some use. Can you get this information out of them? Could you actually allow vendors at VAC meetings under strict guidance? I think you could.
Consider a Rules of Engagement Guidance document for vendors so they have an understanding beforehand of what you expect, will permit, and the time constraints. Also, tell your vendors what ISN’T acceptable. I’d even urge you to consider letting them film a 2-minute presentation to submit as part of the process.
The entire goal for Value Analysis Committees is to be able to make BETTER decisions MORE EFFICIENTLY. Using your clinicians and vendors can help you get better and more efficient more quickly, provided you and your team can make it work. I urge you to consider including vendors!
#5. Communicate
Your clinicians are busy. So are you. But simply implying, “We’ll get back to you,” isn’t a great communication strategy. You would be shocked how many times clinicians ask their vendors, “Hey, what are you hearing on your product being approved?” Vendors usually think, “Why are you asking me? No one tells us anything!”
Automated “push” updates to clinicians would be an enormous benefit to clinicians. Just knowing the product is still under consideration but more information is needed would increase your clinician satisfaction overnight.
Update clinicians on where you are in the process, even if the process isn’t yet completed. Physicians like to know that the request is still on “top of your desk”, even if little progress has been made.
If you reject a new product request, I urge you to detail WHY the request was rejected. The clinician doesn’t have to LIKE the explanation, but will appreciate getting one.
Finally, consider having quarterly 30-minute updates on “Submit Better New Product Requests” and invite any clinicians and vendors that you’d like to attend. At these meetings, you could cover:
- Your rules of engagement at VAC meetings if they have a new product request in the queue.
- Show best practices for submissions and examples of new product requests that were well done. Explain WHY the request was a good one. Was it complete? Did it solve a burning problem?
- Show examples of poorly-done new product request submissions…Was the request incomplete? Did it not explain the problem the product solved? Did it raise costs?
- Consider telling vendors of solutions you need or at least problems you have and let them find and offer solutions. You’d be deploying a bunch of solution “bloodhounds” who would be glad to source solutions, even those the vendor doesn’t sell! I know of examples where reps have been incredibly helpful finding companies or products that health systems need without actually being the vendor for the product. Vendors WILL help if you ask them to!
Those of us who have worked with and studied KNOW that Value Analysis isn’t just looking for the cheapest options out there, nor are you not interested in your clinicians and patients. But the perception of what Value Analysis does is shrouded in mystery, and “mysterious” is NOT a way you’d like to be described. Demystify your process and your communications, and who knows…
You might get better solutions, happier clinicians, AND better patient care!
Article By:
Mark Copeland, Vice President, Sales, 3T Medical Systems, Inc.
Mark Copeland is a 28-year healthcare sales professional with the last 20 spent in startup medical device companies.
His company, 3T Medical Systems Inc, manufactures and sells innovative medical devices to health systems globally, and Mark teaches companies how to present their new product requests in a way that meets the value analysis requirements.
Contact Mark at mcope67@gmail.com for more information, or visit ValueAnalysisExpert.com.
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