In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, the stakes have never been higher. Organizations face mounting pressures to improve patient outcomes, reduce preventable harm, control costs, and demonstrate measurable value. At the center of these challenges stands healthcare value analysis (VA) — a discipline uniquely positioned to influence decisions that touch nearly every corner of the healthcare system.
Yet, to maximize its impact, VA cannot operate in isolation. For value analysis leaders and professionals, success lies in integrating VA initiatives directly with their organization’s strategic priorities. This alignment not only elevates the role of value analysis but also ensures that decisions made at the product and technology level directly support organizational goals for quality, safety, financial stewardship, and patient experience.
Why Strategic Alignment Matters
Every healthcare organization sets a course for the future through its strategic plan. These priorities might include:
- Reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and preventable harm.
- Improving patient safety and outcomes.
- Enhancing patient and staff experience.
- Reducing operational costs while maintaining quality.
- Meeting accreditation standards and regulatory expectations.
- Driving innovation and preparing for emerging technologies.
When VA professionals align their projects and evaluations with these priorities, they transform product decisions from transactional supply chain choices into strategic levers for organizational success.
Without alignment, VA risks being viewed as a tactical function — one focused only on cost-cutting or standardization. With alignment, VA is recognized as a strategic partner in advancing the mission of the organization.
Advancing Healthcare Quality Through Value Analysis
Quality improvement is at the heart of most organizational strategies. Decisions about medical devices, supplies, and technology directly affect care quality. Consider a few examples:
- Preventing Infections: Selecting UV disinfection systems, improved surgical drapes, or evidence-based catheter kits not only standardizes products but directly reduces infection rates — a key quality and safety priority.
- Enhancing Standardization: Aligning product selection with evidence-based guidelines ensures clinicians are working with the safest and most effective tools, reducing practice variability and improving quality of care.
- Supporting Enhanced Recovery Protocols: Integrating ERAS-aligned product selections (such as multimodal analgesia kits or patient warming systems) advances outcomes while supporting broader organizational quality initiatives.
By linking product evaluations and recommendations to these quality goals, VA demonstrates how its work directly reduces preventable harm and strengthens accreditation readiness.
Driving Better Outcomes
Healthcare outcomes are influenced by countless decisions, many of which are shaped by VA processes. By integrating VA into strategic priorities, leaders can demonstrate a measurable connection between product evaluation and improved patient outcomes.
For example:
- A VA-led initiative to implement advanced wound care dressings may reduce readmission rates for surgical patients.
- Evaluating and adopting safer IV systems may reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), supporting organizational safety metrics.
- Standardizing products that support mobility and early ambulation in post-op patients contributes to lower lengths of stay and improved recovery.
The key is not just in selecting products but in collecting and presenting outcome data. When VA professionals show how product choices move the needle on outcome measures tied to organizational strategy, their role is elevated from operational to transformational.
Reducing Preventable Harm and Costs
One of the most pressing challenges in healthcare is balancing quality care with financial sustainability. VA professionals are uniquely positioned to support this challenge by linking product decisions to harm reduction and cost avoidance.
For instance:
- Preventing a single central line infection can save an organization tens of thousands of dollars in direct costs.
- Reducing surgical site infections by standardizing evidence-based products saves both lives and resources.
- Streamlining product formularies reduces supply variation, eliminates redundant SKUs, and cuts waste.
By framing cost savings within the context of preventable harm reduction, VA demonstrates value in terms that resonate with both finance leaders and clinical executives.
The Role of Evidence-Based Decision Making
Strategic alignment requires more than intuition — it requires evidence. Healthcare organizations are increasingly demanding decisions grounded in clinical studies, regulatory standards, and peer-reviewed outcomes.
VA professionals must consistently ask:
- Does this product align with evidence-based guidelines?
- Will this technology reduce risk or improve outcomes?
- What measurable benefits will it deliver compared to current practice?
By embedding evidence into VA processes, professionals reinforce their alignment with organizational priorities such as accreditation readiness, quality improvement, and patient safety.
Building Interprofessional Collaboration
Another cornerstone of aligning VA with strategic priorities is collaboration. Strategic goals cannot be achieved in silos. VA professionals must partner with:
- Clinicians: to validate that product decisions meet frontline needs.
- Infection Preventionists: to align with harm reduction strategies.
- Finance Leaders: to demonstrate ROI and total cost of ownership.
- Executives: to ensure VA projects are visibly tied to strategic outcomes.
By bringing these voices to the table, VA ensures buy-in and reinforces its role as a connector between disciplines. This interprofessional approach not only strengthens product decisions but also creates alignment across the organization.
Communicating the Value of VA
Integration also depends on communication. VA professionals should consistently communicate:
- How VA projects connect to strategic priorities.
- Data-driven results of product evaluations.
- Stories that highlight improvements in quality, safety, or patient experience.
Clear, compelling communication ensures VA is recognized at the executive level as a strategic partner rather than a cost-control function.
Practical Steps for Alignment
Here are several actionable strategies VA leaders can implement to ensure alignment with organizational priorities:
- Map Your Projects to Strategic Goals – Create a crosswalk that links each VA initiative to an organizational priority (e.g., “Implementing air disinfection devices → supports infection prevention and patient safety goals”).
- Engage Executive Sponsors – Secure leadership support by presenting VA initiatives in terms of their impact on system-level objectives.
- Track Metrics – Monitor both financial and clinical outcomes for each initiative and share results with leadership teams.
- Embed VA into Governance Structures – Ensure VA representation in committees and councils where strategic priorities are set and reviewed.
- Report Success Stories – Celebrate wins by showcasing how VA-driven projects improved outcomes or reduced harm, linking directly to patient impact.
A Call to Action
Healthcare value analysis professionals are at a unique moment in the evolution of the profession. The pressure on healthcare organizations to improve quality, outcomes, and costs is only intensifying, and VA leaders are perfectly positioned to support these goals.
But the key to making a lasting impact lies in integration. By aligning VA work with organizational strategy, professionals demonstrate that they are not just managing products — they are driving the success of the healthcare enterprise.
As you look ahead to the coming year, ask yourself:
- How can my projects directly support our strategic priorities?
- How am I measuring and communicating outcomes to leadership?
- How can I position VA as a critical driver of organizational success?
By answering these questions and taking action, you will not only advance your role as a VA professional but also elevate the entire discipline as an essential force in healthcare transformation.
Aligning value analysis with strategic priorities is not optional — it is essential. It ensures that VA is recognized as a strategic partner, contributes directly to improving patient outcomes, reduces preventable harm, and strengthens financial sustainability. Most importantly, it demonstrates to patients and staff alike that every decision made through VA is designed to serve the ultimate mission of healthcare: Delivering safe, effective, and compassionate care.
Article by:
J. Hudson Garrett Jr., Ph.D., MSN, MPH, MBA, FNP-BC, IP-BC, PLNC, VA-BC, BC-MSLcert™, MSL-BC, CPHRM, LTC-CIP, CPPS, CAE, CPHQ, CVAHPTM, CMRP, CPXP, CDIPC, FACDONA, FAAPM, eFACHDM, FNAP, FACHE, FAPIC, FSHEA, FIDSA, FAHVAP
Dr. Garrett is the Executive Director and Executive Vice President for the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals (AHVAP) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Karen Niven, MS, BSN, RN, CVAHPTM, FACHDM, FAHVAP
Karen is the Senior Director of Clinical Value Analysis at Premier, Inc and serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals (AHVAP).
For more information or to join the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals (AHVAP), visit www.ahvap.org.
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