supply chain Archives - Healthcare Value Analysis and Utilization Management Magazine

Is Your Value Analysis Program at a Critical Fork in the Road?

October 28, 2025 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Envision the Future of Your Value Analysis Program It is incredible the progress that value analysis has made in our healthcare industry as an accepted methodology for optimizing costs, quality, and functionality of the products, […]

Building a Resilient Supply Chain Model Through Partnership with Reliable Secondary Suppliers

October 28, 2025 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Supply Chain Challenges Beginning with the global COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, health systems have faced recurring supply chain disruptions that put pressure on both operations and patient care. These included: Frequent backorders and limited […]

One Multi-Site Health System’s Transformative Journey to Optimize Their Inventory with Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL)

October 28, 2025 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Hospitals today typically contain hundreds of storage rooms and thousands of supply bins across multiple, geographically dispersed facilities in their health system. This translates to hundreds of thousands of paper labels that need to be […]

Clinical Supply Utilization Management: The Gift that Keeps Giving Big Savings

February 15, 2025 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Clinical supply utilization management (CSUM) is not a one-time event but instead is a fluid and ever-changing system to track everything in your supply chain using patient volume centric metrics to ascertain where savings, problems, […]

Preparing Your Value Analysis Teams for the Generational Shift

February 15, 2025 Robert Yokl Comments Off

When Bob Yokl reached out to me to write this article for HCVA&UM Magazine, he challenged me to write a forward-thinking article that truly has the vision for the future of healthcare value analysis teams. […]

Working Together to Combat Inflation in the Healthcare Supply Chain

November 13, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Inflation poses a significant challenge for industries across the board, and healthcare is no exception. Hospitals are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on complex supply chains that deliver essential medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and personal […]

Do Hospital Supply Chains Turn to Subs Too Early Without First Checking for Original OEM Products?

November 13, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Hospital supply chains often turn to substitute medical products too quickly, primarily due to various pressures and system limitations. Below is an expanded discussion of why this happens, with real-world examples, expert opinions, and references. […]

12 Reasons Why You Should Have a Valid Benchmarking/KPI System to Point You in the Right Direction

November 13, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Supply chain and value analysis seem like an endless world of projects, initiatives, conversions, problems, recalls, and new product request evaluations that just go on and on. Once you think you have everything taken care […]

5 Immutable Laws for Successful VAC Packs

November 13, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

They can make or break your sales when dealing with a value analysis team in our current healthcare environment. The process is simple, get the VAC pack right and your chances of a sale are […]

Healthcare Supply Chain Leaders: It’s Important to Figure Out Which Way the Wind is Blowing

July 10, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

“Eighty-five percent of Healthcare Supply Chain Leaders believe that savings are going to come from the almighty price, but think again.” This may sound cliché, but “figuring out which way the wind is blowing” is […]

How Do You Know Which Supply Categories Are at Best Practice Levels and Which Are Not?

July 10, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Maintaining best practice levels in supply categories in the complex healthcare landscape is crucial for delivering high-quality patient care while optimizing costs. To this end, value analysis is pivotal in ensuring that the supplies used […]

5 Major Things I Learned from the Value Analysis School of Hard Knocks

April 2, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

“I am glad I could share some of these valuable strategies with you that I had to learn through the value analysis school of hard knocks.” We have all dealt with the school of hard […]

Automate to Innovate Your Value Analysis Program

April 2, 2024 Robert Yokl Comments Off

Most value analysis programs have a different level of maturity when it comes to automation. Too often, the use of spreadsheets is a substitute for real innovation because spreadsheets are easy to learn and use. […]