One of our mantras that we have lived by in my company and with our hospital and health system clients is, “Value analysis begins and ends with the customer.” We don’t have specifications to analyze without our customers, we don’t have requests for new products without our customers, we don’t solve problems without our customers, we don’t have real internal information about outcomes without our customers, and I could go on. We need our customers and our customers need us to pull that great information out of them that is vital for our Supply Chain and Value Analysis Programs.
Value Analysis Directors, Managers, or Coordinators are Generalists
No matter what your background is, once you enter the VA world you are no longer a nurse, clinician, or supply chain category manager. You are a generalist, and even though you speak the language and are inside the circle of confluence, you are still on the outside looking in and can’t make any calls. That’s okay, and in some ways better, as the value analysis process needs you to be impartial in your actions, strategies, and evaluations for all studies.
Are There Dynamics for Customers in VA?
Each customer has distinct characteristics and dynamics that should be considered when performing value analysis studies and evaluations. No value analysis study is the same and neither are the end customers, so it is important to identify their role in the process for you to facilitate your study to the optimal effect. It sounds simple, but when the new product request, contract conversion, or retrospective cost optimization review hits, these things get a bit lost as we jump into a knee-jerk reaction to get it done ASAP.
Start Every VA Study by Understanding Customer Dynamics for Success
Over my 34 years in healthcare value analysis, I have found it very helpful to identify who your key customers are and identify how they are going to impact your study. Why is this important? Because you need to know their point of view. In other words, if someone is turning the screws to influence your study, you need to quickly understand their role. Most importantly, you are going to need to control your study – otherwise, your customers will take control and there goes your value analysis process and checking all the right boxes for workflow, evidence, options, etc.
Below is an overview of key customer roles and responsibilities that you want to identify in all of your VA studies which will greatly aid you in the success of your projects. Remember, some may have dual roles. For example, a Surgeon can be both User and Stakeholder at the same time.
| User | Stakeholder |
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| Technical User | Expert/Coach |
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To help you understand each of the roles and responsibilities better, below are some examples of value analysis customers.
| User Examples | Stakeholder Examples |
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| Technical User Examples | Expert/Coach Examples |
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The Most Important Customer to Find First in Any VA Study
We always teach that the first customer you need to identify for all value analysis studies, bar none, is the Expert. They know the most about the product and can act as your coach to help you understand the real-world aspects of the products, departmental use patterns, problems/challenges, and all the nuances regarding what you are studying. This is invaluable, especially if you are in a large hospital or even more valuable when you look at the system level. Remember, they have an interest in your success and follow through as your coach. Lastly you can have more than one Expert depending upon the depth and broadness of your VA study (i.e., one expert for a hospital level VA study, three experts for a health system-wide VA study, etc.).
Remember, you choose your experts!
Don’t Miss a Key Customer, User, Stakeholder, or Expert
Using these templates to quickly and easily keep track of who your customers are in the VA process is invaluable. After a while you will start to automatically identify and classify these customers and what they mean to the dynamic of your VA study. No one customer is the same and you must always keep that in mind, but if you classify your customers right you will eliminate the dreadful downside of VA that hits from time to time. That downside is missing a key customer who throws your VA study for a loop. It is better to be proactive and make sure you are covering all your bases than to miss that key customer. Follow these simple templates and you will have mastered the customer end of the VA equation!
| About Robert W. Yokl, President of SVAH Solutions |
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| Robert is the President of SVAH Solutions which provides value analysis, clinical supply utilization, and savings validation tools to help healthcare organizations gain the next level of savings beyond price and standardization. https://www.SVAH-Solutions.com https://www.SavingsValidation.com |
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