Many hospitals struggle with the onerous task of managing numerous supply contracts, including those negotiated through multiple purchasing organizations, facility-negotiated contracts, and specialized agreements. With the current focus on cost savings and strategic contingency planning, renewed coordination of finance and materials management for contract review can be a vital component to ensuring that your facility is not overpaying for medical supplies.

The simple checklist below can guide you through a quick review of your contract system and help identify areas for additional focus. A collaborative effort between finance, materials, and clinical staff not only can lead to identification of on and off contract spend--areas for further negotiation--but also can help in developing tools that may be missing for ongoing contract monitoring.

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