Five hospital systems in the Southeast have joined forced to create a purchasing coalition, reports Healthcare Finance News.
The players include CarolinaEast Health System and University Health Systems in North Carolina; Centra Health and Mary Washington Healthcare in Virginia; and Covenant Health in Tennessee. They are all members of VHA's SupplyNetwork and spend about $800 million a year on supplies and services.
The new network will be headed by the supply executives at the health systems. It is expected to enter into 30 separate agreements during its first year of operations and save about $12 million for its participants. However, the members will also be able to make product purchasing and standardization decisions independently.
"The new healthcare reform law has heightened the immediate need to create this organization because it has placed an additional emphasis on cost reduction," said David B. McDonald, a senior vice president with VHA Central Atlantic.
For more:
- Read the Healthcare Finance News article