Finding an unbiased source of truth for functional equivalents is nearly impossible. It seems that everyone wants you to buy from their product or contract portfolio. Why would you need to see what the market has to offer?
If we learned anything from COVID, it’s that people in supply chain need to understand every manufacturer in the market that makes a specific product or product line. The days of not having this information at your fingertips are completely over. So why is it so difficult?
The truth is companies often limit what you see to only the companies they do business with. Manufacturers hate it when you stack their products up against their competitors’ products. GPO’s want you to shop from their contract portfolio and some data companies are even questionable if their revenue is coming from the manufacturers, distributors, and GPO’s.
Great savings and even better outcomes can indeed be found off-contract and/or in buying direct. Hospitals must make sure they have an unbiased source of truth for visibility into the healthcare market. Finding the best product on the market with the best outcome for your patients, at the best price – can’t be political.
The entire CQO movement is dependent on having unbiased information, but the industry needs to demand it. There is a world of products out there beyond what is on the GPO contract and beyond what your distributors carry. It’s time to give hospitals true visibility into the market.
For access to unbiased functional equivalents (with pictures), please reach out to Meperia. We are truly neutral and have been working directly with hospitals for over a decade. Our database is robust and comprehensive, and we don’t allow any entity in the healthcare industry to control what we publish. For more information follow us on LinkedIn here.
About the Author
Lee Ann McWhorter is the Vice President of Business Development at Meperia. Her primary goals are to reduce data error, reduce cost and improve patient safety in the healthcare industry. Lee Ann has worked with the founders of Meperia for over 16 years and understands the breakpoints in the healthcare supply chain and the need for unbiased, quality data moving forward. For more information about Meperia please reach out to lmcwhorter@meperia.com.