Keys to success in the management of hospital negotiations and tenders
At BIsiona, we believe that everything is related to knowledge and its projection into the future, which implies that you have to get away from day to day, to have time.
In the case of the hospital world, this apparently simple fact becomes, in many cases, a practically impossible mission.
We know, all of us who are related to this environment, the amount of administrative and bureaucratic procedures that exist and that also require deliveries with very overwhelming dates. What makes it become a common practice to lose access to a tender, or that these tenders are inadequately managed, even having outsourced their management. After all, access decisions are always internal and it is generally these resources that have the least time.
To avoid situations such as those mentioned and carry out successful management, it is necessary to try to have all the necessary elements that are going to be used and that are going to be required in the processes and, most importantly, they must be:
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organized
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located
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nested
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updated
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accessible
Likewise, it is necessary to provide the people in the organization who have to intervene in the processes, a tool with quick, direct, orderly, safe access and with segregation of functions, which will make it easier for each participant in the process to work in the way most effective and efficient as possible.
Finally, we need to measure the effectiveness of these processes and their purpose, which is none other than obtaining the award of a product sales contract.
Although it seems obvious, adding the previous premises, we conclude that it is necessary to have a tool or solution that allows us in the same repository:
- Integrate all the data from the different sources involved in the process
- Establish tasks, processes and their rules.
- Define and assign people in charge, for quick decision-making, properly segregating functions.
- Record changes and approvals, that is, a transparent and auditable system.
- Have alerts about deadlines and notifications to avoid losing opportunities.
- Register and store the documents associated with each phase.
- Analyze the results to make decisions and improve our strategy in the market.
Information sources
To simplify it, we could talk about 6 basic blocks:
Internal data of the ERP
They provide us with everything related to our products: description, hierarchies, market, prices, sales, commercial structure and customers.
Data from External Sources of Hospital Consumption
(Although at the moment they are few and unreliable) they set trends and can be taken into account, with granularity at the Hospital Area level.
Public Data of Trading Entities and Clients
They provide all the information regarding public tenders: lots, maximum prices, maximum units, duration, deadlines, extensions, challenges, awards, competitors, prices, scores in award criteria, with granularity from File and Negotiation Entity.
Documents
With all those models that are going to be required at some point in the process and that are kept up to date, including them when required in each file.
Private Data of Groups and Clients
Where the negotiations will come directly from the sales network providing quantities, prices, validity periods and competitors, with granularity from the Customer Code.
Official Ministerial Data
Prevalence, population pyramids, treatments, interventions, services, expenses, investments, National Catalog of Hospitals
Source Integration
As we saw in our first article, having an integrated data model guarantees us the correct execution of processes, avoiding inconsistencies and errors, as well as a coherent data analysis that allows us to make decisions and make predictions.
The integration must always be automatic and through unattended processes, with which we manage to guarantee the entry of all data sources and that they remain structured, related and permanently updated.
In addition, we constantly enrich historical data, an important pillar for trend analysis.
In short, a good data model will give us the ability to generate alerts, notices, notifications, infer dates, predict consumption, propose discounts, perform simulations, statistical calculations, extrapolate situations, manage approval thresholds, etc.
Everything we need for successful management.
Tasks and Processes
We have all heard of workflow, a way of managing the workflow that allows us to divide the different processes into tasks and sequence them through flows that are triggered by events, generally approvals.
For BIsiona, this way of working provides transparency and knowledge, by facilitating teamwork, distribution and segregation of duties.
It also allows you to set controls and threads that are triggered by rules; for example, set discount thresholds beyond which additional approvals need to escalate.
It is essential to find a balance between the processes and tasks that are established and the effectiveness of the overall process. For this reason, it is important to avoid falling into typical errors, such as the creation of tedious procedures or complex flows, which most of the time we do not even need.
From our experience we can recommend focusing on the frequent, leaving aside the exception.
Documents
As you know, another key point in the management processes of hospital tenders and negotiations is the management of documents associated with each phase of the workflow.
For this reason, it is extremely important that these documents are in the same repository as the data, since they are in themselves another source of information and are closely related to each process and its tasks.
Even more so if we want our system to pass an internal or external audit satisfactorily, since, together with the record of changes and approvals, it is one of the main elements that justify and support the actions and decisions taken in the different parts of the flow.
Who would understand a successful commercial agreement or tender, if not with its associated documents.
In addition to these, we will need to generate output documents such as labels, letters, guarantee documents, offers, notifications, etc.
In short, if we have the documents associated with each phase of the negotiation flow, we will be able to save time and avoid the dispersion of information, by having a single point to go to.
Analysis
The analysis of results is the catalyst of our strategies, without analysis it will be difficult to make the right decisions.
In the management of bids and tenders we have 2 important analysis perspectives: that of the management process and internal results, and that of the market.
Both are very important and if we correlate them much better, we must always keep in mind that for the success of these analyzes we will have to have done a good data integration exercise, as we have previously mentioned.
Depending on the characteristics of the product (exclusive, patented brand, biosimilar, diagnostic, health supplies, etc.) we will focus more on one type of indicator or another. However, we can mention that the analysis of consumption, discounts, in the case of negotiations or success, in tenders, are usually the most demanded entities on which to create indicators and analysis.
We hope that these reflections that we have shared throughout the article have led you to remember situations experienced in your day to day life.
These keys are, for us, the basis on which our Tenders & Accounts platform is built and evolves, and they are nurtured, as it could not be otherwise, by the experience and knowledge acquired as a partner of our clients.
Do not hesitate to share this article with your network and we await your opinions, suggestions or doubts, through the Blog.
Bisiona Business Solutions S.L.
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