Cycle of opportunity

Imagine keeping track of as many as 40 rebate programs and their utilization across three hospitals—not to mention an entire healthcare system with multiple sites across a wide area. This was the challenge facing St. Francis Care. “It was cumbersome, and I was always running rebate information down, site by site,” said Dave Walsh, Administrative Director—Supply Chain.

St. Francis Care needed a simpler, more efficient way to manage its many rebate programs. And that’s where the Preferred Rebate Program from Cardinal Health stepped in.

The Preferred Rebate Program combined all of St. Francis Care’s local Cardinal Health™ brand product rebate programs into a single one. Not only did that simplify program management, it also accelerated the growth of the rebates themselves. By shifting all of the purchased eligible Cardinal Health™ brand products and services to a single program, St. Francis Care could qualify faster for a higher rebate. “Now I have just one rebate to track,” Walsh said. “It’s a timely, well-thought-out process to maximize rebates the easy way.”

Cardinal Health worked with the value analysis team to conduct objective evaluations of Cardinal Health™ brand products. Then, St. Francis Care and Cardinal Health collaborated to demonstrate the quality and savings to clinicians. The more Cardinal Health™ brands or services purchased, the faster St. Francis Care can advance to the next rebate tier.

Accelerating performance.

Opportunities to move through the rebate tiers continue to grow, as Cardinal Health adds more eligible Cardinal Health™ brand products all the time. And Cardinal Health™ services are included as well. “I’ve never seen that before in a rebate program,” Walsh said.

Implementation began with the “low-hanging fruit”: whole categories of commodities that could produce significant savings in a short timeframe. St. Francis Care and Cardinal Health targeted departments that were willing to change and conducted product trials when necessary—which were essential as product conversions moved up the clinical preference ladder.

As St. Francis Care uses the Preferred Rebate Program to decrease its bottom-line expenses, the rebate payouts are invested in lean process improvement, consulting services and IT needs. And the product conversions that produce those rewards come at a pace that’s comfortable for St. Francis Care. In about nine months time, St. Francis Care was able to increase their rebate by two percent.

“I personally set the goals—based on what’s realistic—as we convert to more Cardinal Health™ brand products and move through the tiers,” Walsh said.

“There’s never any pressure to make a change. My Cardinal Health team works with me to help convert to Cardinal Health™ brand products. The team is wonderful to work with.”

Saint Francis Care is an integrated healthcare delivery system in central Connecticut and the largest independent Catholic healthcare provider in New England. Saint Francis Care serves the continuum of patient needs via nearly 900 affiliated physicians, three hospital campuses, 12 satellite medical offices and a variety of community clinics.