Why is Working with multiple vendors becoming a mess in healthcare?

In the healthcare industry, it is a common practice to give work to multiple vendors who
specialize in their field. Sometimes you will be happy that you got something great done at a low
cost. But have you ever thought of how many times you had to give briefings to each vendor to
get your work done and how many times you need to follow up or call your vendors? Also have
you noticed that you get different quality output from different vendors? Do you get all the
outputs on time? I am sure the answer is NO. What if you can work with one vendor that can
meet all or most of your healthcare business needs?

Why working with a single reliable vendor is good for your business?

 Multiple briefing problems:
Currently you have to brief every vendor on your projects and plans. For example, for a
behavioral healthcare practice, you are working with a utilization review company for
authorizations on your new clients, you are working with billing company vendor for revenue
cycle needs, you are working with an electronic medical records company to house all of your
patients information, you are working with a consultant to develop your clinical protocols, you
are working with a law firm to write and develop high level appeals, you are working with a new
company for your staffing needs.

Imagine how many meetings you will have and with how many companies.

With one vendor, you can save valuable time communicating to a single team, needing to provide
only one single conference call discussing multiple topics.

Lack of standardization across collaterals/communication:

Since you’re working with multiple vendors, the collaterals and communications will tend to
dilute or distort and give unexpected results.
Whereas with a single vendor, you can provide a briefing only once and everything else will fall
in place. You can get standardized collaterals and standardized communications.

Co-ordination problems:

Anyone who has been working with multiple vendors can tell you how frustrating it can be.
Calling and coordinating with multiple vendors, getting blasted from senior leadership for
delays, poor quality output, poor response etc.
With a single vendor, you will have a single point of contact and thus coordination is not an
issue at all.

Vendors take less responsibility:

You might have experienced while dealing with multiple vendors that each vendor may potential
blame the next for uncompleted tasks. During those cases, you will not know who is right and
who is at fault. Nobody takes the complete responsibility.
With single vendor, you can hold him/her responsible for the entire work process. It leads to
better quality output and responsible results.

Unlimited phone call / emails:

To interact with multiple vendors, treatment providers have to make multiple calls and send
multiple emails to get a job done. It puts excess pressure on the healthcare organization.
Whereas with a single vendor, one phone number, one contact, one invoice; it’s just easier
dealing with one vendor.

More time spent on discussing pricing, negotiation, documentation etc.:

With multiple vendors, you will be spending more time to discuss the price with each vendor,
negotiate and do the documentation each time. This will consume substantial time and effort
from your end. Lot of delays can happen do to the documentations and delivery procedures.
But with a single vendor, you do it once and keep getting the outputs without any hassles.

Confidentiality will be an issue:

With multiple vendors, you need to share your confidential information with multiple companies
and multiple teams. It will result in you losing control over your confidential information. If any
issue arises you will not be able to track or trace the source of leakage of your confidential
information.
But with a Single vendor, you can get into a non-disclosure contract and share your confidential
information. This will help you to give your confidential information in the hands of a single
responsible vendor. It will help you to protect your interest.

Streamline Your Operations with a Single Vendor.

In today’s healthcare industry, there might be times when it makes sense to use multiple vendors,
but there are plenty of reasons to use one vendor that can provide you with a 360 degree service
model, looking after an array of your healthcare business needs.
If you are interested to discuss how your healthcare organization can change their approach on
how they work with vendors and add value utilizing our 360 degree service model, you can get
in touch with us at [email protected]