By KC Meleski, President, CME Corp
June 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
In an article in the February 2024 edition of JHC, Elizabeth Hilla offered suggestions on how to encourage manufacturers to work with your preferred prime vendor.
We do certainly understand the article’s premise that procuring as many products as possible through a single distributor partner can create some efficiencies for a healthcare provider. However, we advise providers not to rely solely on a single full-line wholesaler, but to explore the benefits of “best in breed” specialty distributors as complementary product sources to offset the risks associated with “putting all your eggs in one basket” as they say.
Our company, for example, is an equipment-only distributor who also specializes in delivery, logistics, installation, and biomedical services. We work with a range of healthcare providers to help them equip their facilities quickly and cost-effectively so they can treat patients and generate revenue without breaking stride.
Other specialty distributors may offer deep expertise in a specific clinical area, such as laboratory medicine, cardiology, or dermatology. These companies usually offer more product selection within their area of focus, along with on-staff experts to help providers choose and use these products.
Specialty distributors provide product expertise built on relationships with manufacturers
The relationships specialty distributors have with their manufacturing partners are unique and deep. By focusing on a narrower product offering, specialty distributors become product experts, allowing them to offer viable, alternative equipment solutions within a vendor’s product line or across manufacturing partners. In the face of supply chain or budget constraints this is invaluable.
Strong manufacturer relationships also make it possible for specialty distributors to offer competitive pricing to their healthcare clients.
Specialty distributors offer more than just products
In addition to focusing on a single product category or clinical area, some specialty distributors bolster their product offering with the services providers need: project management, delivery, installation, equipment maintenance and in-service training.
Project management: Some specialty distributors offer sophisticated procurement and planning services. Project managers (PM) can facilitate the efficient procurement of medical equipment by coordinating everything from warehousing and logistics through to delivery, and installation.
Installation: Expert installation services offered by an equipment distributor ensures medical equipment is installed properly and ready for use without interfering with the workflow of in-house technicians or patient care, saving time, and reducing the risk of incomplete or faulty assembly that could lead to the injury of patients or staff.
Biomedical services: Inspection, testing, and asset tagging of medical equipment by the specialty distributor’s biomedical technicians free in-house biomedical teams to address regular maintenance tasks. Post delivery and installation, biomedical technicians can also work with healthcare facilities to establish equipment maintenance plans aimed at ensuring the reliability of medical equipment and compliance with regulations.
In-service training: Many specialty distributors have clinical experts – nurses, medical technologies, etc. – on staff to train providers in product use. The type of clinical personnel and expertise depends on the distributor’s specialty area.
Using multiple distributors adds resilience
During the pandemic, many providers found that single-source relationships were risky (all the eggs in one basket, as they say). Having established relationships with multiple distribution partners reduces that risk.
Within the multifaceted healthcare industry there are varied medical supply and equipment needs – and specialty distributors are positioned to meet those needs. We are one of the wide and varied body of distribution companies with specialized expertise and we encourage you to include specialty distributors in your channel mix. For more information about the specific services we provide, in addition to our focused medical equipment product offering, visit cmecorp.com.