In this podcast interview, Curtis Rooney, president of the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA) makes the case for GPOs. We discuss:
- The size, structure and value added of the GPO industry
- Impact of health care reform and whether consolidation is likely to result in direct contracting, eroding GPOs’ business
- Progress GPOs have made in expanding from commodity supplies to physician preference items such as medical devices, where gain sharing pilots have been conducted
- Expansion of GPO services into revenue enhancement, such as revenue cycle management, and whether this distracts GPOs from their core cost saving mission
GPO’s are absolutely helpful when it comes to purchasing materials for hospitals. Vendors know that they need to give better pricing and great customer service in order to keep getting orders from the GPO’s.