Reducing Costs and Environmental Impacts to Health Care through a Total Cost of Ownership Calculator

Description:

Tremendous cost pressures within the U.S. health care system are forcing providers to explore alternative ways to save money. Additionally, many medical devices have hidden costs that are not always reflected in the purchase price. To reduce these costs and associated impacts, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a product or service should be included during purchasing decisions to assess the full cost to an organization. These direct organizational costs include utility, labor, maintenance, and waste disposal. To address this need, a TCO calculator has been developed to provide purchasers with a standardized and systematic way to consider the various use and waste costs of products that are procured.

Partnering with Trucost, Practice Greenhealth worked collaboratively with hospitals and health systems, suppliers, and GPOs to build, test, and now deploy this tool. This webinar demonstrates the tool’s basic functions and shares resources available to support its use.

Learning Objectives:

• State the business case for including a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) evaluation in the purchasing process for medical products.
• Observe how the TCO tool provides an easy and standardized method to calculate total costs to healthcare to inform purchasing decisions.
• Calculate the savings and outcomes from case studies.
• List submerged cost areas that impact the total cost to your organization.

Presenter:

• Andrew Madden — Senior Director of Supply Chain, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
• Beth Eckl — Director of Environmental Purchasing, Practice Greenhealth