Get To Know The ASC Centralized Purchasing Team

Your ASC Purchasing team does more than shop for you! The Purchasing team is one of the most crucial areas of a surgery center. 

Purchasing accounts for more than 50% of a surgery center’s capital expenditures. The items purchased and the required inventory control affect both profitability and potential business growth.

Did you know that the Purchasing Department is responsible for:

• Developing purchase plans and buying the highest quality medical supplies in a timely and cost-effective fashion
• Ensuring on time delivery
• Monitoring and maintaining proper inventory levels (i.e., predetermining needs)
• Managing and maintaining cost effective vendor partnerships through supplier comparisons and negotiation of group discounts and rebates
• Working closely with Accounts Payable Department to ensure timely payment of invoices
• Participating in and contributing to the development of new or product improvement 
• Identifying and locating new materials and products in which surgery centers are interested
• Conducting semi-annual on-site physical inventories at surgery centers, and remote inventory spot checks, as needed.

In a nutshell, the Purchasing Department ensures that all medical and surgical supplies, medications, equipment and office supplies required to operate the business are ordered from preferred vendors at the best price, received on time, and kept in stock.

The 5 “R’s” of the Purchasing Department’s objectives include:

• Buying materials of the RIGHT quality
• In the RIGHT quantity
• At the RIGHT time
• At the RIGHT price
• From the RIGHT source

Case Study: 

For instance, by negotiating and purchasing in bulk, we’ve saved one of our centers $18,000 on MIGGS! Without this, they would have been locked into a long-term contract at higher prices with a potentially higher usage requirement.  

American SurgiSite Centers’ Centralized Purchasing Department can help to reduce your purchasing costs and create a more efficient process, saving you time and money. We purchase for our managed surgery centers and also are a member of group purchasing organizations where we negotiate and receive volume discounts from suppliers on virtually all ophthalmic supplies, medication, equipment, and office supplies.
Take advantage of everything our highly specialized staff has to offer!

For more information about how your surgery center can benefit, please contact Kathy Craig, Director of Client Relations at 800-955-7483, ext. 332 or kcraig@americansurgisite.com.