Laboratory continues to be a critical function for hospitals and health systems nationwide, representing approximately 3-5% of annual non-labor spend. As technology and best practices evolve, it is essential to stay current with the clinical laboratory market landscape to ensure your organization is getting the most value possible.

Pathstone has a strong track record partnering with our clients to achieve non-labor cost reduction in laboratory operations along with many other clinical areas. Pathstone is proud of its existing partnerships with hospital and clinical laboratories across the United States which have allowed our clients to realize additional value without compromising their high standards of care.

Pathstone’s expert consultants will partner with your organization to achieve high value without compromising on the quality of the products and services involved, while remaining cognizant of the sensitive nature of the lab as we do with all clinical areas we work in with our clients. Our strategic laboratory consultants will work with your existing lab personnel as part of a transparent and collaborative process to evaluate current best practices and leverage our deep expertise and experience along with a data-driven approach to offer custom-tailored insights into how your organization’s specific laboratory needs and operations may be optimized.

Clinical supplies and services are the backbone of healthcare organizations all over the country and directly impact a patient’s quality of care. With recent increases in clinical purchased services, hospitals have increased attention and focus into cost saving initiatives. At Pathstone, we have found that about 30-35% of a hospital’s total non-labor spend is dedicated to clinical supplies and services making this a prime opportunity to drive value for our clients.

Pathstone Partners has a proven successful track record in driving value for clients across many categories, including clinical supplies and purchased services. While the clinical space often presents unique challenges and sensitivities, our data-driven approach allows clinical leadership teams to make informed decisions for their facilities.

A key success measure for clinical supplies and purchased services implemented by our healthcare consultants is the collaboration with clinical leadership. By collaborating with these clinical leadership teams, Pathstone Partners gains trust and buy-in from physicians and end-users right off the bat.

Purchased services are essential to the operational side of a healthcare system and, consequently constitute approximately 45%-55% of hospitals non-labor spend. Due to the increasing complexity and variety of these services, hospitals need more efficient ways to control the costs associated with them and ensure that the right scope of services are being utilized at the most competitive price possible.

Pathstone provides a broad range of healthcare consulting services that deliver significant return on investment for our clients. We have subject matter expertise in a vast array of purchased service categories including, but not limited to, Finance and Administrative Services, Facilities Services, Revenue Cycle, Food and Nutrition Services, Environmental Services, Clinical Purchased Services, etc. Additionally, our team has an immense benchmark repository of over 175 healthcare organizations of all sizes and geographical regions which include integrated delivery networks, academic medical centers, pediatric hospitals and community hospitals to draw from.

While undertaking purchased services, our focus here at Pathstone is to assess the current state of your organization by working alongside key stakeholders to strategize and develop a course of action best designed for your needs.

Information technology continues to play an increasingly vital role in healthcare services, with providers investing heavily in their electronic health record (EHR) systems and expanding their digital health tools and technology integration in both clinical and non-clinical functions. As a result, spend with IT has continued to grow annually, representing 10% of a health system’s total non-labor spend.

Due to the ongoing rapid acceleration of digital transformation within hospital and the healthcare industry, demands on Information Technology (IT) teams have continued to grow exponentially. To keep up with this fast-paced evolution of healthcare technology, organizations have quickly implemented enhanced capabilities in telehealth, IT security, and remote workforce without a thoughtful strategic plan. This approach has put many healthcare providers into a position where they have focused solely on keeping pace rather than optimizing their purchases and contract renewals, leading to significant financial inefficiencies and missed opportunities for savings.

Pathstone healthcare technology consultants take a comprehensive lifecycle approach ensuring that our customers have the most cost effective and efficient IT approach – the right technology with improved agreements, meaningful service level agreements (SLAs), preferred pricing, optimized licensing and utilization schemas, and IT workforce rationalization. With our healthcare IT consulting services hospitals typically save, on average, 8% to 15% of their IT budget.

Pharmacy is a vital function of healthcare organizations, and the demand is only continuing to grow as the median age of the population increases, and with it, the number of individuals who require medication to treat health issues. Pharmacy operations represent approximately 13-15% of a hospital’s total non-labor spend.

Pharmacy encompasses a large scope of services across several different mediums. As pharmacy operations continue to grow, it becomes increasingly more difficult to standardize practices across a system and navigate the complexities of the healthcare and pharmacy supply chain. Given the vast size of pharmacy industry, inconsistencies come at a large cost to the organization, however, change can be difficult, especially when bandwidth is limited among team members. This results in healthcare organizations accepting the disorganized state of operation instead of optimizing workflow to maximize benefits.

Pathstone Partners leverages subject matter experts to provide new insights that complement our customers’ existing strategies and makes it easier to drive financial improvement within your Pharmacy operations. Our pharmacy consulting experts ensure our clients have the most cost effective and efficient pharmacy operations – the right billing practices, optimized contract costs, effective biosimilar strategies, and a comprehensive drug wholesaler approach. Our work typically saves hospitals, on average, 5%-13% of pharmacy spend addressed.