Supply Chain

When the Southwest Health System (SHS), in Cortez, Colorado, contacted Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) early in 2018, the hospital had violated various bond covenants associated with its $30 million expansion and renovation project. In fact, the organization had failed to meet the 80 days-cash-on-hand requirements for four consecutive quarters. This violation triggered technical default, which could have led to hospital bankruptcy
and closure.

Lenders concerned with the financial situation communicated with the board directly and required an outside consulting firm to evaluate the situation and develop a...

Supply costs are one of the fastest-growing cost centers for hospitals. These spiraling expenses tend to hit community-based hospitals hard because many don’t wield enough purchasing power to command preferred pricing. Other hospitals, though larger or part of a health system, face unique supply chain challenges and concerns despite their greater purchasing power.

Holding the line on supply chain costs is, or should be, a top priority for community hospitals of all sizes. By reducing supply costs and better managing the supply chain, a hospital can expand its savings margin...

Metaphors commonly used to describe community hospitals underscore their importance to the regions they serve. They’ve been called economic engines, cornerstones of the community, and, by Forbes, the “financial glue” that holds communities together. Community hospitals tend to be one of the top employers in town, so when one closes, there are more consequences than traveling farther for hospital care.

Still, community hospitals are closing at a dispiriting rate—87 shut down in 26 states from January 2010 to July 2018, according to the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. Countless...

Serving hospitals of all sizes, CHC Supply Trust understands that larger hospitals and health systems, despite their purchasing power, face unique supply-chain challenges and concerns. Chief among those concerns is finding a GPO that’s as trustworthy and attentive as it is effective at delivering the best products and services at the best value. Bringing experience and expertise to larger hospitals from Texas on up to Minnesota, and from Georgia west to Oregon, CHC Supply Trust is the right strategic partner for these complex organizations, leveraging their size and spend to...

Following labor, supply costs are the second-highest expense for hospitals and also the fastest-growing cost center. Unfortunately, community-based hospitals tend to be hit hardest by spiraling expenses because they receive less favorable GPO pricing than their larger counterparts. This is where CHC Supply Trust, the supply chain services arm of Community Hospital Consulting, comes in. We offer four levels of supply chain management support, including GPO access to the same preferred pricing that large hospital systems are able to negotiate.

CHC Supply Trust partners with HealthTrust, the nation’s...

Many hospitals come to Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) in critical condition. Others come to optimize their good health. Great Plains Health in North Platte, Nebraska, is hale and hearty, with robust finances and a governing board that asks smart questions. Managed for nearly 25 years by an outside organization, Great Plains in 2009 began to question the partnership’s value and looked instead for an advisory partner to provide specific hospital consulting services according to need. Hospital leaders tapped CHC Consulting, the management and consulting arm of CHC, leading...

When the board of trustees at Hillcrest Health System began analyzing its strategic direction, they engaged Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) because of the firm’s direct and ongoing experience successfully managing other community hospitals. CHC owns, manages and consults with hospitals across the country, and focuses exclusively on serving the needs of community-based hospitals.

Initially, Hillcrest Health System leadership requested the services of Community Hospital Consulting (CHC Consulting), the management and consulting arm of CHC, to help them evaluate the operations of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, a 236-bed acute...

Community Hospital in McCook, Nebraska, previously bought its supplies and services from a nationwide hospital network. As part of the network’s supply contracting company and group purchasing organization (GPO), Community Hospital was subject to volume-based tier pricing. Under that business model, the small rural hospital paid approximately 35 percent more than larger hospitals for orthopedic implants. Higher prices were just one disadvantage of belonging to a network in which smaller hospitals typically are not shown the same attention as their larger counterparts. Community Hospital was poised for supply...

Many rural hospitals today — health care providers whose mission is to serve their community’s health care needs — are apprehensive about their own financial health. Increasing expenses, decreasing reimbursement and declining patient populations and hospital admissions place these hospitals at risk, threatening financial viability.

Behind salaries, supplies are the second-highest expense for hospitals. By reducing supply costs and better managing the supply chain, a hospital can move its savings margin from good to great.

CHC Supply Trust, the supply chain services arm of Community Hospital Consulting, works with hospitals...

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