Guide to healthcare vendor management system
It’s imperative for any healthcare organization to keep track of the companies and people they work with. Be it employees, patients, students, or vendors, their records should be kept in place for smooth functioning and risk prevention.
Particularly, a healthcare vendor management system is instrumental in holding all vendor-related information in one place. A place that provides health support and care must be vigilant about the suppliers they collaborate with.
For that very reason, VMS must be maintained by all healthcare providers. It also helps the management oversee their spending, make negotiation decisions, and minimize risks and threats to the organization.
What is a healthcare vendor management system?
The vendor management system is software that can assist companies in finding the right vendors who will align with their company values, get better prices, and avoid third-party risks.
By doing this, a company can form long-term relationships or partnerships with their vendor and get maximum returns. The odds of data leaks and threats through third-party vendors are always high.
It can put your business at risk. The cost of the data breach in the healthcare industry for last year alone is USD 10.10M worldwide (for the year 2021). So vendor selection and management play an important role in the way business works.
How does the healthcare vendor management system work?
In the healthcare industry, having one vendor for all your service needs is impossible. Maintaining multiple vendors can turn chaotic and challenging. That’s where web-based healthcare vendor management systems help you.
With the help of automation, you can measure their performance and predict threats that may befall. There are many options available in the market for healthcare institutions under this category.
There are VMS providers who provide you with a platform to maintain and track vendor data in addition to real-time support and guidance for enhanced vendor performance.
They work with you closer to achieving vendor management goals. One can easily confuse healthcare vendor management with healthcare-managed services that provide workforce, enterprise, IT, and infrastructure support.
Ideally, a Vendor management system empowers you technically to manage vendors and the cost associated with them in one place.
How can vendor management automation help healthcare organizations?
1. VMS helps drive efficiency and cut costs
As discussed already, vendor data like their company and banking details must be stored in an accessible format. You save a lot of time and money as you achieve operational efficiency.
You can make and track vendor invoice and bill payment processing and reduce inefficiencies like duplicate payments.
2. Gain transparency of data
It takes multiple teams to manage vendors and make their payments. Lack of transparency causes back-to-back communication and clarification and prolongs the time taken to clear an invoice.
The decision-makers will have no clue about vendors and whether they stick to what they promised. VMS will provide departmental and user-level access and bring everyone together in the vendor management process.
3. Simplify vendor onboarding
Every company has a protocol when they sign up for new vendor services/products. Onboarding them into your system, collecting the necessary information, and going through T&C is the first step to it.
With a healthcare vendor management system, you can simplify this step and finish it in one go. This saves time for both parties and helps each other understand the terms and conditions.
4. Easy order management for inventory
The vendor management system gives instant access to vendor data. Hence, going through the list of vendors, and making orders requires less effort.
Tap and place the order and initiate the payment as soon as you receive the invoice, all in one place. Go through the orders you have placed before and get access to your entire order and payment history.
5. KPI tracking
Not all vendors perform in the expected and promised way. Some deliver goods late, and some don’t communicate well or have poor customer service.
Factors that both parties agree on mutually during the initial agreement must be measured too. Some factors to track are on-time delivery, product availability, if there is a delay, then what is the average delay time, and more.
A healthcare vendor management system makes this tracking possible. Those who don’t perform satisfactorily can be picked out.
6. Supplier relationship management
Your vendors are not just mere suppliers. They hold a role in keeping your business processes going. Aiming for a long-term relationship is beneficial for both, as you can reap more benefits in the coming years.
A VMS will act as a catalyst to strengthen the relationship by fixing what can possibly go wrong in this collaboration.
7. Automates payments and reminders
Automated payment systems have the potential to set payment reminders and schedule them ahead. This works in favor of the healthcare industry, as many institutions handle tons of payments every month.
With an automatic vendor management system, you don’t have to worry about forgetting them or paying a penalty. Tracking the status of payments can be done on the same platform too.
8. Early payment discounts
It’s easier to plan and make vendor invoice payments on or before the due date. A healthcare vendor payment system combined with an automated payment system can do this job for you.
You can pull invoices, upload them to the payment software, get approval, and make payments instantly. The organized fashion in which you store the data helps in expediting the process and puts you in the good books of your suppliers.
Automate your vendor management processes with Volopay
In short, a healthcare vendor management system is another step you take towards automizing vendor and invoice management. There are many exclusive VMS platforms available in the market at competitive prices.
But having a healthcare vendor management system that’s combined with reliable payments software is a double deal. You have a platform that stores your up-to-date vendor information.
The platform also allows you to upload invoices and schedule payments on time. It’s Volopay, a one-stop destination to achieve your accounting automation. Access vendor details and related payments from a single dashboard.
Make local and international payments at affordable rates. Create corporate cards for your employees and the online payment needs of your company, integrate the payment data with your ERP, and track all payments in real time.
That’s where Volopay takes you, a streamlined accounting approach that works in auto-pilot mode. Get Volopay today and excel in both vendor management and payment processing.