CASE STUDY
Clean Data, Clear Savings
Through aptitude, Denver Health discovers a faster path to cost reduction. Like most hospitals, Denver Health actively searches for any opportunity to reduce expenses while maintaining or increasing clinical quality. Vincent Fransua, senior clinical buyer for Denver Health, has more than 23 years of experience in this area. He and a staff of three manage more than 700 contracts for the mid-size, single-entity hospital. When Fransua learned about a new way of approaching cost savings in the health care supply chain – aptitude – he was intrigued. “In today’s market, suppliers are progressively being more cautious and as a result, a little more rigid in their negotiation process,” Fransua said. “We saw a decrease in our ability to achieve price reductions through our standard practices. Continually, we have suppliers only offer savings by telling us to add more of their product and increase our spending with them.” Working with Mary Etta Gale from aptitude, Fransua realized that this new approach could put him in a better position to identify savings opportunities – and take quick action.
“When we did this three years ago, it took about eight weeks. With aptitude, we did it in about 30 days. So it was a win-win for us and the supplier.”