Gulf Coast providers form new supply purchasing coalition

Seventeen healthcare providers in Mississippi and Louisiana are taking their collaborative efforts to a new level with the formation of the Gulf States Purchasing Coalition.

The providers, all members of the Irving, Texas-based VHA network, had been working together as the Gulf States Sourcing Collaborative. Officials said the transition to a purchasing coalition will enable the organizations – which spend more than $650 million annually in supplies – to improve supply chain efficiency and save more than $5 million in supply chain costs by pooling their purchases and enhancing their negotiating and purchasing power.

"Our organization's leadership has consistently recognized the benefits of participating in the Gulf States Sourcing Collaborative, so it was a natural next step to broaden our work and evolve into a purchasing coalition," said Mike Crews, CFO of the Singing River Health System in Pascagoula, Miss., in a press release. "We believe this will allow all of the organizations involved to further reap the cost-savings and clinical benefits that, in the face of reduced Medicare reimbursements, will enable us to continue to deliver outstanding care to our patients."

"After years of successful collaboration, valuable networking with their peers and substantial cost savings, the Gulf States' members are ready to increase their commitment to each other," added Taylor White, senior vice president of VHA’s SupplyNetwork program. "Through volume aggregation, our members can focus on areas of standardization and establish a dialogue around clinical utilization to identify opportunities for even further cost savings and improved levels of care otherwise unavailable elsewhere in today's healthcare environment."

VHA officials say the Gulf States Sourcing Collaborative is the 23rd supply network supported by the 34-year-old organization in the United States, each of which saves between 8 percent and 12 percent each year on supply costs through network contracts. In 2009, VHA’s more than 1,350 hospitals and 30,000 non-acute care providers saved an estimated $1.47 billion, officials said.

Members of the Gulf States Purchasing Coalition are:

• American Legion Hospital in Crowley, La.;
• Beauregard Memorial Hospital in DeRidder, La.;
• Jennings American Legion Hospital in Jennings, La.;
• Lakes Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles, La.;
• St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington, La.;
• West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital in Sulphur, La.;
• The Willis-Knighton Health System in Shreveport, La.;
• Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, Miss.;
• Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Miss.;
• Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Miss.;
• Greenwood Leflore Hospital in Greenwood, Miss.;
• The Hattiesburg Clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss.;
• Memorial Hospital at Gulfport in Gulfport, Miss.;
• OCH Regional Medical Center in Starkville, Miss.;
• The Singing River Health System in Pascagoula, Miss.;
• Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb, Miss.; and
• St Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson, Miss.