Oracle debuts tool to help healthcare organizations manage supplier relationships

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To help healthcare organizations address the challenges of managing supplier relationships – which encompass group purchasing organizations, managed care organizations and others – Oracle has debuted Supplier Rebate Management, a new solution within Oracle Fusion Cloud Channel Revenue Management.

Part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing (SCM), Channel Revenue Management automates trade program processes and settlement in the cloud. By simplifying rebate programs, the hope is that this will help customers maximize their revenue potential.

It seeks to do so in a number of ways. For one, when fully integrated with Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), the new solution delivers real-time data and information on customers' rebate programs to help them make more strategic purchasing decisions, improve financial forecasting, track and calculate rebate funds more accurately, and help ensure that funds are earned and received on time.

The expectation is that customers will be able to minimize the risk of missing rebate program revenue targets, receive rebate funds more quickly with fewer errors, and invest those funds immediately where needed – with an eye toward eliminating the need for organizations to rely on third-party agencies to manage and collect rebates.

The tool also enables customers to manage the entire supplier rebate lifecycle, from rebate contract, program management, and tracking to performance analysis, said Oracle. In addition, the full, automated solution seeks to eliminate many manual and time-consuming rebate program processes, allowing healthcare organizations to reallocate their employees' time.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

Healthcare organizations face several challenges in growing their businesses, and many of them stem from the complexities of managing suppliers.
 
Decision making in healthcare is often driven by contracted sales and is heavily influenced by distributors, group purchasing organizations, managed care organizations and government regulations, said Oracle Vice President of Supply Chain Management Product Strategy Derek Gittoes. 

As a result, managing supplier relationships and medical supplies is a constant challenge, which has been compounded by recent global supply chain issues – and getting the right supplies to the right facilities on time is only half the battle, said Gittoes.

The other half of the battle is controlling rising costs with suppliers, and many healthcare organizations are stuck relying on error-prone manual processes to manage their supplier rebate programs – which can lead to costly mistakes. 

This is a significant challenge that can result in lost revenue, as healthcare organizations often depend on suppliers to calculate and issue rebates, and they don't have any visibility to validate the accuracy of rebates. In fact, at least 4% of potential rebate revenue goes unclaimed every year, according to Enable research.

THE LARGER TREND

There doesn't appear to be any end in sight to the global supply chain disruptions – in fact, a recent Oracle survey found that two-thirds of those polled are scared that these supply chain issues will never end.

Last month, Mayo Clinic selected Oracle's Fusion Cloud Application Suite to meet its 2030 goal for quality care and the treatment of complex diseases. 

Mayo picked Oracle for its ability to provide a single administrative platform for enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, HR and Oracle Fusion Analytics. This includes AI to automate manual processes, analytics to react to market shifts in real time and automatic updates to stay current.

In December, Oracle acquired Cerner for $28.3 billion. The partnership promotes easing the physician burden by having providers spend less time on the EHR through digital voice assistant.

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com