Author: Valify Team

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Valify Solutions Group Joins White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Stronger Communities

Posted on | by Valify Team

FRISCO, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Valify Solutions Group, the first tech-enabled group purchasing organization (GPO) program with best-in-class terms and rates on hundreds of categories of purchased services, has joined the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. The Challenge is a Biden-Harris Administration initiative with a goal to eliminate health disparities by reducing hunger and diet-related diseases by 2030.

Organizations committing to the project will support meal programs that promote healthy lifestyles for millions of children and senior adults by promoting physical activity and improving nutrition.

In supporting the nationwide effort, Valify Solutions Group has teamed with Homeplate Solutions, a pioneer in AI-enabled food management ecosystems. Together, Valify Solutions Group, Homeplate Solutions, Foodbuy, Sysco and r4 will work to maximize the buying power of federal funds that local Community-Based Nutrition Providers receive to serve their communities. Providers such as Meals on Wheels, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), and schools offering meal programs will benefit from greater affordability and food accessibility—strategies aimed at decreasing food deserts and decreasing inequities that impact vulnerable people.

“Community organizations involved in planning, preparing and delivering meals can buy through our Food Program and realize substantial savings,” said Andrew Motz, Vice President of Advisory Services for Valify Solutions Group. “By leveraging the savings, these groups can serve more people and build stronger communities. A savings of 30 percent in food costs can allow for more nutritious meals to 10 percent more people for the same dollars.”

Upon signing up for the free program, an estimated 20,000+ community-based nutrition providers can continue to purchase through their preferred distributors but will receive better pricing on the same groceries and commodities they currently purchase. In addition, providers accessing the portfolio through Sysco will have access to Homeplate Solutions’ nutrition AI technology to help with menu development and guidance on preparing highly nutritious meals.

“We are proud to stand with Homeplate Solutions and our supplier-partners in addressing these societal issues,” said Les Popiolek, CEO of Valify Solutions Group. “This is a robust collaboration to positively impact lives nationwide. The value of our Food Program is built on economies of scale across multiple industries, and while the Challenge is the most recent and perhaps largest initiative to take advantage of it, we invite other groups to apply the value of our portfolio to their own organization.”

In seeking partners to address the issues of hunger and health equity, David Beck, President of Homeplate Solutions, sought out Valify Solutions Group because of its demonstrated expertise in aggregated purchasing and supply chain.

“The Biden-Harris Administration and CDC Foundation asked for a bold response. They asked for a turnkey solution that responded to accessibility and affordability right now, and wanted proof that we could do it in every community,” said Beck. “Valify’s unique healthcare standard of nutrition care and supply chain partnerships have demonstrated that food procurement can be reimagined where innovation, technology and community wellness converge. Together, we are realigning the food system so that food becomes the currency of care for Community Nutrition Providers.”

About Valify Solutions Group

Valify Solutions Group (VSG), a division of HealthTrust Performance Group®, is a preferred supplier network providing members access to a broad portfolio of pre-negotiated contracts in 260 purchased services categories. With more than $8 billion in contracted spend, VSG offers unparalleled cost savings on purchased services via the collective purchasing power of 1,600 organizations. There is no cost to become a member and no minimum participation requirement to access the portfolio. VSG is supported by Valify, the technology platform empowering organizations to realize speed to value through spend visibility and benchmarking. For more information, visit https://www.getvalify.com/.

About Homeplate Solutions

Homeplate Solutions aligns the purchasing leverage and dietary support of leading healthcare nutrition management systems to lessen the impact of food inflation, create sustainable supply chains, end food deserts and decrease other systemic inequities that hurt vulnerable people. Homeplate has a combined 5-year, $174 million investment from stakeholders, with an initial capital injection of $5.6 million to implement the program at no cost to community providers.

Contacts

Shara.Smith@GetValify.com

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Optimize Value in Purchased Services With Valify

Posted on | by Valify Team
Andy Motz

In previous years, 40% to 45% of a hospital’s non-labor operating expense was estimated to be within the categories that encompass purchased services. That number is now as high as 50%, shares Andy Motz, AVP with Valify’s Custom Contracting and Advisory Services.

Factors contributing to the rise in the percentage include the inflationary market providers have dealt with over the last 12 to 18 months. During that time, inflation caused the price of core services to rise anywhere from 9% to 34%. Managing outsourced services has become increasingly costlier due to fuel surcharges, the rising cost of energy and shortages in the labor market.

However, there is some good news. “Within some categories, we are delivering savings to our members, in spite of inflation. These opportunities for nonsalary cost reductions have risen to strategic importance,” says Motz.

Sans the SKU

A purchased service is any service outsourced or contracted for and performed by a third party rather than a hospital’s in-house staff. “We define purchased services as anything that doesn’t have a SKU number,” says Motz. “It’s whatever you need to keep a hospital running—from blood products and reference lab services to elevator maintenance and pest control.”

Additional examples of purchased services include food services management, laundry and linen processing, security, medical and waste management, snow removal, vending services, reprocessing and medical cylinder gas, to name a few.

Why the complexity

Outsourced services are often difficult to manage because they span multiple departments across the entire health system. This means that the decision-making and ongoing management of the contracts is likely decentralized. Adding to that challenge is the complexity of the categories and a lack of consistent operational metrics.

For providers who manage multiple facilities of varying sizes in widespread locations, contracts with local suppliers for these services can hide a lot of wasted spend from potential redundancies and regional price variations.

A lifecycle approach

“Working with suppliers and setting expectations for services through contracted agreements helps to control costs. Supply chain leaders must collaborate with the C-suite and department leaders to initiate and then sustain an ongoing, lifecycle approach to purchased services,” suggests Motz. He offers these best practices:

  • Develop and implement processes for understanding spend and contract visibility
  • Enlist the support of a categorization tool such as Valify
  • Ensure benchmarks are regularly reviewed for high spend categories
  • Store all contracts in a centralized location for easy access and visibility
  • Prioritize supplier engagement and conversion
  • Measure your success by monitoring the correct metrics

Accelerating value

As members of HealthTrust, providers have access to a broad portfolio of existing purchased services contracts. HealthTrust can also provide custom sourcing by converting existing supplier relationships to HealthTrust contracts for additional savings and improved terms and conditions.

Valify Solutions Group (VSG), a division of HealthTrust and the first technology-driven group purchasing organization (GPO) dedicated to healthcare purchased services, helps members extract significant value when contracting with outside agencies. Valify’s Advisory Services ensures members get the best rates and realize optimal savings by utilizing two important tools—benchmarking technology and expert-level knowledge of national and regional markets.

“VSG offers members the ability to create a localized contract with a national GPO supplier. It supports members in identifying which supplier works best for them and then negotiates local pricing and individualized terms and service-level requirements,” Motz explains.

Valify’s Advisory Services assists members by:

  • Customizing GPO agreements specific to a facility’s needs
  • Enhancing the quality of services members receive from outsourced suppliers
  • Sharing best practices to ensure members are utilizing services appropriately and in the most cost-effective manner.

Valify has several tools designed to help facilities streamline their purchased services. The spend analysis technology automates spend categorization visibility, while its purchased services assessment (PSA) tool helps facilities comb through their data to find ways to save. Valify receives data updates monthly, which offers facilities the ability to mine for opportunities instead of simply waiting for contracts to expire.

“The PSA enables members to take a proactive approach to managing these categories instead of just reacting to pain points,” says Motz. “There’s never been a better time to analyze your approach to purchased services. While it may have been an area overlooked in the past, the amount of facility spend is now undeniable. And, with significant spend comes the opportunity for savings,” he adds.

Valify: Technology, GPO Portfolio & Advisory Services

Valify offers the first end-to-end purchased services program comprising spend analytics, benchmarking, contract management and advisory services that support sourcing and contract negotiations. Valify helps health system operators realize significant savings on purchased services by leveraging the largest data-driven market intelligence platform of more than $460 billion in total spend, categorized through proprietary machine-learning algorithms to generate benchmarking insights for its members. HealthTrust has licensed Valify technology to support GPO operations to accelerate value to HealthTrust members.

  • Subscribers realize an average of 10%–30% savings per category.
  • The VSG portfolio consists of $9B in annual contracted spend.
  • Five HealthTrust health systems subscribe to Valify to actively save through consolidation of suppliers.
    • Facility Support Services
      255 subcategories 
    • IT & Telecom Services
      505 subcategories
    • Clinical Services 400 unique categories across seven service lines:
      232 subcategories
    • Financial Services
      148 subcategories
    • HR Services
      138 subcategories
    • Insurance
      34 subcategories
    • Ancillary Services
      155 subcategories

Quantifiable Results

Interpretation Services  |  $507,000 in savings

  • Issue: A health system with 4,000+ staffed beds had annual spend in Interpretation Services totaling more than $5.2 million. It was using eight unique suppliers and individuals, which put them in the 91st percentile for Spend per Adjusted Patient Day.
  • Solution: Valify Advisory created and ran an RFP for Interpretation Services on behalf of the health system. Current utilization was collected by modality: over the phone, video and in person. Suppliers were asked to propose their unit cost for each modality at the current level of usage.
  • Results: Valify Advisory negotiated new rates for each modality, and the health system was able to reduce the number of suppliers to three—resulting in $507,000 in annual savings.

Reference Lab  |  $500,000 in savings

  • Issue: A health system spent more than $1.6 million among several reference lab testing services. When compared to other Valify subscribers, they were also in the 85th percentile for spend per staffed bed.
  • Solution: Valify Advisory requested line-item details from each supplier and sent proposals to two HealthTrust contracted suppliers and another incumbent.
  • Results: Ultimately, the hospital selected a HealthTrust supplier and implemented 35% savings, or just over $500,000.

Print Services  |  $13.9M in savings

  • Issue: Establish a unified production print management approach, in tandem with support from the IDN’s Marketing and Creative Services department, focused on achieving sustainable financial value and consistent results.
  • Solution: Replace all five production print shops and 140 suppliers with an enterprisewide, sole-source print supplier. Establish a multidisciplinary governance team to provide oversight for production print management, including initiating quality standards, contract expectations and spend management.
  • Results: Align all production print with marketing initiatives to ensure brand consistency. Enhance print management through visibility to spend data. Manage supplier to create consistent quality, standards and results. Leveraged source supplier to drive 45% savings.

Enabling Supplier Diversity

With a number of health systems prioritizing their use of diverse suppliers, Valify has technology to support those initiatives. Subscribers can use the database to enhance decision-making around diverse suppliers and spend, including where there are opportunities to convert business to a diverse supplier.

Valify’s diversity reporting tool identifies suppliers with a diversity designation. Within the platform, a badge next to a diverse supplier appears along with the certification source and expiration date. The tool identifies supplier diversity according to 18 different classifications.

Drive value in purchased services for your organization by contacting the Valify team today at 972.963.5130 or info@getvalify.com, or by attending one of the two purchased services education sessions at our upcoming HealthTrust University Conference.

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Valify Announces Executive Appointments

Posted on | by Valify Team

FRISCO, Texas – August 28, 2023 – Valify, the pioneering cost-management technology platform specializing in in the classification and benchmarking of non-labor expenditures for healthcare providers, today announced the appointment of two key executives to its leadership team.

Jessica Burns Headshot
Jessica Burns

Jessica Burns assumes the role of Chief Operating Officer for Valify and Valify Solutions Group, an innovative group purchasing model tailored exclusively to hospital purchased services. Drawing upon an extensive background in business operations, strategic alignment, technology and portfolio expansion, Ms. Burns will concentrate on creating and optimizing processes for Valify as it continues to scale for growth. Formerly with HCA Healthcare, Ms. Burns led information technology initiatives for CereCore and Sarah Cannon Research Institute. She received an MBA in Information Technology from Western Governors University and Certified Healthcare CIO designation from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). She currently serves as a board member for the Nashville Technology Council.

Matt Clark Headshot
Matt Clark

Overseeing Valify’s analytics and benchmarking platform, Matthew Clark returns as Chief Technology Officer. A co-founder of Valify, Clark served as CTO and CFO from 2014 to 2019 and played a pivotal role in the inception, design and development of Valify products. He rejoins the company following tenure as CEO of OneNeighbor, a dynamic technology platform matching local service providers with the consumer marketplace. Clark earned an MBA and a BBA in Management Information Systems from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Les Popiolek, CEO of Valify, underscored the organization’s commitment to help providers in light of the current inflationary landscape. “Our vision is crystal clear, to empower operators to balance cost and quality in their procurement of purchased services, an area that can encompass an astounding 50% of a hospital’s non-labor operating expenses,” Popiolek said. “I am thrilled to extend a warm welcome to Jessica and Matt who collectively bring a wealth of expertise in technology, sourcing, analytics, and customer engagement. Through collaborative efforts with our clients, providers are gaining powerful tools to control fragmented spend across their operations, which can result in tangible savings of 10-25% on outsourced services.”

About Valify

Valify is the only healthcare cost management company exclusively dedicated to managing purchased services expense. With a mission to empower healthcare systems with unparalleled insights and tools for managing non-labor expenses, Valify’s web-based technology empowers organizations to quickly identify and manage savings opportunities in over 1,400 purchased services categories. The Valify technology categorizes spend data, identifies savings opportunities and benchmarks against a database of more than $1 trillion in total categorized spend. With a leading end-to-end cost management solution, Valify ensures that healthcare operators achieve the perfect equilibrium between cost-efficiency and quality across their purchased services. For more information, please visit https://www.getvalify.com/.

CIOReview Company of the Year - 50 most promising healthcare solutions providers 2022

Valify Named Company of the Year by CIO Review

Posted on | by Valify Team

FRISCO, Texas – April 27, 2022 – Valify, Inc., a healthcare cost management company exclusively dedicated to helping clients manage purchased services expense to reduce the overall cost of healthcare, has been named “Company of the Year” by CIOReview, a leading resource for innovative IT solutions.

Based in Frisco, Texas, Valify utilizes a proprietary technology platform to give healthcare systems in-depth analysis and spend visibility across a variety of service categories. The company’s analytics and contracting expertise helps hospitals identify, benchmark and mitigate financial risk thereby reducing the overall cost of operations. Valify Solutions Group is the first tech-enabled group purchasing organization exclusively dedicated to purchased services for healthcare.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by CIOReview for our accomplishments as Company of the Year in its 50 most promising healthcare solutions category.” said Les Popiolek, Valify’s chief executive officer. “This achievement underscores the material impact purchased services have on a hospital’s financial performance and is a testament to colleagues that have shaped our solution through innovation, hard work, and a client-centered focus. We are grateful for our client and supplier relationships and look forward to advancing data-driven decision-making in health care procurement.”

Valify was previously recognized by CIOReview as one of the “50 Most Promising Healthcare Solution Providers” in 2019.

About Valify
Valify, Inc., an HCA Healthcare company, is the only healthcare cost management company exclusively dedicated to managing purchased services expense. Valify’s web-based technology platform uses proprietary machine learning algorithms which allow organizations to quickly identify and manage savings opportunities in over 1,300 purchased services categories. The Valify technology categorizes spend data, identifies savings opportunities and benchmarks against a database of over $600 billion in categorized spend. With a leading end-to-end cost management solution, Valify helps thousands of hospitals proactively manage expenses, increase staff productivity and realize significant savings.

About Valify Solutions Group
Valify Solutions Group, powered by Valify, is the first tech-enabled GPO program exclusively dedicated to purchased services for healthcare. VSG leverages data-driven market intelligence from $600 billion in spend categorized to generate savings for members and provides a comprehensive pre-negotiated purchased services contract portfolio. Members may access custom contracting specialists, proven spend analytics technology, and expert advisory services to exponentially enhance savings beyond contract utilization.

Contact
Shara Smith
Shara@GetValify.com
972-963-5130

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On-Demand Webinar: Strategic Sourcing in Purchased Services

Posted on | by Valify Team

 

Webinar Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, you will be able to:

  • Identify, collect and establish specific benchmarks across multiple purchased services categories
  • Use leading practices to collaborate between a health system, an implementation partner, a technology partner and your GPO
  • Identify methods and tools for effective collaboration with external vendor partners

 

 

Presenters:

Andy Motz, HealthTrust
Assistant Vice President of Valify Solutions Group custom contracting and advisory services. His experience includes serving as Chief Procurement Officer for a Midwest health system and over ten years of Supply Chain consulting with Deloitte and Navigant at academic medical centers, community hospitals, and large IDNs.

As a purchased services sourcing consultant, Motz focuses on strategically positioning his clients to negotiate contracts that achieve better pricing, service levels, and quality outcomes.

 

Anna Kim, Valify
Anna is the newest addition to the Client Success team at Valify, the only web-based purchased services benchmarking and analytics platform. She works closely with healthcare organizations across the country to quickly identify, benchmark and track savings in purchased services, mitigate financial risk and reduce the overall cost of operations. Prior to Valify, she supported health systems and hospital marketers with their communication strategies.

While she is based out of Nashville, she enjoys traveling all over to meet with her clients and strengthen those relationships.

Les Popiolek, Valify & VSG Chief Executive Officer

Les Popiolek Appointed CEO of Valify and Valify Solutions Group

Posted on | by Valify Team

FRISCO, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Valify Solutions Group, the first Purchased Services group purchasing organization (GPO) for healthcare, today announced that Les Popiolek has been appointed CEO of Valify and Valify Solutions Group. Popiolek replaces Chris Heckler who announced his decision to pursue new opportunities after seven years leading the technology and analytics platform, and the GPO.

“Les is ideally suited to continue the ongoing success of Valify and Valify Solutions Group due to his deep understanding of the needs of providers and technology subscribers and his extensive experience in purchased services spend management,” said Shelly Workman, senior vice president of supply chain operations for HCA Healthcare. “Les’ experience includes leadership roles in data, analytics, procurement and sourcing. He is a strong leader whose vision and guidance will exponentially contribute to the continued successful trajectory of Valify and Valify Solutions Group.”

Prior to serving as Valify’s chief operating officer, Popiolek held prominent roles in healthcare purchasing for over 25 years. He was part of the conceptualization and startup of Texas-based Broadlane GPO and the launch of BroadLink, one of the industry’s early B2B e-commerce exchanges. As chief technology officer of Broadlane, Popiolek created and led a centralized, outsourced national procurement center. Following the acquisition of Broadlane in 2010 by MedAssets, Popiolek led the integration of GPO portfolios totaling $35 billion in annual customer spend.

“I am honored to assume this position and excited to lead Valify and Valify Solutions Group,” said Popiolek. “I look forward to upholding the Valify legacy of unprecedented opportunities for identifying savings in purchased services and building on that momentum through Valify Solutions Group by delivering new ways to capture deeper savings and expanding spend management best practices.”

Chris Heckler steps down after nearly 20 years in the healthcare purchased services space and having served as director of purchased services for a Texas regional purchasing coalition. “Under Chris’ entrepreneurial vision and leadership, Valify quickly became a best-in-class spend analytics service and benchmarking technology platform, empowering providers to categorize, monitor, benchmark and source for this spend,” Workman added. “I thank Chris for his many outstanding contributions to Valify and wish him the best in his new endeavors.”

Heckler commented, “Growing Valify into the industry leading technology solution that has helped thousands of hospitals and then expanding our solution to create Valify Solutions Group has been a profound privilege. I am incredibly proud of all that the Valify team has accomplished, particularly advancing healthcare purchased services spend management into the arena of data-driven decision making which was once considered impossible.”

About Valify

Valify, an affiliated company of HCA Healthcare, is the only healthcare cost management company exclusively dedicated to managing purchased services expense. Valify’s web-based technology platform uses proprietary machine learning algorithms which allow organizations to quickly identify and manage savings opportunities in over 1,200 purchased services categories. The Valify technology categorizes spend data, identifies savings opportunities and benchmarks against a database of over $460 billion in categorized spend. With a leading end-to-end cost management solution, Valify helps thousands of hospitals proactively manage expenses, increase staff productivity and realize significant savings.

About Valify Solutions Group

Valify Solutions Group is the first tech-enabled GPO exclusively dedicated to purchased services for healthcare. VSG leverages the largest data-driven market intelligence from $460 billion in spend categorized to generate savings for members and provides a comprehensive pre-negotiated purchased services contract portfolio. Members may access custom contracting specialists, proven spend analytics technology, and expert advisory services to exponentially enhance savings beyond contract utilization.

 

Contacts
Richard Jonardi
richard.jonardi@hcahealthcare.com
615.344.3219

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HealthTrust and Valify Launch Industry’s First Purchased Services GPO to Help Hospitals Rapidly Reduce Costs in Challenging Spend Categories

Posted on | by Valify Team

NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 26, 2020 – HealthTrust, a leading performance improvement company for healthcare, and Valify, a technology company focused on helping hospitals reduce purchased services expenses, today announced the launch of Valify Solutions Group (VSG,) the first purchased services group purchasing organization (GPO) for healthcare. The new GPO leverages the largest data-driven market intelligence from $460 billion in categorized purchasing volume to generate savings for its members.

Powered by the industry’s leading categorization technology, Valify Solutions Group categorizes non-labor spend and compares it against a comprehensive contract portfolio to identify immediate savings opportunities. Robust algorithms benchmark the categorized data against the industry’s largest database of information from over 1,500 hospitals to help find the next level of savings opportunities for members.

“Participation from leading health systems makes Valify Solutions Group a very powerful ally in accelerating cost reduction strategies,” said Ed Jones, CEO of HealthTrust. “Based on the growing demand in managing purchased services spend, we are excited to announce the launch of a unique solution for categories that are often overlooked or challenging to address.”

There is no cost to join the purchased services GPO and hospitals can selectively choose from more than 250 contracts, representing more than $8B in spend.  Membership is non-exclusive, allowing any hospital to participate regardless of its GPO affiliation. VSG combines Valify’s market-leading technology with HealthTrust’s best-in-class contract portfolio, and wraps around advisory services to create the industry’s first true end-to-end purchased services program, inclusive of sourcing, benchmarking, contract management, negotiations and contracting.

Annual purchased services spend for U.S. hospitals is estimated to be more than $300 billion and is difficult  to manage due to the complexity of unique categories, decentralized decision-making and lack of operational metrics. Chris Heckler, CEO of Valify Solutions Group stated, “In the post-COVID era, hospitals need to aggressively identify ways to reduce costs. Whereas purchased services can comprise up to 45 percent of a hospital’s non-labor operating expense, our platform and operator expertise are designed to enable hospitals to identify millions of dollars of savings and accelerate cost improvements across hundreds of categories.”

About HealthTrust
HealthTrust (Healthtrust Purchasing Group, L.P.) is committed to strengthening provider performance and clinical excellence through an aligned membership model and the delivery of total spend management advisory solutions that leverage our operator experience, scale and innovation. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, HealthTrust (www.healthtrustpg.com) serves over 1,600 hospitals and health systems, and more than 43,000 other member locations including ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, long-term care and alternate care sites.

About Valify Solutions Group
Valify Solutions Group is a tech-enabled purchased services group purchasing organization leveraging data-driven market intelligence and $8 billion in contracted spend to generate savings on purchased services in healthcare. Valify Solutions Group provides a comprehensive pre-negotiated purchased services contract portfolio; a web-based technology platform which uses proprietary machine learning algorithms to cleanse spend data, identify savings opportunities, and benchmark against a database of over $460 billion in spend. Valify Solutions Group provides expert benchmarking analysis, market share insights and prebuilt category-specific RFP templates. Leveraging our extensive operator knowledge, based on years of supply chain experience, the Valify Solutions Group team manages hundreds of individual contracts and negotiates custom local sourcing events to enhance members’ bottom line.

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Original Release:  https://healthtrustpg.com/news-events/

Contact:
Richard Jonardi
615.344.3219
richard.jonardi@healthtrustpg.com