BMA Associates - Blog

VBP Readiness tool

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 09:31:27 GMT

How prepared are you for Value‑Based Procurement? Use our VBP Readiness Tool to assess your capability.

This short video explains how the VBP Assessment Tool was created, how to complete it, and the type of results you’ll receive. It will help you understand where your business stands and reflect on the actions needed to advance a value‑based approach to procurement in your organisation.

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:13:42 GMT

At Luach Consulting Group, we support health systems and industry partners—across Medical Devices, Digital Health, Capital Equipment and Pharma—to move beyond traditional tendering and understand how Value‑Based Procurement can deliver measurable improvements in outcomes, efficiency and total cost. This video offers a practical introduction to the role VBP can play as a powerful enabler of Value‑Based Healthcare, helping organisations align clinical, operational and financial priorities around what truly delivers value.

Value-Based Procurement - A great fit for the present and future of the NHS

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:38:14 GMT

Luach Consulting Group and its partner organisation, Hill Dickinson, have been developing and promoting the benefits of transitioning towards a value-based approach to procurement and healthcare for a decade. Significant progress has been made in recent years, with the completion of a national VBP proof-of-concept project sponsored by NHS Supply Chain and subsequently developed further by the Medtech Directorate of the Department for Health and Social Care.

This article considers how value-based approaches are emerging as a means to deliver improved patient care, increase efficiency in clinical practice, and reduce the total costs of care. It is closely aligned with the objectives outlined in the recently published NHS Fit for the Future (FFTF) strategy.

As the value paradigm reshapes the healthcare landscape, Luach Consulting Group stands uniquely equipped to help your organisation lead the way and unlock its full potential, contact us for an exploratory discussion.

Click on the link below to download the full article.

Accelerating the adoption of Value Based Procurement - Phase 2

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:28:27 GMT

On 22nd May 2025 Luach Consulting Group, in partnership with law firm Hill Dickinson, held the second in a series of events focussed on accelerating the adoption of value- based procurement (VBP).

Our initial event, in October 2024 was extremely successful and identified six key areas of development including:

The need to be clear about what is meant when we use the term ‘value’ to bring about widespread VBP adoption
Aligning the NHS finance regime to recognise and incorporate value
The need to evidence and contract for the delivery of value in the NHS - harnessing the power of data and measurement
Incentivising a longer-term focus
Creating a visible pipeline of VBP activity
Maintaining a consistent agreed communications strategy for VBP adoption

This second event in May 2025 picked up these themes with the aim of both assessing progress in addressing these areas; and engaging with the wider clinical and NHS finance community to promote wider stakeholder support and involvement.

Whilst the event pre-dated the publication of the new 10 year plan for the NHS “Fit for the future”, it is highly encouraging to see that the work the group has undertaken is closely aligned with the ambitions of the Government strategy in terms of its focus on the delivery of value, productivity, improved patient outcomes and promotion of innovation.

If you would like to receive a copy of the report please email us at consult@luachcg.com

Selling Value in Healthcare - Foundation e-learning course

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 10:33:37 GMT

The NHS is increasingly committed to Value-Based Procurement (VBP) and is planning to implement a standard evaluation methodology and we are also seeing health systems in Europe and the Middle East establishing projects to explore the benefits of procuring for value. This presents a fantastic opportunity for industry players to align their products and solutions with NHS needs.

We've recently launched an e-learning course designed to upskill staff in sales, marketing, market access, and customer services. This course is versatile enough to apply to any country, focusing on the universal principles of what value means to healthcare.

Key Features:

• Cost-Effective and Quick: An efficient way to upskill your workforce.

• Subtitles Available: Includes subtitles and can be translated into other languages on demand.

• Broad Applicability: Ideal for entry-level training and adaptable to various regions.

Explore the Course: To find out more details please email us at consult@luachcg.com

Value Based Procurement in the NHS (NW) revisited

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 08:31:42 GMT

A look back at the VBP research project of 2015

Back in 2015 when the word artificial was most commonly associated with plants and not intelligence, I collaborated with the University of Liverpool and we produced the attached report.

As NW Procurement Development no longer exists and are no repository of the work we did, I thought it might be useful to offer a quick summary of the findings, which are still as relevant today as they were 10 years ago.

�� The Problem :
The current price-focused procurement model is unsustainable. It restricts innovation, damages supplier relationships, and fails to deliver long-term value or better patient outcomes.

✅ The Solution: Value Based Procurement (VBP)

VBP aligns procurement with patient outcomes, focusing on lifecycle value—not just cost. It’s about improving health outcomes per pound spent.

�� Barriers to Change :

Low procurement maturity
Short-term savings targets
Myths around aggregation and contract management
Limited stakeholder engagement and market intelligence

��️ The Roadmap Forward :

Action-based training (9–18 months)
Stakeholder engagement to build trust and credibility
Knowledge management infrastructure
Pilot studies in key spend areas (e.g., orthopaedics, pressure care)

�� Collaboration is Key :

Breaking down silos and building social capital across procurement, clinical, and supplier teams is essential. A case study from Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen shows the long-term benefits.

�� Conclusion :

VBP is not only feasible—it’s essential. With the right strategy, NHS procurement can become a driver of sustainable, impactful healthcare outcomes.

Please email Consult@luachcg.com if you would like to receive a copy of the report.

Supporting NHS Elective Care Reform Through Value-Based Procurement

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 09:23:42 GMT

2025 has started with the publication of the report from the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England on the need for reforms to elective care for patients served by the English NHS. The report sets out its proposals to reduce the elective backlog of clinical procedures which stands (of January 2025) at circa 7 million. The aim is that by 2029 the NHS will ensure that 92% of patients receive treatment within 18 weeks. This briefing document considers how a value based approach to procurement can support reforms to elective care for patients, and is intended as supporting material that can be used by LCG clients to align their messaging to the needs of the NHS.

Reframing the Lord Darzi Report Through a Value-Based Procurement Lens

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 09:19:32 GMT

It was encouraging to see that the new Government had commissioned a review of the NHS within its first 100 days. The purpose of this article is to consider some of the key messages and findings from Lord Darzi’s report through the lens of a value based approach to procurement.

Productivity

The report states at length about the fact that staff are working harder than ever and still experiencing challenges increasing productivity across the system. The lack of capital funding and assets is cited as a major contributor to this inefficiency, coupled to the need to improve patient flow throughout the system.

A reduction in length of stay, greater use of day case surgery and releasing bed capacity through the application of technologies that enable patients to be treated at home, are all cited as desirable ways of working for the NHS.

Through the initial Value Based Procurement (VBP) pilot project undertaken by NHS Supply Chain, there are several case studies that have been written where these objectives have been achieved across different pathways 1. Given that there was limited investment in the resources to undertake the proof of concept pilot, it would appear that wider adoption and application of VBP across multiple strategic areas has the potential to make a significant impact to the productivity goals cited in the report.

Sustainability

Through focusing on pathway optimisation, it was also identified in the NHS Supply Chain project 2, that per procedure a VBP approach has the potential to reduce carbon emissions, for example through reduced theatre time with the use of minimally invasive technologies and reduction patient travel through remote monitoring and care provided in a patients home.

Value creation

Lord Dazi refers to “value creation” in the report. The challenge, as I know from experience of VBP, is the need for the NHS to be clear what value means and translate this into tangible and measurable objectives/outcomes. When explaining how to adopt a value based approach to procurement professionals, I have recommended they undertake and analysis of treatment pathways to identify what needs to change and by how much, a simple but effective approach. This exercise allows suppliers and healthcare stakeholders to focus in on the needs of the NHS and the patient, and enables them to explore and garner resources to create solutions that effectively address the challenges identified.

Partnerships

There is a line from the TV sitcom “The Office” from the late 1990’s that goes something like..”just when we thought we saw the light end the end of the tunnel, it was someone with a torch bringing us more work!”

To think that our NHS staff without support, have either the enthusiasm or the capacity to deliver the changes at the scale and pace required is unrealistic. Through VBP we have the opportunity to move from competition to collaboration with industry partners and create win/win relationships that can draw upon suppliers’ knowledge, skills and resources to accelerate the pace of change necessary and reduce the burden on already overstretched front line staff.

Continuing the theme of collaboration, I call upon suppliers both MedTech and pharma to consider working together across pathways where they do not compete on product sales to create a single solution. This could potentially increase efficiencies for participating suppliers and healthcare professionals, reduce project management/support teams and free up resource across the supply chain.

Finance

In my experience of the NHS, I have witnessed examples of where financially favourable solutions over the life of a 2 year + contract have been rejected in favour of alternatives that generated a larger in-year saving; this is deemed necessary in some quarters of the NHS as accepted practice to balance the books. I’m no finance expert but intuitively does this approach make sense? Surely a longer term view would have more positive impact on the overall NHS finance position.

When considering the delivery of value across a patient pathway, there may be higher upfront costs in one part of the system EG the Acute sector, which then results in lower total treatment costs when taking into account expenditure on community care. It is encouraging to see the importance of Integrated Care Systems highlighted in the Lord Darzi’s report and the hope is that ICB’s fully embrace whole health economy approaches to financial flows.

It’s my assertion that there needs to be a restructure and commercialisation of the NHS finance regime; one that transitions to multiyear budgets, bundled payments based on targets for specific deliverables, and allows flexibility to introduce commercial incentives for over performance. These moves I believe will provide the stimulus for the creation of value and mechanisms for Healthcare and industry to work together in the co-creation of solutions that reduce total pathway costs, increase efficiency, and improve patient care.

Conclusion

Having had recent first-hand experience of the NHS as a patient in both NHS Wales and England, I am eternally grateful to live in a country where we have access to skilled health professionals who genuinely care for patients’ health and their wellbeing.

As someone that has worked in an around the NHS for 20 years, I’m also acutely aware that this desire to “make a difference” is very much in the DNA of healthcare procurement professionals in the UK and around the world, and one of the reasons why people are attracted and stay in profession.

In this article my aim has been to highlight that by adopting a value based approach will maximise the potential of procurement in playing a vital role supporting the NHS to meet the challenges set out in Lord Darzi’s report.

Brian Mangan FCIPS MSc

CEO Luach Consulting Group 1 VBP Case Studies » NHS Supply Chain 2 NHS Supply Chain Sustainability

Procuring Value in Healthcare Foundation e-Learning Course

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:04:29 GMT

Welcome to the Procuring Value in Healthcare Foundation e-Learning Course

Discover how procurement can be a powerful lever for delivering better healthcare. This affordable, internationally relevant course is designed for clinical, finance, operations, and procurement professionals across health systems. Through a concise introductory video, you'll learn how strategic procurement can improve patient outcomes, enhance efficiency, reduce total costs of care, and support environmental sustainability. Whether you're new to value-based approaches or looking to deepen your impact, this course offers practical insights you can apply immediately.

Accelerating the adoption of Value Based Procurement in the English National Health Service

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:55:06 GMT

Accelerating the adoption of Value Based Procurement in the English National Health Service

Luach Consulting Group and partners Hill Dickinson LLP brought together representatives from the Department for Health and Social Care, NHS organisations in England, medtech suppliers and their trade associations to consider the challenges and opportunities for the adoption of a value-based approach to procurement in the English NHS.

What is Value Based Procurement? The function of “procurement” is more than just the transactional purchase of consumables. It is a strategic function that has the capacity to support the delivery of improvements across the health service by harnessing the knowledge, skills, expertise and innovation of the myriad of medtech and pharma suppliers that orbit the NHS; and use these resources to create win/win relationships which accelerate the pace of change and reduce the burden on already overstretched frontline staff. The process of how these improvements may be made can be termed ‘Value Based Procurement’ (VBP).

This report sets out the key issues discussed and makes recommendations for the adoption of VBP in the English NHS with the goal of:

• accelerating the creation of value across the patient pathway;

• supporting the UK government’s ambition for improving patient care;

• increasing productivity;

• taking steps towards reducing total treatment costs.

The recommendations in this report are intended as a road map for delivery. If accepted, it is recognised that further work will be required to develop these recommendations to a position at which they can be put into practice.

AXREM Evaluating Value Based Procurement: Principles, Practices and Impact

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:18:37 GMT

AXREM Evaluating Value Based Procurement: Principles, Practices and Impact

This report has been commissioned by AXREM the trade association representing the suppliers of diagnostic medical imaging, radiotherapy, healthcare IT, AI and care equipment in the UK. The objectives of the report are to clarify the meaning, principles and practices of a value based approach to procurement (VBP); consider the challenges and opportunities for VBP adoption by both healthcare and AXREM members and showcase how value has been delivered to the NHS.

This is an AI summary Podcast of the report.

This is a shortened version of the AI Podcast.

Value Based Procurement – A game of chance?

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 11:44:56 GMT

One of the most popular games of chance in the world is the lottery, we have the Euro Millions, Mega Millions in the US and a whole range of national lotteries and Lottos…there are vast numbers of people who play this in the hope that they will win the big prize and it will change their life forever.

Healthcare can also be a lottery, but instead of needing to pick the right six numbers in sequence, you need to have the right letters and numbers in your postal code to become a winner in the game of healthcare provision. As the CEO of Luach Consulting Group and Board Member for the European Association of Value Based Healthcare (EAVBHC), I have view that quality and affordable healthcare shouldn’t be a game of chance, but that it’s the right of all citizens.

The belief is that the adoption of value based healthcare is key to addressing these inequalities and was a question posed to a group of multidisciplinary stakeholders from around the world at the EAVBHC session I led at the ICHOM Conference in Barcelona in 2023.

In this short article consideration is given to how to increase the chances of winning on the VBHC lottery, by focusing on the ‘what’, the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ to implement a value based approach to healthcare.

The What

Value is a homonym. A word that can and does mean different things to different people.

In the context of value based healthcare there is an agreed definition that value means improved patient outcomes at lower cost. However there remain a number of challenges with this i.e.

How do we define and outcome, what tangible benefits are being delivered?
Who is responsible for defining the outcome – the healthcare professional or the patient?
How to we know the outcome has been achieved, what measures do we need to use?

Opinions from the assembled delegates at the EAVBHC session, particularly clinical colleagues, was focused very much on the fact that the patient should be at the centre of determining what an outcome should look like. However, within the group and the wider ICHOM conference the view was generally that this was easier said than done. Patients are people and we are all diverse in our views as to what we want, and therefore health systems need to create mechanisms that can accurately reflect the overall consensus of what is desired and required.

That said we are living in world of limited financial resources, whether we like it or not delivering value based healthcare at scale requires that the stated outcomes are affordable. This balance between clinical and commercial is traditionally fraught with tensions, largely down to traditional behaviours and tug of war between front line care staff (resources) and hospital administrators (finance).

In determining the “what”, patient groups, healthcare registries, ICHOM and the use of organisations such as the EAVBHC could all be a rich source of information for systems looking to specify the desired outcomes as a starting point for a value based approach.

The How

Despite the fact that VBHC has been around for many years, there is still much debate as to how it can be introduced, to increase the chances of success, I’ve recommended these three steps to help you:

1. Establish a coalition to support the change - The drivers for system change towards value are predominantly through the efforts of clinical leaders, with one colleague from Brazil in the group clearly passionate about the need for a value approach, yet frustrated at the speed and process of adoption. in South Africa they are fortunate to have system leaders, such as the COO at Healthforce, who are enlightened and can set the strategy to facilitate a more value based approach. A third level of creating momentum is through the leadership of Healthcare Commercial, (both finance and procurement), with examples being shared by both Canada and the UK.

The authors experience and assertion is that for a value based strategy to have any chance of being implemented, there needs to be a blended approach and commitment from both clinical, senior leadership and commercial stakeholders to commit resources and energy to delivering the programmes. If you can garner support from political leaders, then this will allow you to move at pace and scale.

2. Create system learning - by a developing and delivering a comprehensive education package available for both internal stakeholders (Clinical. Operations, Finance and Commercial) groups and external (Industry partners) focusing on the principles, practices and system interconnections relating to value based practices.

3. Be incremental - In the same way you wouldn’t go out and run a marathon after being on the couch for a lifetime, its about taking small steps. In this case by creating pilot studies that can be used to help test how best value can be adopted in your health system, allowing you to highlight any challenges in a controlled environment and create solutions to address them.

The When

I’m sure we’ve all experienced the challenge of the “should” when it comes to going on a diet, exercising or going back to study, the hardest part is actually starting. We plan, we strategize and put things off until finally something happens that forces us to take action.

Health systems need to recognise the burning platform for change that exists in terms of increasing demand set against a backdrop of limited financial resources; and that by failing to address health inequalities now we will only make the situation worse. Like many of the delegates and health systems attending the session and the ICHOM conference, it is clear to me that the time to take action is now.

Brian Mangan FCIPS

CEO Luach Consulting Group

www.luachcg.com

Board member European Association of Value Based Healthcare

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF VALUE-BASED HEALTH CARE -Your health, your choice- (eavbhc.org)

What is value based procurement?

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 13:55:30 GMT

Limited financial resources and an ever-greater demand on healthcare services make intelligent procurement more important than ever. Are you involved in the often-complex process of buying products and services on a business-to-business basis? Could you do it better? Probably. In this post we’ll answer the question what is value based procurement and explore the ins and outs of the process from an expert perspective. By the end of it you’ll understand the ins and outs of value based procurement in med tech and pharma.

Is procurement the same thing as purchasing?

Procurement is slightly different from purchasing. Procurement is a strategic approach that involves finding reliable suppliers and sourcing the right products and services. Purchasing covers the transactions and costs involved in actually buying them. There are different kinds of procurement, too. Ordinary procurement is one thing, Value Based Procurement is another.

What is value based procurement?

Value based procurement is a holistic approach that seeks to maximise the potential of the function by making procurement smarter, focusing on opportunities across a whole patient pathway, not just trying to save few pounds on a product. The aim is to reduce the pressure on health budgets, deliver better value, and encourage ongoing innovation. At the end of the day smart procurement helps create a more efficient procurement environment, and there are several ways to make it happen:

The aim is to achieve the most economically sensible results without compromising on quality, then sharing experiences to achieve continual improvement. It’s more likely when multidisciplinary healthcare teams take outcome and value into account as well as costs
Policymakers agree what value means in terms of the patient journey, encouraging collaboration between providers and suppliers, helping suppliers become active partners in improving human health, and using value to make better budget decisions
Healthcare professionals work closely with procurement experts to create the best clinical outcomes, optimising care
The sector as a whole supports MEAT VBP - the Most Economically Advantageous Tender Value-Based Procurement - by promoting their technologies, services and patient solutions to society as well as hospitals, authorities, and healthcare systems

The benefits are clear. VBP is popular with Healthcare Systems because it can deliver tangible, measurable benefits with a positive impact on patient care, as well as boosting efficiency and making budgets go further.

When done right Value Based Procurement in med tech and pharma will result in improved efficiency, released bed capacity, reduced costs, enhanced patient experience and support Health Systems with their environmental goals. And all this means an overall improvement in the positive growth and development of rugged, effective, and compassionate healthcare systems.

Come to us for professional Value Based Procurement training and consultancy

Put Brian Mangan Associates to of your list for healthcare Value Based Procurement training and consultancy excellence. Our expertise is born of wide academic and operational experience and deep industry insights. Years of unparalleled experience and plenty of real-world evidence makes us your number one choice for global health systems, pharma, and med tech. We’ll help you build a credible, highly effective bridge between your health system and suppliers.

Value based procurement in healthcare

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 13:53:24 GMT

This post focuses on value based healthcare. Why? Because healthcare budgets are tight and getting ever-tighter. Because patient demand in the UK is increasing steadily thanks to an ageing population. And because the covid pandemic that hasn’t yet come to an end, nor have the associated delays in the diagnosis and treatment of all sorts of illnesses and diseases.

In times like these every penny counts and every decision matters. How do you make the best of procurement, saving money while improving the patient journey every step of the way and delivering quality work, services, and products? It’s all about Value Based Procurement in Healthcare, VBP. Read on to find out how VBP can save money and improve your healthcare services.

What is value based procurement in Med Tech?

There’s unprecedented pressure on healthcare finances at the moment, making the medtech sector a very challenging landscape indeed. Luckily value based procurement is proving vital for getting better value across the spectrum for health systems, and ultimately for the patients they care for.
Value based pricing improves patient outcomes affordably. The idea is that companies, and those who buy from them, all get genuine benefits from value based healthcare. Buyers focus on appropriate care, which means buying the right drugs, products and services, for the right patients, at the right time. This gives healthcare providers a much better chance to hit the positive outcomes that mean so much to everyone involved. Once you understand VBP and know how to manage it with confidence, the overall cost of treating patients better becomes more affordable..

How is VBP different from traditional procurement?

The old approach to healthcare procurement involved driving supplier prices ever-further down. But we all know you can only go so far in that direction before low prices affect quality and supply chain resilience. A series of price slashes can even drive suppliers out of business. The Value Based Procurement approach comes with many benefits. When done well it can provide valuable efficiencies along the clinical pathway as well as cutting costs and improving patient care. A win-win, if you like.

Make the most of every aspect of value based healthcare

The biggest issue is how to align traditional products and solutions with the way they’re sold, so they deliver the best possible value all round. That’s what we do for people like you. Our expert consultancy and support services will help your organisation understand and define ‘value’, pin down the products that align with those needs, communicate the solutions clearly, and make them happen in the real world.

Can we help you with value based procurement in Med Tech?

We work closely with experts in UK and international healthcare to provide essential insight into the theory, practice and simulation of value based healthcare. To achieve this, we’ve created a unique modular value based procurement in pharma training and consultancy programme for organisations wanting to build or develop value solutions. As our clients tell us, it’s a great way to achieve the right kind of organisational change with tangible results and real benefits.

A voyage of value based procurement discovery – Arab Health 2023

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 09:47:00 GMT

Value based procurement in the NHS is more crucial than ever right now. We need to know about most efficient technologies, treatments, and new developments so we can help you achieve real value based procurement in healthcare. That’s why we’ll be attending the Arab Health event in Dubai at the end of January.

How Arab Health 2023 supports Value Based procurement

Arab Health is an excellent place to discover new products, find ways to make efficiencies to benefit everyone involved, and learn from experts about every aspect of effective healthcare procurement. In 2022 it attracted 7.7 million digital impressions and 40,254 physical attendees from around the globe. This year it’s looking just as popular.

We’ll be able to engage with experienced people from government entities, hospitals, healthcare organisations, suppliers and distributors. The event attracts biomed engineers, hospital senior management, clinicians and more. There’s a forum for discovering new technology launches where suppliers introduce their products and services, creating the basis for strong business relationships, connections and partnerships. Plus a wealth of summits, showcases, and webinars. And we’ll meet our VBP peers from all over the world. It’s invaluable when networking with our fellow procurement professionals is so inspiring, as is engaging with healthcare professionals at every level and context.

How our attendance helps your organisation

The event gives us such valuable insight into new ways to help our clients create pioneering value-based approaches. It also informs the popular value based procurement training we provide, keeping everything current and fresh. It supports real world evidence generation in med tech and pharma, too.

It’s our aim to help organisations deliver improved patient outcomes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs, while helping suppliers to build effective value propositions of their own. We understand healthcare organisations and the products and services driving them. In a fast-changing commercial landscape, both private and public, Value Based Procurement is essential.

We will support you with your value strategies, their creation and their ongoing maintenance, all through positive value based partnerships. Whether you work within the NHS or run a multinational healthcare organisation, our presence at Arab Health 2023 will add texture and depth to the expertise we offer.

VBP essentials - Measuring value based procurement

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 12:15:00 GMT

It’s one thing deciding you’re going to support, lead, and bring about value based procurement in your organisation. It’s another thing finding proof that the work you’ve done has indeed resulted in VBP in practice.

Real world evidence in healthcare is invaluable, not just because it reveals what has happened. It also gives you invaluable clues about how to improve your value-led performance in future, letting you benefit from continual improvement. So how do you go about actually measuring value based procurement? Let’s explore.

Key ways to measure value based procurement

There are several reliable ways to define and measure the value of procurement. Depending on your context you’ll want to look into efficiency, time-saving, security, any social impacts, innovation, retention, and risk management.

First, efficiency. You can demonstrate any efficiency you’ve gained in procurement in several ways, including better productivity, fewer pain points, and hitting business goals. All these are stats you’re probably already tracking and documenting.

Saving time also matters in our context. For valuable cues, measure how fast you’re able to complete tasks, achieve KPIs, and hit goals. Can you see any improvements?

Social impact is hugely important in our world, a place where people’s experiences and feelings are just as important as saving money and making the most of precious resources. When you measure the value of social procurement in this way, you gather vital human-focused insight into the real impact of the work you do to create better value. Surveys and feedback can be tremendously helpful.

Innovation is what moves every organisation forwards, and you can measure it by tracking the tools you use to formally encourage and share new ideas. And retention is vital. If the changes you achieve have a genuine, measurable employee benefit, incentive, or satisfaction level associated with them, better retention should follow. You can collaborate with HR to understand changes in employee satisfaction, and with suppliers for partner satisfaction.

Finally, risk management. When your negotiations are both effective and thorough, it’ll help to mitigate risk in your organisation. Can you figure out the hypothetical cost of a business loss related to risk? If so it’s a potent metric to reveal the importance of the risk that was mitigated thanks to your work.

You can share all this insight with others in your organisation to demonstrate the value of your procurement’s impact.

Get help achieving value based procurement in med tech

Contact us to find out more about sourcing efficiency and profitability, and how to measure your success in building effective value propositions in med tech.

What do Value Based Tender responses look like?

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 12:45:00 GMT

What really represents ‘value’ in tendering? Real world evidence generation in pharma, value based tender responses and value based healthcare go hand in hand. In fact, the law demands it thanks to the Public Contract Regulations (PCR), which ask the public sector to award tenders based on the ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’. The Act obliges people in our sector to put emphasis on value questions in tenders and Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or PQQs, neatly demonstrating the importance of linking value and tendering.

For a very long time ‘value’ was very narrowly defined by price, and price alone. Now value also takes into account quality, long term relationships with suppliers, and a much fairer landscape where everyone involved in a tender gets good value, from the supplier to the organisation presenting the tender, and the end users who’ll ultimately experience the impact of it. Value is defined in a much broader way these days, and as a result we should eventually see a more resilient supplier base more capable delivering critical priorities.

A Value Based Procurement project can demonstrate all sorts of value, from environmental to economic to employment. Upskilling employees with popular, effective Value Based Procurement training is a reliable way to get your people in the right frame of mind, with the correct skill-set to both create a value based tender in the first place, and understand what a value based tender response should look like.

Have the companies you’ve sent a tender to responded in a value-based way?

Today’s value based procurement model encourages suppliers to think beyond their internal objectives. The best suppliers offer a lot more than a good price. Because it’s about real world evidence in healthcare they will also be prepared to maximise taxpayers’ money in all sorts of ways.

How do you know when a tender response is value based? For a start, have they supported their promises with tangible figures, dates, objectives and goals? How, exactly, will they enhance the value of their goods and services? Are they telling you what you want to hear, or have they misunderstood your goals? Can they keep to their commitments?

When a tender response includes a brief introduction, a table of contents, a short company overview including previous experience, an execution schedule, Q&A, references and details about the costs it’ll be easier to read and digest, and that’s a good sign. When it convinces you with facts rather than opinions, it’s on the right track. When it also covers the details of a tendering company’s accreditations, environmental commitments, equal opportunities, health and safety procedures, quality assurance process, technical capabilities, customer care standards and service levels, you’ve got even more of the good stuff you need to make an informed, value-based decision.

Price, of course, is a vital part of the decision process, even when value is the main focus. Has the tender response covered monthly and annual costs, cost per unit, costs excluding VAT, any yearly inflation-led increases, and the total cost excluding VAT? Hopefully so. And have they gone the extra mile to exceed your requirements, add value in every possible way, and deliver ongoing improvements through innovation? It’s all vital to a top class value based procurement response.

Book a place on our popular Value Based Procurement workshop

Our Value Based Procurement workshop is an excellent way to get all the knowledge and insight you need to analyse tender responses in the right way, ensuring the best value from healthcare sector purchases. It covers examples of value based healthcare, examples of value based procurement, examples of delivering value in med tech and much more, all targeted at teaching you exactly what a genuine value based tender response looks like.

How do suppliers achieve value in procurement?

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 11:45:00 GMT

In a world where healthcare budgets have been under pressure for many years, how do suppliers achieve value in procurement? It can be tricky when value based healthcare isn’t about achieving the lowest price, it’s more about finding the optimum combination of cost and quality.

So far you might have measured your effectiveness via financial savings, but sooner or later you’ll run into problems with low supplier motivation. You can understand the problem. It doesn’t feel good to be under constant pressure to lower prices, and there’s only so low a supplier can go without starting to feel unfairly pressured. They want to grow and thrive, too.

A combination of a great relationship, fair prices, and ongoing innovation benefits everyone involved, not just those who procure services and products. So let’s take a look at how to hit the right mark in your healthcare procurement context.

How to achieve genuine value based healthcare

A happy supplier will be a more innovative supplier, which is why it’s important to give suppliers a proactive role in promoting value creation. A good, solid working relationship based on trust and respect works a lot harder than one based on constantly pushing prices down. A satisfied supplier might be able to make innovative recommendations to enhance quality. When you build a virtuous circle like this you’ll maintain great relationships and add value with suggestions, ideas and recommendations.

How to achieve all this good stuff? Value based procurement in pharma requires a set of specific skills. Luckily everyone has the capacity to learn those skills and apply them successfully.

Our value based procurement training reveals all in an easy-to-consume, enjoyable and powerful way, teaching you the skills needed to maximise your potential while delighting suppliers and creating warm long-lasting relationships. The result is effective VBP in practice. As you’ll discover, it feels really good to have close partnerships to rely on, people you trust to talk to and bounce ideas off. Operationalising value based procurement is another side to the task. We also teach you how to actually make things work smoothly and efficiently in the real world.

Our course covers everything from understanding purchasing department prioritises to building a landscape of co-innovation and co-operation, positive contribution, recognising supplier’s efforts, and working together to achieve strategic value creation. The journey towards becoming a value based procurement professional involves establishing key requirements, researching the market and evaluating vendors, as well as negotiating fair contracts and managing risk well. Value for money isn’t the only aim, it’s the thread connecting all of this.

Let’s talk about getting the best value for your healthcare setting. How can we help you get where you want to be? We’ll be delighted to talk things through with you.

Learn to improve value with a Value Based Procurement workshop

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 10:00:00 GMT

These are tough times for compassionate people in healthcare procurement. Like most of us working in healthcare, you probably joined the service because you care. But the increasing demand for resources we’re seeing, set against a backdrop of limited financial resources, will probably be having an impact.

At the same time there’s a tension between the caring aspect of your role and today’s clear need for Value Based Procurement - to provide increasing year-on-year savings across the service we care about so much.

How do you square your passion for great healthcare with a harder-headed, sales-focused approach to getting the best value every time? And how do you make sure everyone involved along the procurement line is satisfied with their part of the deal? In a care-focused world, a good deal is only a good deal when it’s fair, when it benefits all parties, and when the quality of the goods and services you’re procuring isn’t compromised. Great ongoing working relationships keep the good deals coming.

It’s all about building effective value propositions in pharma. To achieve the kind of procurement that ticks all the boxes, you need special skills and insight. And that’s where our Value Based Procurement workshop comes into play.

Value Based Procurement workshop - Building effective value propositions in pharma

A value-based approach comes with exciting potential. We’ll help you tap into it with confidence.

These days procurement is about a lot more than reducing product costs. You’ll also be tasked with working with various industries on technologies designed to reduce costs along the patient pathway. You’ll need to drive sustainable increased savings as well as improve patient outcomes

Our workshop will show you how real world evidence generation matters. We reveal how VBS creates opportunities to increase capacity, and we’ll show you how to deliver tangible, measurable benefits that have a positive impact on patient care as well as boosting healthcare efficiency. We’ll explain how to reduce waste and cut back on the number of products used. In other words, we cover the skills and insight you need to bring about better value in every aspect of operational productivity.

Clinical support and engagement are critical. A good level of understanding about what value means to buyers and suppliers matters. By the end of the workshop you’ll have a much clearer understanding around real world evidence generation in med tech. Our clients say the workshop drives positive organisational change and delivers results you can actually see.

Unique modular training and consultancy

Learn how to leverage VBP in your context with our modular training and consultancy programme. It’s perfect for any organisation wanting to create or develop value in the UK and beyond with a powerful and inspiring blend of theory, practice and simulation. Click here to contact us and discuss the potential.

Our popular Value Based Procurement workshop

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 10:00:00 GMT

It’s your mission to achieve value proposition development for med tech. It’s a worthy goal in a world where every penny in the budget matters. Successful value proposition development in pharma involves knowledge. How do you gain the insight you need for building effective value propositions in med tech? Education is the word.

Our popular Value Based Procurement Workshop is an excellent way to learn the things you need to know. Let’s take a look at what learning the ropes the BMA way means.

Why should you care about Value Based Procurement?

Now, more than ever, it’s crucial to get the best value for money in healthcare. Everyone in our sector is keen to find the best ways to achieve value and quality, while growing great supplier relationships that last. It can be tough trying to align traditional products, solutions and sales approaches in a way that clearly demonstrates value. What does ‘value’ even mean in our context where our customers are humans, not products?

Like so much in life it’s complicated, but our deep understanding of value means we’ve had a lot of success in figuring out whether products are aligned to health systems’ needs in the right ways. Even when they are, it can be a challenge communicating that value to everyone who needs to understand it, and then transform bright ideas into action.

An excellent way to learn value proposition development in pharma and medtech

It makes sense to get to grips with it, and this is where our Value Based Procurement Workshop comes in. An enjoyable and inspiring way to learn, it’s a unique, modular training and consultancy programme for organisations wanting to build better healthcare systems value in the UK and beyond.
Once you know how to get where you want to be, procurement quickly starts to work in everyone’s favour. Through a stimulating blend of theory, practice and real-life simulation, our workshop reveals exactly how to apply VBP principles and practices to drive organisational change and deliver tangible results you can be proud of.

Why use BMA for value proposition development for pharma and med tech?

Our clients include top 20 global suppliers and others with a significant European presence. A mix of academic and operational experience plus in-depth industry insight makes us a highly effective bridge between health systems and suppliers. Our networks join up healthcare and academia nationally and internationally. This makes us the go-to experts for Value Based Procurement training and consultancy in healthcare. The numbers don’t lie, there’s plenty of evidence to support what we do.

We get a lot of pleasure from passing on what we know, enabling people in our sector to do more good. After all, doing good is ultimately what we’re here for. Take a look at what some of our clients say, here, and contact us if you’d like to take our Value Based Procurement course.

About value based procurement training

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 11:30:00 GMT

Increasing demand, covid, budget cuts and more mean our healthcare systems are under pressure to deliver excellent results at a lower cost. Standardisation, aggregation, and competitive bidding have done a good job of releasing funds for front line care. But there’s a line below which costs can’t drop without affecting the quality of products and their supply chains. Value based healthcare in pharma is the way ahead, and it presents an exciting challenge. Here’s what you need to know about value based procurement training from BMA.

What does value based procurement involve?

A Value Based Procurement approach means finding products and solutions to provide efficiencies every step of the way, while cutting costs and improving the care given to patients. But what, exactly, does ‘value’ mean in a healthcare context, and how can it be applied practically? That’s where we come in. It’s our job to help businesses truly understand what value means, find the right products, communicate the benefits clearly, and put solutions in place.

The best way to do all this is via our unique, modular training and consultancy programme, equally suitable for UK and international organisations seeking great value. It involves a potent blend of theory, practice and simulation, and our clients confirm it delivers the kind of tangible results they need.

Whether your organisation is new to value based supply, or want to test your own ideas independently, our popular value based healthcare in pharma training ticks the boxes.

What our clients say about our value based procurement training

Our clients appreciate having an experienced partner who understands their healthcare organisation, products, and services from top to bottom. They like the fact that we move confidently in the fast-changing NHS commercial landscape, where Value Based Procurement is more important than ever.

Our training supports organisations’ value strategies as well as creating and maintaining strong value based partnerships. It inspires sales teams, engaging professionals in a powerful and inspiring way. Clients respect our deep knowledge of value based supply, and they see genuine improvements in their results.

Whether it means training cross-functional teams of sales, market access and clinical associates or simplifying solutions for NHS Trusts, our real world practical approach to training shifts mindsets and leads fundamental change. Our training helps people increase impact and value, and does it fast.

All this is underpinned by strong NHS procurement experience, invaluable knowledge, and a detailed understanding of the wider healthcare landscape. As a result discussing your VBP offerings with NHS procurement and finance professionals is made easier and much more impactful.

Informative, supportive, challenging training from experienced professionals

Client feedback reveals our value based procurement training as informative and supportive, but it is also challenging in all the right ways. We’ll help your people understand how to simplify VBP for different audiences, and we will tailor the training to your needs. Is your organisation looking for top quality collaborative value based healthcare in pharma training? Contact us to discuss the potential.

Value based procurement in the NHS

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 10:53:00 GMT

So you want to know all about value based healthcare in med tech? Read on to discover everything you need to know about value based healthcare in med tech. By the end of this post you’ll know what it is, why it matters, and how to achieve it in your own healthcare procurement context. This is your guide to value based procurement in the NHS.

What is value based healthcare in med tech?

Value based healthcare in med tech means making every possible effort to make the procurement process more efficient and effective, to the benefit of everyone involved including suppliers themselves and the patients cared for under the system. It’s a much more powerful approach than simply pushing the price of work and products as low as they can go, potentially leaving suppliers struggling and even driving quality down.

How does Value based healthcare in med tech affect the NHS?

The NHS Supply Chain Value Based Procurement (VBP) pilot project kicked off in 2019. In February 2021 phase one of the project was reviewed, and was found effective.

Building on the lessons learned so far the NHS Supply Chain is focusing on delivering more system benefits, working closely with stakeholders to build an evidence base of VBP projects. They’re examining how value is being delivered across the board, developing a mechanism for contracting where value in its various forms is the priority.

Right now the NHS is working to standardise its methodology, creating one reliable way to recognise efficiency and value across the service. They’re keen to take a consistent approach going forwards, working with NICE and others to achieve value through innovation every time.

The value based healthcare in med tech work the NHS is doing touches numerous departments, from hotel services to food, capital equipment and office solutions to rehab, disabled services, women’s health, in fact almost every aspect of the health service the nation relies on.

So far the NHS has been working on VBP projects to support better collaborative working, reducing overnight stays for certain types of surgery. They’re busy exploring how to shift from traditional and less-effective cash releasing savings to value based healthcare in med tech, for example by focusing on innovative new IV therapy, and finding new ways to reduce operating and recovery time. All this and more will keep reducing the pressure the NHS is facing on operating theatres and beds.

Contact us to explore value based healthcare in med tech

At BMA we have recently started working with pharma suppliers who recognise this value-based approach. We designed and led the relevant NHS project and delivered real change. The same approach would benefit other health systems across India, the Middle East, Australia and the US, none of which understand the concept. In this way, BMA can help health systems create markets for suppliers.

Would your business benefit from a more intelligent, nuanced way to achieve better value based healthcare in med tech or pharma? If so we have all the experience and expertise you need to ring the kind of changes that’ll save you money and time as well as giving patients better experiences and outcomes. Come to use for top class VBP training and VBP consultancy.