Genesis Healthcare, St. Petersburg, Fla, announces a new Supplier Portal designed to help medical devices manufacturers gain visibility to consignment inventory and other stock at their client hospitals and with sales representatives. The Supplier Portal relies on mobile technology and Genesis’ SaaS platform for inventory management to bring efficiency, insight, and speed of service to the clinical supply chain.

Medical device manufacturers face some key struggles not present in other industries. The consignment model, i.e., inventory placed at the hospital, awaiting use, remains the supplier’s responsibility until it is used or sold. This means suppliers must know where the inventory is, maintain safe levels of non-expired equipment (without over-stocking), keep count of all inventory at every client site in order to accurately bill their clients, and quickly pull it from all hospital inventory in the event of a recall.

A major recall can cost medical device manufacturers nearly 12% of revenue, equating to millions. Given that unforeseen events can have such a pervasive impact, it’s important for suppliers to control costs where they can. The inability to locate stock—either at hospital locations or “trunk stock” carried by sales reps is costly. Take, for example, stock counts. A manual inventory cycle count is required at least annually, and usually takes place more often and averages five hours per hospital. When medical device manufacturers cannot find their stock, they end up eating the costs for lost, expired and non-billed equipment.

To solve this $5 billion problem, device manufacturers must have a way to prompt and prove utilization. Genesis Automation’s Supplier Portal eliminates many of the problems inherent in the consignment inventory model with precise, real-time data, according to the company, which adds that the portal:

  • Reduces cycle count time from hours to minutes using SweepScan technology.
  • Shows managers and sales reps locations of all stock, inventory levels, and supply costs.
  • Helps maintain appropriate inventory PAR levels and prioritizes inventory utilization based on slow-moving stock and expiry dates.
  • Alerts sales representatives to recalled and expired stock, assuring clients of patient safety.
  • Eliminates wastage due to lost, expired and unbilled equipment.
  • Tracks transfers and delivery and validates customer acceptance to improve purchase order cycle-time
  • Allows sales representatives to spend more time educating and selling.
  • Improves “time-to-cash” by verifying consignment stock usage.

“We’re returning to our roots,” says Noel O’Hanlon, founder and CEO of Genesis Automation. “The original business model for Genesis circa 2006 was supplier-based. We recognized managing consignment inventory was a significant problem. However, the market was not ready for a supplier-based consignment management solution, so we focused on managing consignment and other inventory on the hospital side.” Genesis is now uniting these two worlds, helping bring greater communication and visibility to each.

“It’s really a game-changer for medical device suppliers,” adds Dan Sweeney, Executive Vice President, Global Business Development, who has been overseeing development of the Genesis Supplier Portal. “Accurate real-time visibility to consignment inventory and trunk stock has been difficult if not impossible to achieve, and suppliers can’t bill what they can’t prove. This gives suppliers the evidential, validated data they need to effectively partner with their clients, and de-risks the consignment inventory model from end-to-end.”