A quick snapshot of how you operate today

• Tell me about the supply categories and service lines that drive most of your annual spend
• Which systems currently hold your transaction and inventory data, choose all that apply Options: EHR procedure module, ERP or finance system, Inventory management system, GPO contract portal, Excel or flat files, Other
• Estimate your annual spend on supplies and implants Options: Under $50M, $50M to $150M, $150M to $500M, Over $500M, Prefer not to disclose
• Walk me through a recent week where ordering, stocking, and billing actually aligned well, what went right and who owned it
• When procurement and clinical teams disagree on an item, who makes the final call Options: Materials management director, Clinical chair or service line lead, Perioperative operations manager, Finance or CFO office, GPO representative, Other

Where the current system trips you up

• What single procurement failure, stockout, contract leakage, or billing mismatch, would make you stop a rollout immediately
• Describe how often off contract purchases occur and which departments are responsible Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Rarely, Unknown
• When was the last time a contract price error was found after billing, and what were the downstream consequences
• Which categories see the largest price or usage variance between surgeons or sites Options: Implants and devices, Consumables for procedures, Pharmacy injectables, Lab disposables, Capital related supplies, Other
• Who monitors contract compliance today and which reports do they rely on Options: Materials management analyst, Supply chain director, Finance reporting, GPO portal reports, No one is consistently responsible, Other
• If you could eliminate one recurring supply cost leak in the next 90 days, which leak would it be and how would the savings be used

Why clinician choice still drives cost

• Tell me about a time surgeons bypassed standard ordering and why that felt necessary
• List the approval steps required to introduce a new physician preference item
• How many implant or high value device types does your system track per month Options: Under 50, 50 to 200, 200 to 500, Over 500, Unknown
• Who signs off on changes to a surgeon's preference list and under what conditions would a signoff be reversed Options: Service line chief, Perioperative committee, Materials management, Clinical governance, Other
• Describe the last time a surgeon agreed to standardize an item, what convinced them
• What would a 10% reduction in implant variation change for your operating margin this year

Inventory that quietly ties up cash or causes harm

• Imagine a critical item goes out of stock during a case, tell me exactly what breaks and who covers the cost
• Where do you keep most backstock, main storeroom, OR satellite, vendor consignment, or a mix Options: Central storeroom, OR satellites, Vendor consignment, Hybrid model across sites, Unknown
• How often do you run expiration sweeps and who is accountable for removals Options: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Ad hoc, No formal process
• Estimate the working capital tied up in inventory Options: Under $1M, $1M to $5M, $5M to $20M, Over $20M, Unknown
• Name the role that must approve a system wide par level change
• If a stockout caused a case cancellation, how many cancellations in a quarter would trigger an executive review Options: 1 to 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 10, More than 10, Depends on clinical impact

Integration truth, not the idealized view

• Point to the single integration gap you expect will delay a pilot the longest
• List the systems the seller would need read or write access to and who controls those credentials
• Are APIs available for your EHR and ERP or are you limited to batch exports Options: APIs available for both, API for EHR only, API for ERP only, Only batch exports, Unknown
• Identify the internal owner for integrations and the expected percent time they can commit during the pilot Options: >50% FTE, 20% to 50% FTE, 10% to 20% FTE, <10% FTE, No dedicated owner yet
• Give an example of product master issues you see most often, for example duplicate SKUs or missing contract mappings
• Assuming the mapping effort will need 6 to 8 weeks, what would you change in scope to keep the pilot on schedule
• Point to the single missing credential or data extract that would stop the planned pilot

Who pays attention and who can stop this

• Imagine finance reviews the model and pushes back, what argument would convince them to proceed
• Select the executive KPIs you expect to change in year one Options: Supply cost per case, On contract purchase rate, Inventory days on hand, Working capital tied to inventory, Case cancellation rate, Clinical variation metrics
• Name the person or role with final budget authority for supply chain technology
• Pick your target window for measurable cost improvement Options: 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 180 days, 12 months
• Do any regulatory or contracting obligations require advance notice before switching a preferred supplier Options: Yes, No, Not sure
• Given a pilot that proves a 5% supply cost reduction and a 20% lift in on contract purchases, what would prevent moving to signature quickly

What could stop deployment in its tracks

• Share an example where a pilot succeeded but full rollout stalled, what stopped momentum
• Explain how training and turnover for perioperative staff are currently handled Options: Central training team, Department led, Vendor supported, Ad hoc on the job, No formal plan
• Confirm whether vendor access to OR or clinical systems requires additional hospital credentials or approvals Options: Yes, several approvals required, Single credential process, No additional credentials required, Unknown
• Outline any union, committee, or bylaws that could block changes to standard lists
• Rate the cultural appetite for change in supply practices Options: High, Moderate, Low, Very low
• Identify the governance decision that could block go live even if technical readiness is met

The other options you are weighing

• Share the alternatives you are actively evaluating and the reason each might win
• Indicate whether the current default is an incumbent vendor, an internal build, or no formal solution Options: Incumbent vendor, Internal build, No formal solution, Other
• Have any internal teams proposed solving this without an outside partner Options: Yes, No, Under discussion
• Explain what would need to be true about your current approach for you to keep it rather than change vendors
• Provide the types of vendors on your shortlist Options: Supply chain platform, Inventory management vendor, ERP vendor, GPO service, Consulting partner, Other
• Assuming an alternative delivered the same savings without requiring integrations, would you choose it over a connected solution and why Options: Yes, integrations are a blocker, No, connected data is required, Depends on clinician acceptance, Unsure

What success looks like and who signs off

• Choose the single metric that would make you confident a pilot succeeded and give the numeric threshold
• Select the stakeholders who must approve pilot acceptance Options: Materials management director, Service line chief, CFO office, Perioperative operations, Clinical governance committee, Other
• Provide the timeframe you expect between pilot completion and enterprise decision Options: Immediate (within 2 weeks), 1 month, 2 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months, Longer than 6 months
• Highlight the team or role that will own ongoing monitoring and continuous improvement after launch
• Rate the importance of the following acceptance criteria Options: On contract purchase rate improvement, Verified supply cost reduction, Clinician adoption rate, Data integration completeness, Zero critical incidents during pilot
• Specify the approval or signature that would allow procurement to proceed within two weeks

Practical next steps and pilot scope

• Map out the fastest realistic path to rollout if the pilot proves the economics and clinicians accept the changes
• Pick the sites you would include in a pilot, choose all that apply Options: Single high volume OR, Two ORs with different specialties, Single hospital site, Multi site cluster, Ambulatory surgery center
• Outline the minimum dataset required before a pilot can begin, for example procedure mappings, contract price files, and inventory snapshot
• Confirm your preferred start month for a pilot from your planning calendar Options: Next 30 days, 30 to 60 days, 60 to 90 days, Q3, Q4, TBD
• List the attendees required at kickoff and the decision maker for scope changes during the pilot
• What would be the one manageable first step on your side to accelerate a pilot

• Solution Experience Session

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the demonstrated workflow removes the manual reconciliation points you described and produces accurate cost-per-case.
• Provide one representative procedure case file including clinical usage, the originating order record, inventory transaction, and billing entry for the pilot sample.
• You agree that the integration points and data elements shown are sufficient to proceed to a scoped pilot or identify specific gaps to resolve.
• Walk through your procedure scenario end-to-end
• Deliver a scoped pilot plan and a sample data mapping for the validated scenario before the follow-up session.
• Show the platform proof points tied to your KPI
• You approve the next-evidence list and acceptance criteria that will be used to evaluate a pilot.
• Identify the source systems and point-of-contact for EHR, ERP, and inventory systems that must be available for the pilot.
• Validate the future state with you
• Agree on remaining evidence and next pilot steps

• Solution Experience Session
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Integrate EHR procedure usage feed
• Integrate ERP procurement and inventory
• Integrate GPO contract feeds
• Normalize and load product master data
• Activate automated par-level replenishment
• Deploy expiration and lot tracking
• Configure contract price verification engine
• Enable contract compliance alerts and controls
• Implement physician preference item analytics
• Deploy supply cost per-case analytics
• Activate cycle-count and inventory reconciliation automation
• Deploy barcode/RFID bin-level tracking
• Enable executive spend dashboards and benchmarking

Integrate EHR procedure usage feed

• List the EHR sources that publish procedure-level activity (for example OR case cart, perioperative case log, procedure note, or ADT encounter)
• Provide the technical format(s) available from those sources (for example FHIR Procedure resource, HL7 v2 ORU, HL7 v2 ORM, or scheduled flat file export) Options: FHIR Procedure resource, HL7 v2 ORU/ORU^R01, HL7 v2 ORM/ORM^O01, Flat CSV/Excel export, Other
• Indicate which procedure-level identifiers are present in the feed to tie supplies to cases (for example encounter ID, OR case number, CPT code, surgeon ID)
• Specify how surgeon attribution is represented in the feed (surgeon user ID, NPI, provider name, or not present) Options: NPI, EHR provider ID, Provider display name, Not present / needs enrichment
• Confirm the expected delivery cadence for procedure usage from the EHR (real-time event, near-real-time streaming, hourly batch, nightly batch) Options: Real-time/event, Near-real-time (minutes), Hourly batch, Nightly batch
• Estimate the average daily case volume and peak hourly case volume the feed must support for the OR and other procedural areas Options: Less than 50 cases/day, 50-200 cases/day, 200-500 cases/day, More than 500 cases/day

Integrate ERP procurement and inventory

• Identify which ERP modules will be integrated (for example purchase orders, goods receipts, inventory ledger, invoicing) Options: Purchase orders (PO), Goods receipts / receiving, Inventory ledger / on-hand, AP / invoices, Other
• Name the types of location records in your ERP that represent physical stock (for example storeroom, OR bin, central warehouse, vendor consignment)
• Select the identifier types used in your ERP to track items (ERP item number, GTIN / barcode, universal device identifier (UDI), vendor catalog number) Options: ERP item number, GTIN/GS1 barcode, UDI, Vendor catalog number, Other
• Describe how receipts and consumption are currently recorded against cases (scanned at point-of-use, removed from OR case cart, posted from receiving only) Options: Point-of-use scan, OR case cart decrement, Posted from receiving only, Manual adjustments only
• How many distinct storeroom or bin locations will need inventory synchronization at go-live? Options: 1-10, 11-50, 51-200, More than 200
• How will the integration authenticate to the ERP integration endpoint (for example REST API with OAuth2, SOAP with basic auth, database read-only account, SFTP extracts) Options: REST API (OAuth2), REST API (API key), SOAP, SFTP file extracts, Database read-only view

Integrate GPO contract feeds

• When do you receive contract catalog exports from your GPOs and with what frequency (for example daily price refresh, weekly catalog, monthly updates) Options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, On-demand / as published
• What frequency of contract price updates do you require the platform to consume to keep verification current? Options: Real-time/on-publish, Daily, Weekly, Monthly
• Which file formats or feed types do your GPOs provide (for example CSV/Excel catalog export, cXML, EDI 832 or vendor-provided API) Options: CSV/Excel, cXML/OCI, EDI 832 / catalog, Vendor/GPO API, Other
• Which contract attributes must be preserved from the feed for enforcement (for example contract ID, effective/expiration dates, tier, item-level unit price, pack size)
• Are there delegated subcontracts, vendor rebates, or local supplemental agreements that must be merged with the GPO feed? Options: Yes, No, Unsure - need to confirm
• What mapping rules will you use to align GPO catalog items to your product master (for example match by GTIN/UDI, vendor catalog number, or manufacturer plus description) Options: Match by GTIN/UDI, Match by vendor catalog number, Match by manufacturer + description, Manual mapping required

Normalize and load product master data

• Specify all source systems for product master attributes (for example ERP item master, vendor catalogs, GPO catalogs, WMS master, legacy spreadsheets) Options: ERP item master, Vendor catalogs, GPO catalogs, WMS master, Legacy spreadsheets
• Indicate which canonical identifiers you require for normalization (for example GTIN, UDI, manufacturer part number, hospital SKU) Options: GTIN/GS1, UDI, Manufacturer part number, Hospital SKU, Other
• What mapping rules will you accept for attribute reconciliation (for example GTIN exact match > 95% coverage, otherwise manufacturer+packsize fuzzy match)
• How many unique catalog SKUs are in scope for initial normalization and load? Options: Less than 5,000, 5,000-25,000, 25,000-100,000, More than 100,000
• What acceptance criteria will confirm product master alignment and readiness for downstream functions (for example percent of SKUs matched by GTIN, price variance thresholds, and mandatory attribute completeness)
• Confirm your product lifecycle rules for replacements and obsoletes (for example retain historical item, map to replacement SKU, or retire and archive) Options: Retain historical SKU with mapping to replacement, Retire and archive historical SKU, Other / custom workflow

Activate automated par-level replenishment

• Identify the initial storerooms or OR case carts where automated par-level replenishment should be active
• Specify the par calculation method you prefer for each location (for example fixed min/max, days-of-use based, or Economic Order Quantity) Options: Fixed min/max, Days-of-use (consumption rate * days), EOQ / statistical reorder, Manual par by SKU
• Indicate the unit-of-measure normalization rule for reorder quantities (for example base unit per item, pack-of-X conversion required) Options: Base unit only, Pack conversion required, Mixed per-item rules
• Who is the operational approver for automated replenishment rules and overrides (for example materials manager, supply chain director, clinical coordinator)?
• What thresholds should trigger manual review before a replenishment PO is generated (for example reorder > $X, single line > Y units, or vendor lead time > Z days)?
• Describe any excluded item categories from automated replenishment at launch (for example implants, capital equipment, controlled substances)

Deploy expiration and lot tracking

• Identify which item categories require lot and expiration tracking at bin level (for example pharmaceuticals, biologics, implants, sterile procedure trays) Options: Pharmaceuticals, Biologics, Implants, Sterile trays, Other
• Which barcode or labeling standards are used on inbound packaging (for example GS1-128 with expiration and lot, HIBC, manufacturer barcode, or vendor-specific label) Options: GS1-128 (AI 17/10), HIBC, Manufacturer barcode (non-standard), Vendor-specific label, None
• Specify the quarantine and disposal workflow when expired or soon-to-expire items are detected (for example create quarantine bin, generate disposal work order, notify pharmacy)
• What retention period do you require for lot history and traceability (for example 3 years, 7 years, length of product life) Options: 3 years, 7 years, Permanent/indefinite, Custom
• Indicate whether receiving scanners or the ERP will provide lot/expiry at receipt or whether the platform must reconcile lot data post-receipt Options: Scanners at receiving provide lot/expiry, ERP receiving provides lot/expiry, Platform must reconcile after receipt
• Describe the alerting tolerance for near-expiry notifications (for example warn at 90 days, 30 days, or based on days-of-use forecast) Options: 90 days, 60 days, 30 days, Custom threshold

Configure contract price verification engine

• Identify the authoritative price sources you want the engine to evaluate (for example GPO contract catalog, vendor invoice, ERP PO line price) Options: GPO contract catalog, Vendor invoice, ERP PO line, Manufacturer price list
• Specify the priority order for price sources when conflicts occur (for example most-specific contract > vendor invoice > list price)
• Indicate the price tolerance that should be allowed before triggering an exception (for example any variance, more than 2%, more than 5%) Options: Any variance, Greater than 1%, Greater than 2%, Greater than 5%
• What automatic actions should the engine take on a price mismatch (for example block the PO, flag for review, auto-create AP variance ticket) Options: Block PO, Flag for review, Auto-create variance ticket, Notify buyer only
• Which transactional documents will the engine consume for verification (for example PO, packing slip, invoice, receipt) Options: PO, Packing slip, Invoice, Receipt, Other
• What processing SLA do you require for price verification after receipt of invoice or receipt (for example within 1 business day, within 4 hours) Options: Within 4 hours, Within 1 business day, Within 3 business days

Enable contract compliance alerts and controls

• Identify the top compliance violations to detect at go-live (for example off-contract purchases, price deviations, non-preferred vendor usage)
• Specify the compliance scoring metric you prefer (for example percent of spend on-contract, number of off-contract line items, dollar value of leaks) Options: % of spend on-contract, Number of off-contract lines, Dollar value of off-contract spend, Custom metric
• Indicate the escalation path for a high-severity compliance alert (for example notify materials manager, then supply chain VP, then clinical leadership)
• What override controls should be available at purchase time (for example require manager approval, allow clinician override with justification, block automatically) Options: Manager approval required, Clinician override with justification, Automatic block, No override allowed
• Who will own monthly compliance reporting and remediation actions (for example category manager, materials management director, procurement team)
• What reporting cadence do you require for compliance dashboards to stakeholders (for example daily operational alerts, weekly scorecards, monthly executive summary) Options: Daily operational, Weekly scorecard, Monthly executive

Implement physician preference item analytics

• Identify the surgical specialties and service lines to include in the initial analytics scope (for example orthopedics, cardiology, neurosurgery, general surgery) Options: Orthopedics, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, General Surgery, Other
• Specify the surgeon identifiers you will use to attribute preference (for example NPI, EHR provider ID, surgeon name) Options: NPI, EHR provider ID, Surgeon name
• Describe the historical time window to use as baseline for preference analytics (for example last 6 months, last 12 months, last 24 months) Options: Last 6 months, Last 12 months, Last 24 months, Custom
• Indicate the item attributes required to support standardization decisions (for example manufacturer, implant UDI, pack size, negotiated price)
• Identify the clinical governance participants who will review preference standardization recommendations (for example chief of service, device evaluation committee, materials council)
• Specify the variance thresholds that should surface high opportunity for standardization (for example greater than X% price variance among surgeons for same CPT)

Deploy supply cost per-case analytics

• What evidence will validate cost-per-case accuracy against clinical billing or charge master data (for example reconciliation to billed CPT totals for a sample of cases or X% match to charge-master-based cost)
• List the cost components to include in per-case calculations (for example implant cost, disposable supplies, OR tray amortized cost, inventory carrying cost)
• Specify the coding used to group cases for cost comparison (for example CPT procedure codes, DRG groupings, internal case types) Options: CPT codes, DRG, Internal case types, Other
• What refresh cadence do you require for cost-per-case metrics (for example nightly, weekly, monthly) Options: Nightly, Weekly, Monthly
• What sample size or confidence level do you require for pilot validation (for example 100 cases per specialty, 95% confidence)
• How should capitalized items and amortized tray costs be treated in per-case reports (for example excluded, amortized per-case, reported separately) Options: Excluded, Amortized per-case, Reported separately

• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Subscription Agreement / Order Form
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Data Processing Agreement / HIPAA Business Associate Addendum (DPA/BAA)
• Integration & Data Access Agreement
• Acceptance Criteria & Go‑Live Signoff
• Change Order Agreement

• Go-live Health Check
• First Measurement Review
• Acceptance Gate Review (90-day acceptance)
• Quarterly Success Review
• Annual Outcomes Review

• Run and distribute a surgeon-level implant cost variance report for the next review period.
• Capture a formal acceptance decision with the required signatory for enterprise-managed deals or a documented buyer decision for smaller motions.
• If any criteria failed, agree a remediation plan with concrete closure dates.
• Publish the acceptance decision and include all evidence files and data extracts.
• Execute the incumbent decommission or retention plan and publish confirmation of archived/migrated data.
• Initiate remediation tasks for failed criteria with deadlines and validation steps.
• Executive summary of quarterly outcomes
• Confirm quarter-over-quarter trends for the named metrics and whether they remain on track to Solution Scope targets.
• Close or reassign the top persistent blockers and commit to next actions for remaining items.
• Agree the prioritized enhancement list and operational plan for the coming quarter.
• Update the enhancement backlog with priorities, acceptance criteria, and target delivery quarters.
• Reconfirm success criteria and ownership
• Reconcile contract catalog prices and report corrected mappings and outstanding mismatches.
• Present year-to-date outcomes versus baseline
• Validate the realized annual supply savings and working capital reduction against Solution Scope targets.
• Agree a one-year continuous improvement plan with milestones and checkpoints.
• Document outstanding risks to sustained value and assign remediation workstreams.
• Publish the annual outcomes report including reconciliation files and data lineage.
• Schedule quarterly operational checkpoints for the coming year to monitor sustainability.
• Initiate a data quality audit to ensure long-term KPI continuity and confidence.
• Deployment is validated against Solution Scope checklist and any deviations are documented.
• Early adoption baseline established and top 3 user issues identified.
• All critical blockers have owners and target resolution dates.
• Publish deployment validation report with evidence of integrations and data alignment.
• Log critical issues in the shared issue channel and include target resolution dates.
• Circulate an adoption baseline summary and recommended next training sessions.
• Present first measurements against targets
• Confirm whether the two core metrics are trending toward Solution Scope targets or require remediation.
• Agree a short list of corrective actions with deadlines and owners to close identified gaps.
• Confirm evidence package and date for the Acceptance Gate meeting.
• Publish the first-period KPI dashboard with data lineage and confidence notes.
• Execute at least one trace from procedure to order to billing to validate mappings and report findings.
• Correct contract catalog price mismatches identified in the review and report completion.
• Restate acceptance criteria and targets from the Solution Scope
• Produce a documented pass or fail result for each acceptance criterion recorded in the Solution Scope.
• Detailed review on supply cost per procedure trends
• Present outcome data against each acceptance criterion
• Root-cause analysis for metric gaps
• Deployment and data migration validation
• Financial reconciliation and working capital impact
• Early adoption and usage signals
• KPI trendlines and sustainability assessment
• Document pass or fail per criterion and record acceptance decision
• Surgeon-level implant cost variation review
• Agree corrective actions and owners
• Confirm timeline and readiness criteria for Acceptance Gate
• Agree annual continuous improvement roadmap
• Open issues, backlog, and enhancement prioritization
• Remediation plan for any failed criteria
• Blockers and open issues triage
• Close unresolved items and schedule next annual checkpoint
• Agree immediate remediation actions and short-term checkpoints
• Incumbent system wind-down confirmation
• Agree next-quarter operational actions and checkpoints