Hospitals require vendor credentialing to manage their supply chains efficiently while ensuring all vendors comply with facility policies. Digitized vendor credentialing cuts operating expenses, helps hospitals control the revolving door of daily visitors, and enhances workforce safety.
A lack of technology solutions for tracking and verifying vendors is one of the most common pain points reported by healthcare supply chain managers, who often raise concerns about the legal implications of inadequate vendor management systems. Gaps in vendor management also put the physical and virtual safety of patients and data at risk. Once a comprehensive system of secure vendor credentialing is in place, hospitals can take full advantage of the benefits of vendor management.
Benefits of Modernizing Your Vendor Credentialing Capabilities
Old-school methods of vendor credentialing, including the time-consuming process of verifying paper-based compliance documents, simply cannot keep pace with the number of vendors who require access to today’s hospitals and medical facilities. Medical software for hospitals digitalizes the vendor credentialing process, resulting in multiple benefits.
Save Time
Hospital vendor credentialing services provide access to vendor-related information on a single platform, reducing the risk of time-consuming human errors, administrative inefficiencies, and missing documents. Thanks to digital technology, hospitals can quickly verify the compliance of vendor representatives, produce audit-ready reports, and make compliance portable across facilities using the same platform.
Cut Costs
The administrative cost of vendor credentialing is a serious consideration. Implementing credentialing software is an investment, but the cost of running an outdated vendor management system or a manual process is far higher over the long term. The expenses of chasing paperwork and data loss delayed compliance, and the resulting loss of productivity added up. It also takes up time that could be spent on other mission-critical tasks, especially at a time when healthcare is going through a staff shortage crisis. Vendor management services prevent such issues from eating into facility profits.
Enhance Data Security
Maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of patients, employees, customers, and clients is critical to any medical facility but a challenge that becomes ever more difficult in a healthcare world where big data is an essential tool. Attempting to navigate and secure data manually has become an impossible task that pushes hospital administration past its limits.
One of the most important benefits of digital solutions is the ability to collate and control sensitive data. Secure vendor credentialing ensures that only authorized personnel access vendor data, enhancing trust in healthcare interactions while reducing the risk of financial penalties due to data violations.
Reduce Risk
The presence of non-compliant vendors on-site increases a facility’s third-party risks. Vendor management systems check vendors' compliance in real-time, preventing non-compliant vendor representatives from accessing your facility until they meet your credential requirements. Having vendors’ digital credential files on a single platform also helps facilities be prepared when audits roll around. The rich reporting capabilities and actionable insights provided by digital solutions protect facilities’ reimbursements and reputations.
Improve Compliance with Increased Visibility
Vendor credentialing services alert you to compliance issues that might otherwise go unnoticed. The digital technology routinely updates compliance information, comparing vendor data to your current policies, alerting your facility to existing discrepancies, as well as proactively requesting updated documentation before vendors fall out of compliance. Unauthorized access to healthcare facilities is increasingly becoming a serious issue, given concerns about healthcare security and potentially dangerous site visitors.
Final Thoughts on The Benefits of Digitizing Vendor Credentialing
Vendor credentialing solutions increase operational efficiencies while ensuring a compliant and safe healthcare environment. It’s even better when the credentialing process is managed by a technology partner and the technology doesn’t require capital expenditure, licensing fees or upfront investment to facilities.
Contact IntelliCentrics today to learn how our vendor credentialing service can improve your facility’s efficiency and security.
