Is your hospital conducting quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with your suppliers? Chances are, probably not. Meetings between hospitals and suppliers have become increasingly rare over the past several years (a trend which wasn’t helped at all by the pandemic). Across every sector, workers are reporting high amounts of so-called “QBR fatigue” – showing a strong distaste for the often unclear objectives, endless amounts of slides, and unproductive internal squabbles about data that go along with them. And on one hand, it’s hard to blame them: at its worst, the mere mention of an upcoming QBR can send participants scrambling to make an appointment at the DMV or a schedule that long-overdue root canal. On the other hand, however, well-run QBRs are a great opportunity to regularly check-in with suppliers, review the scope of business, identify creative financing solutions where necessary, and give both parties a chance to identify any gaps in their expectations of each other so these can be addressed promptly.
Commit to regular QBRs, focusing on relevant content with clear objectives. QBRs are an incredibly valuable way to stay up-to-date on the status of key contracts, strengthen relationships with your suppliers, and give you a forum to discuss how to best reach your goals. It might take a little work to get everyone to recommitted to the process at first, but a good meeting should produce benefits that far outweigh the effects of QBR fatigue. To maximize the meeting’s impact for everyone involved, industry experts suggest prioritizing active participation, automating processes where you can, and making an effort to deviate from a one-size-fits-all review format to provide a more personalized touch. And when aligning your goals each quarter begins to positively impact your bottom line, your teammates will quickly come around to seeing the merits of the QBR.
A Miga community hospital client was recently reminded just how valuable QBRs are when they sat down to review their relationship with a diagnostic imaging equipment supplier after a long hiatus of formal QBRs. During the meeting, they learned that a service contract covering several mission-critical systems had expired, exposing the hospital to substantial out-of-pocket service costs. A new replacement agreement was completed quickly. Just in time, too: the next week, a part failure on a CT scanner (which would have cost more than $130,000) ended up being covered as a result. It pays to make time for quality QBRs!