What is Medical Group Purchasing?
Medical group purchasing is about saving money on what you already buy for your practice, simply by being part of a larger community—one that can negotiate wholesale pricing.
There’s power in numbers!
Hospitals, especially multi-location centers, take advantage of group purchasing organization (GPO) programs every day. They purchase under a single account that serves multiple doors, giving them ability to negotiate deep discounts.
As an individual physician or solo practitioner, you may think that group purchasing does not apply to you. However, there are GPO programs (such as the one we’ve set up at Power2Practice) that allow physicians like you to harness group purchasing power. You continue to operate in the same way with the same autonomy, but are part of a larger community that can leverage significant discounts.
How Group Purchasing Works
The first step to obtaining a membership in a medical group purchasing organization (GPO) is to self-identify. By using the Power2Practice EMR software, you’ll be automatically bundled in to our group purchasing community and will have the ability to “opt-in” at any time. When you do, all of your registration, ordering, shipping and payment information remains separate, including:
- Your medical ID number
- Your tax ID number
- Your practice address
- Credit card/purchase order information
- Contact representative
What is Bundling?
The term “bundling” is when an organization leverages large volumes of purchasing power to command higher discounts from manufacturers, distributors and other vendors. The organization then turns around and passes the discounts along to the group members, thus reducing costs on supplies, services and equipment.
How Power2Practice’s Medical GPO is Organized
- Like a co-op
- Purchasing power is disbursed among all members of the group
- You buy what you want and need, but don’t have to buy more than you need to meet minimums
- You can buy a single item, small quantities or large quantities
- Governed by a single entity that shepherds the buyers into a discount program
Items Available Through Power2Practice’s GPO
- Lab tests and supplies
- Computers and software
- Food, drinks and break room items
- Medical/surgical supplies
- Pharmaceuticals
- Office supplies and furniture
- Many services, including human resource procurement, patient support services, IT support and capital asset management
Choosing Your Companies
Once you have joined a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) like the one we offer at Power2Practice, you select the companies you want to receive discounts from. With hundreds of reputable organizations aligning to make their wares available to GPO members, you will have many to choose from.
- In some cases, the GPO itself will simply register your name and you will receive access to discounts.
- Other organizations may have a separate form for you to fill out or a private website with a unique code for discounts.
- Your GPO can also make recommendations on the best deals from certain companies.
Dispelling Common Misperceptions About GPOs
One of the biggest benefits of joining a GPO is flexibility. As part of a medical GPO, you do not have to change your purchasing habits at all. Because you are shopping in the same membership group as other physicians, your order is bundled with other doctors (though shipped separately and securely).
A few other myths…
1) There is no specific place. You do not have to go to a building or shop. Your discounts are available online and in places you may already shop, but there is no single location required.
2) You are in a group, but there are no group activities. There are no meetings, roll calls, assemblies or responsibilities. You are part of an exclusive group, designated by your physician status only.
3) Joining a group costs you only the amount of time in which you need to get up-to-speed on the program. There are no fees, no commitments, no charges.
- Nothing is added on to your purchase price
- You are not billed for membership or access
4) You will not find minimums like a standard wholesaling store. Yes, you can buy supplies in extremely high quantities if you wish, but you don’t have to! Your order will be bundled together with other orders, which meets those higher quantity minimums without forcing you to keep more than you need on-hand.
5) Your orders are guaranteed to be complete and delivered on time.
Interested in Joining a Group Purchasing Community?
Power2Practice, the first EMR dedicated to lifestyle-based medicine, has an Integrative medical GPO community built right in.
Along with access to significant discounts, Power2Practice will help simplify your most time-intensive tasks-in ways that conventional EMRs don’t. Power2Practice provides all the standard EMR functions, plus additional features that suit Integrative Medicine, such as custom compound e-prescribing, integration with specialty laboratories and a robust set of patient engagement tools ensure that your practice operates with maximum efficiency.
