A OPME management, which means orthoses, prosthetics and implantable medical devices, is one of the biggest challenges for healthcare providers on a daily basis.
This is mainly because they are expensive materials, which require technology and information management and professionals from different areas.
Here on our blog we have already talked about OPME management bringing three tips on how to have efficient management in your operator.
It's a subject that raises a lot of doubts, so we've put together some essential practices that you can carry out with your health plan provider to increase your efficiency of your OPME management, in addition to avoiding the risk of irregularities and major losses with these materials. Check out this post until the end and put the tips into practice! ; )
Importance of OPME management
Before we talk about tips for your operator to increase efficiency in OPME management, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of care in these cases and why this subject has been increasingly highlighted.
Having good management in operations involving OPMEs and ensuring that their processes are carried out in a qualified and safe manner means that everyone involved wins.
The beneficiary, for example, sees a reduction in the impacts of poor OPME management when there is no occurrence of waste and a lower care cost generated, since OPME can represent from 15 to 30% of the operators' total care costs.
Therefore, investing in processes, increasing the qualifications of professional teams, planning carefully and operating rigorously guarantee benefits for both the agents in the business chain involved and the providers.
And with that in mind, now discover four tips to increase the efficiency of this management in your operator!
1. Monitor medical prescriptions made
Taking care of the entire OPME journey, including the storage of these materials, is essential to ensure that waste is reduced.
And this care must begin at the medical prescription stage, in which medical requests received by the authorization sectors are carefully analyzed to verify the true need for use.
When this occurs, the operator is able to better control OPME outputs, such as quantity, risk assessment and control of the use of materials.
Furthermore, for each material requested and used, the records must be updated and stored for later checking.
2. Ensure good OPME logistics
All the OPME logistics process, such as receipt, storage and distribution, must comply with the requirements of supervisory bodies.
When products enter organizations, all documentation must be checked and updated, and this is a process that can be carried out electronically.
Storage must have a specific location dedicated to OPME and access to the environment and movements within the location must be restricted and with the particularities of each material respected.
Finally, when items are distributed, shipping forms and movement rules must be met so that OPMEs can be shipped safely.
3. Trade OPME successfully
In everyday life, manage your OPME stock, there will continually be a need to purchase new materials according to incoming demands.
This way, learn how to negotiate this purchase so that you can maximize your profit and reduce expenses incurred.
Information such as volume of materials purchased, market prices, technical characteristics of each product, distribution of suppliers by region, among others, can generate advantages during the purchasing process and favor your relationships.
How about mapping the products most demanded by your operations, looking for the best-rated suppliers who usually negotiate with your operator and, thus, evaluating your best options on the market?!
4. Carry out internal audit and preventive actions in OPME management
OPME management can be more effective if there is close monitoring and control of the process by the operator's management.
Carrying out periodic audits, inventories with reports and preventive actions that enable the evaluation of the operator's results favor the necessary compliance.
Auditors carry out checks, establish protocols, provide indications and monitor management results with the aim of ensuring that the operator meets the requested requirements.
Have an audit system in your operator and optimize your management!
Managing OPME is not an easy activity and all the tips we brought you in this post can have an even greater impact if we use technology to our advantage.
With this premise, SAUDI is a medical audit system specialized in maintaining the financial health of health plan operators, with immediate results in the first 3 months.
It has software that automates the account auditing process and, in OPME management, increases reliability and avoids waste.
Contact us and understand how we can help you with OPME management.
