Member Spotlight: Community Blood Center (Dayton)

Consorta

The Situation: As both a blood center and a tissue bank, the Community Blood Center needs are unique - while they have the need for supplies commonly purchased by hospitals, they lack the purchasing or negotiation power that a hospital or hospital group wields. Trina Pearson, Purchasing Manager for CBC, said that they had negotiated contracts individually with suppliers as well as they could, but to see any more gains they would need the power of a GPO.

The Solution: An ABC GPO participant over 10 years, CBC was in the process of procuring a national GPO with contracts that would be able to meet their tissue banking needs. Around the same time, the newly established GSABC was in negotiations with Consorta, a top 10 GPO that would give GSABC members access to more than 700 contracts.

“As an ABC GPO participant for more than a decade, we were very excited when we found out that GSABC was bringing on Consorta as a partner,” said Pearson. “For those of us that need it, Consorta provides a much larger contract base, but because it's GSABC we know that they can speak on our behalf and they can ensure that contracts for blood center supplies won't get lost.”

The Outcome: While GSABC's institutional knowledge of blood banking and a sense of their allegiance to ABC were factors in the decision to go with Consorta, the bottom line savings were what sealed the deal for CBC.

“We already had a very structured purchasing department, so we weren't as worried about saving time or increasing efficiency,” said Pearson. “Because GSABC has a membership base of 77 members, we have a much louder voice than if we were going it alone or with another GPO.” That leverage and collective voice are what has allowed GSABC to negotiate the best deals through Consorta, and in turn helped CBC to drive down overhead and better serve the community around them.

About Community Blood Center (Dayton): Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services™, an independent, not-for-profit organization, is ISO 9001:2000 Registered. Community Blood Center is the sole provider of blood components to the 23 hospitals in its 15 county service area.  Community Tissue Services™ serves the public through recovery, processing and distribution of human tissue donations used for transplantation. Community Tissue Services™ is composed of eight regional offices and three satellite offices: Dayton, Ohio (Corporate Office); Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; and Toledo, Ohio. Satellite locations: Boise, Idaho; Connersville, Indiana; and Medford, Oregon.