Purchasing Trading Partners Feedback Process for Purchase Practice Refinement
First Claim
1. A method of generating a periodic purchase report outlining non-compliant or non-optimal purchases using a computer system comprising one or more processors, the method comprising:
- obtaining contract information pertaining to pricing available to a purchasing entity, as made available through a contract portfolio;
obtaining purchase history information comprising purchases made by the purchasing entity, the purchase history information comprising information pertaining to analysis of previous non-compliant or non-optimal purchases;
analyzing, on the one or more processors, the purchase history information versus alternative purchasing possibilities defined in the contract portfolio;
identifying instances where a different purchase choice could have resulted in a lower cost for the purchasing entity, wherein the identifying of instances are based, in part, on the purchase history information; and
collecting the identified cases into a report for presentation to the purchasing entity.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for refining repetitive purchases using historical feedback and contractual data are disclosed. For example, parties to a pharmaceutical purchase transaction typically include one or more of a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO), vendor or manufacturing drug company, wholesaler, and a purchaser, such as a hospital or hospital group. In a typical pharmaceutical purchase transaction, several (possibly inconsistent) agreements can be in place between the parties to the transaction. Disclosed are methods and systems to collect, from a plurality of data sources, information pertaining to negotiated contract prices of pharmaceutical and surgical supplies. Also disclosed is a periodic process to provide purchasing suggestions and receive further feedback from purchasers and suppliers to refine the activities of the purchaser and/or supplier. For example, a purchaser could be informed of a different order placement option which could result in a cost savings based on currently available pricing/purchase agreements.
36 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of generating a periodic purchase report outlining non-compliant or non-optimal purchases using a computer system comprising one or more processors, the method comprising:
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obtaining contract information pertaining to pricing available to a purchasing entity, as made available through a contract portfolio; obtaining purchase history information comprising purchases made by the purchasing entity, the purchase history information comprising information pertaining to analysis of previous non-compliant or non-optimal purchases; analyzing, on the one or more processors, the purchase history information versus alternative purchasing possibilities defined in the contract portfolio; identifying instances where a different purchase choice could have resulted in a lower cost for the purchasing entity, wherein the identifying of instances are based, in part, on the purchase history information; and collecting the identified cases into a report for presentation to the purchasing entity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 29)
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15. A method of processing a non-compliant or non-optimal purchase report, on one or more programmable processing units, to provide feedback relative to a purchasing entity, the method comprising:
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receiving a feedback report from a purchasing entity wherein the report comprises at least one completed reason code in a feedback field associated with a non-compliant or non-optimal item purchase record, the item purchase record also associated with a first unique product identifier; identifying, using one of the one or more programmable processing units, at least one item purchase record from a second purchasing entity in an overlapping time period corresponding to the first unique product identifier; determining instances where the first purchasing entity provided a reason code of manufacturer back order (MBO) and the item purchase record from the second purchasing entity indicates a non back order status; and saving the determined instances to a memory. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 30)
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18. A method of processing a non-compliant or non-optimal purchase report from a purchasing entity, on one or more programmable processing units, to provide feedback relative to a first distribution center, the method comprising:
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receiving a feedback report from a purchasing entity wherein the report comprises at least one completed reason code in a feedback field associated with a non-compliant or non-optimal item purchase record, the item purchase record also associated with a first unique product identifier; identifying, using one of the one or more programmable processing units, at least one item purchase record from a second purchasing entity in an overlapping time period also corresponding to the first unique product identifier, wherein the first purchasing entity and the second purchasing entity are serviced by a common distributor; determining instances where the first purchasing entity provided a reason code of not stocked at a first distribution center; identifying at least one instance where the second purchasing entity did not provide a reason code of not stocked at a second distribution center; and calculating a potential cost savings across the group of purchasing entities if the first distribution center had stocked the item corresponding to the first unique product identifier at sufficient quantities for purchases by the group of purchasing entities serviced by the first distribution center. - View Dependent Claims (19, 31)
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20. A method of processing a non-compliant or non-optimal purchase report, on one or more programmable processing units, to provide feedback relative to a purchasing entity, the method comprising:
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receiving a feedback report from a first purchasing entity wherein the report comprises at least one completed reason code in a feedback field associated with a non-compliant or non-optimal item purchase record, the item purchase record also associated with a unique product identifier; determining instances where the first purchasing entity provided a reason code indicating hospital preference; analyzing the comment field associated with the item purchase record corresponding to the reason code indicating hospital preference; determining if the comment field contains a valid rationale for hospital preference status; and storing a status indicating a result of the comment field analysis. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32)
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Specification