Mercy debuts new spinal implant distribution system

Mercy Health System recently debuted a new distribution system for spinal implants to effectively market, distribute and service the products in the health care field.

In collaboration with ROi, the supply chain organization it founded, Mercy partnered with original equipment managers to reduce spine surgery costs by eliminating the “middle men” and consolidating the number of implant suppliers selling to the health system, according to a press release from Mercy.

“The main factor is maintaining the same high-quality patient outcomes while lowering cost. It is hard to look at the traditional spine sales model and not come away with the feeling that there is a lot of opportunity to eliminate things that don’t add value,” Alan Scarrow, MD, president of Mercy Clinic, told Spine Surgery Today. “For example, we have cut our price for a pedicle screw significantly in large part due to all of the spine surgeons agreeing on a single supplier and eliminating outside sales people in the room.”

Through the new system, the roles of group purchasing organizations, distributors and sales representatives — traditionally held by third parties — are managed by ROi for Mercy. This includes hiring full-time workers to manage sales and service elements of spine surgeries.

“Spine surgery and other high-cost procedures like heart surgery, cancer treatment, transplants, and orthopedics have entered an era of value. That value is proportional to the quality of the outcome and inversely proportional to the cost,” Scarrow said. “Focusing on those two factors is the best way I can see to enhance our success. There are many factors, including supply chain expertise, willingness of suppliers to think differently and physicians leading the way, which are part of the success of making this new model possible.” – by Robert Linnehan