Overcoming Data Sourcing Hurdles: Why RPCs Need a Trusted Technology Partner

The Strategic Case for Partnership

Regional purchasing coalitions (RPCs) aim to improve member outcomes by leveraging collective buying power. Yet they often face persistent challenges: fragmented data, manual sourcing inefficiencies, inconsistent systems, and slow request for proposal (RFP) cycles. These hurdles can dilute impact and distract teams from strategic priorities.

Partnering with a trusted technology ally helps RPCs overcome these obstacles—delivering safer, smarter, and more efficient outcomes by enabling you to:

1. Measure Data Intelligently, with Intent
   Fragmented member data often prevents visibility and slows analytics. Technology partners can unify and enrich data—and build systems that support accurate, scalable insights.
2. Unlock Real Purchasing Power, Securely
   By aggregating spend into a secure, centralized repository, RPCs enable precise sourcing strategies and stronger negotiation outcomes.
3. Harmonize Disparate Systems
   Members often use different naming conventions and information systems. A skilled partner helps clean, standardize, and integrate that data—producing a consistent, analytics-ready dataset.
4. Create Rapid, Responsive Sourcing
   Traditional RFPs may take months—rendering data obsolete by launch. Automation and workflow enhancements streamline sourcing cycles, ensuring decisions remain timely and aligned with current needs.
5. Scale Sustainably, Without Complexity
   Manual consolidation across spreadsheets quickly becomes untenable as organizations grow. A technology partner can introduce scalable infrastructure that supports expansion without sacrificing quality or accuracy.
6. Boost Contract Compliance
   Compliance ensures favorable pricing and supplier credibility. With monitoring tools and analytics, RPCs gain visibility and control—reinforcing negotiated contracts and building trust.
7. Amplify Strategic Focus
   Automation reduces manual tasks, freeing RPC teams to focus on value-added initiatives like member engagement, variation reduction, and coalition growth.

Strengthening RPC Supply Chain Operations: Key Practices

RPCs face increasing pressure to deliver both cost savings and supply chain resilience. To meet these demands, RPC leaders should focus on the following practices:

• Build on Broad, Reliable Data Sources
  Prioritize access to group purchasing organization-agnostic, comprehensive datasets that allow coalitions to standardize across facilities and support confident decision-making.
• Implement Early Disruption Detection
  Monitor recalls and supply disruptions proactively, and establish processes to identify safe, evidence-based substitutes quickly. Automating this work reduces risk and protects continuity of care.
• Leverage Benchmarking and Analytics
  Use comparative data to uncover cost variances, track spending trends, and highlight high-value alternatives. AI-enabled tools can help spot utilization inefficiencies and standardization opportunities.
• Adopt Predictive Decision Support
  Incorporate predictive modeling to anticipate equipment replacement needs, identify emerging risks, and strengthen negotiation positions with suppliers.
• Deliver Actionable Insights to Leaders
  Provide executives with near real-time dashboards that reveal pricing disparities, utilization patterns, and opportunities for improvement at every level of the organization.

By adopting these strategies and leveraging a trusted technology partner, RPCs can make faster, evidence-based decisions, reduce variability, and build more resilient supply chains—ultimately improving both cost control and patient outcomes.

Discover how ECRI's supply chain solutions can help your coalition scale smarter and drive savings.