3 Ways to Reduce Healthcare Monthly Spending

Authored by Heather Good

Medical gas is a critical component of the medical industry. From liquid nitrogen-powered cryo-freezers to portable O2 cylinders, gas is the fuel that drives healthcare. However, managing a facility’s gas supply can be tricky.

Healthcare companies often face inconsistent medical gas pricing and invoicing issues

To keep patients safe and healthy, the Healthcare Industry must keep an inventory of medical gases on hand, such as oxygen (O2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Medical gases are used by a wide variety of other industries, including veterinarians, welders, and beverage companies. This popularity makes medical gases a hot commodity whose price and availability fluctuate due to supply and demand. These fluctuations, if not monitored, can cause massive price increases, and create major headaches for the Healthcare Industry. 

Here are a few ways to regain control of gas supply and reduce monthly medical gas spend:

• Check Invoices for Price Increases: One of the most prevalent causes of overspending on gas is that the buyer simply stopped checking the prices on their gas invoices. By skipping the fine print, they didn’t notice suppliers increasing gas prices year-over-year or that the cost of rented equipment was starting to add up. Because gas prices vary based on demand, it always pays to check the rates on your invoices.

• Purchase Equipment Instead of Renting: When it comes to gas equipment – carts, racks, regulators – it may seem at first that it’s more cost-effective to rent equipment instead of buying it. But rental fees can add up fast. To save money in the long run and lower month-to-month costs, we suggest buying gas equipment instead of renting it. Of course, purchasing may not be a fit for every company or product, but it’s a good option for large facilities and hospitals that require a lot of cylinders and tanks.

Healthcare companies can reduce monthly gas spend

Today’s leading companies are finding a better way forward by partnering with a single-source gas provider. This helps provide convenience, reliability, cost-effectiveness, and visibility to their gas spend.

In tandem, to ensure they’re getting the absolute best service, pricing, and support, companies are adopting a data-driven approach to reviewing and understanding gas buying habits. This includes examining every aspect of the gas buying experience and looking for opportunities to uncover ways to save time, money, and headaches.

Without a diagnostic system like this in place, companies have no visibility into what they are paying for gas supply, no idea how many gas cylinders they own, and some don’t even know how many suppliers they are utilizing. This means that, with a diagnostic review, they can uncover spend that they didn’t even know was there. Once this is completed, teams can consolidate billing, which saves time as they are freed up to focus on other more strategic items and decisions rather than the tactical elements of gas supply.

All in all, the time teams get back and the money saved by consolidating invoices is priceless. However, if we had to put a price on it, it’s clear that gas spend can run rampant if unchecked.

For example, a large dental company with more than 400 locations nationwide typically processes a minimum of two invoices per month for each location. With an estimated cost of $21 just to process an invoice, this group is spending more than $200,000 annually just on gas invoicing processes alone. And, while this number will fluctuate depending on the company, industry, and more, it paints a clear picture – organizations can save money by optimizing their gas supply and management processes.

A data-driven approach to medical gas supply

It’s important to connect your company with a resource that can manage prices, supply, and invoicing, so you don’t have to. Customers should be working with a single contract and one point of contact to make it easy to manage and communicate questions, changing needs, and concerns.

To learn more about our different gases or to find which medical gas is right for you, contact our experts.