Improved IHS Material Support: More Health Care for the Dollar
Abstract
In 1988, the Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), spent about $82 million to provide its hospitals and clinics with pharmaceuticals, supplies, and subsistence. From that amount, we believe that IHS can save between $7 million and $13 million by improving the service it receives from its major supplier, PHS's Supply Service Center at Perry Point, Md., and by changing its own inefficient supply methods. We recommend three major steps that PHS and IHS should take to achieve those savings. First, we recommend the PHS take immediate steps to transfer control and operation of its supply service center at Perry Point to IHS. The Perry Point Center is the most significant Government supply source for IHS, and IHS is by far the Center's largest customer. Yet, in comparison with other government supply depots, the Perry Point Center offers IHS poor service and charges it higher prices. In fact, IHS's own central warehouses routinely outperform the Perry Point Center. We attribute the Center's poor performance to the absence of a well-defined mission and to inadequate guidance from its parent agency, the Health resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which has no internal need for a large supply depot. Because it stands to benefit from better medical material support, IHS has a much stronger incentive than HRSA to lower the Perry Point Center's prices and raise its level of service. Transferring the Center to IHS control is the best near-term way for the agency to reduce supply system costs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA230178
Entities
People
- Richard Nolan
Organizations
- LMI