Broadlane's partnership with CTC helps to deliver 24% average savings to its clients

Oct 21 2009

Broadlane has delivered an average savings of 24 percent to healthcare clients by partnering with Compression Therapy Concepts (CTC), a certified, small-business, woman-owned diversity supplier of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) prevention products. The relationship has also increased CTC’s market share within the Broadlane client base from less than 1 percent to approximately 60 percent.

The Broadlane Supplier Diversity Program proactively seeks historically underutilized businesses (HUBs) to participate in contracting opportunities and chooses to include suppliers that reflect its diverse client base. The program encourages community economic development, supports Broadlane clients’ supplier diversity purchasing goals and builds successful business relationships with HUBs. In particular, Broadlane helped one large client increase diversity supplier spending by 360 percent and $23 million in one year.

“Broadlane’s work with diverse suppliers such as CTC benefits clients and suppliers,” said Tom Sherry, acting president and chief operating officer, Broadlane. “We present business opportunities for our clients with diverse suppliers as an option to choose the best value at the best price. This model generally delivers savings to the client and increases market share for the smaller, underutilized businesses that have comparable, if not better, quality products at a better value. Everyone wins.”

Broadlane began working with CTC in 2006 after years of working with a large sole-source supplier. Broadlane’s client-driven contracting process enables clients to realize optimal savings on the highest quality products. Field evaluations by Broadlane clients confirmed CTC’s high-quality products, and CTC’s competitive pricing model utilizing garment reprocessing made a contract with CTC an obvious choice.

Despite high-quality products and value-based pricing, Broadlane’s clients were concerned about awarding and converting to a supplier with a very small field staff and a low inventory of available pumps. Broadlane worked with CTC to develop a phased implementation plan that allowed this small company to increase their cash flow so they could invest in more DVT pumps and field support personnel for the next implementation. Based on this implementation plan, Broadlane’s clients chose to award a five-year agreement to CTC. Immediately after the contract award, a seamless eight-month implementation began. Of the then 20,000 installed base of DVT pumps at Broadlane’s customers, 12,000 were converted to CTC. Those customers began realizing average savings of 24 percent.

“CTC works hard to deliver quality products at the best value, but as a small, woman-owned business, we don’t often get the chance that larger, more well-known suppliers receive,” said Len Nass, vice president, sales, CTC. “We are grateful for our relationship with Broadlane. Their clients chose to do business with CTC, and Broadlane worked with us to make the implementation work. As a result, we’ve dramatically increased market share and provided a great product at a great price.”