Real Savings: This is probably quixotic, since the definition of savings is so distorted that this metric is often useless. Even cost studies that compare a market basket of current products are prone to much mischief. For example, those that saved the most last year might have earned that distinction by being spendthrifts the year before....or they call any discount from list price a "savings." The definition is simply too slippery.

Membership commitment percentage: Instead of some membership total, more relevant might be the number (or percentage) of members that fully participate, members that use a single GPO for, say, 50 percent of the member's total spending. This would separate loyal, committed members from the casual.


A vendor's perspective
Certainly a prospective vendor would provide additional price reductions to gain access to membership that was proven highly committed, and so too might they love to see how much marketing GPOs do for their contracts. Further, knowing the growth rates of recent contract awards could attest to the effectiveness of GPO marketing.

The competition among GPOs is intense, and their offerings include many different services, but adoption of one over another should not be a political consideration, but one based on facts. This proposal is by no means complete, and we would enjoy hearing other considerations for better measurements of GPOs. To share your thoughts, contact me at dbaker@dotmed.com.

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