ABSTRACT
Almost all U.S. hospitals procure their equipment through group purchasing organizations ("GPOs"). Some hospitals subject the prices secured by GPOs to a second round of competition in an "aftermarket," in which vendors both on and off the GPO contract compete for the hospital's business. To measure the extent of the potential benefit to hospitals from another round of competition, we analyzed a database of approximately 8,100 aftermarket transactions for hospital capital equipment. The transactions data suggest that hospitals were able to achieve average savings of approximately 10 to 14 percent across the entire database (2001 through 2010) and a savings of 15 percent on average for 2010 data. These savings may be attributable to many factors, including the compensation structure of GPOs.
Subject(s)
Economic Competition/economics , Equipment and Supplies, Hospital/economics , Group Purchasing/economics , Materials Management, Hospital/economics , Purchasing, Hospital/economics , Cost Savings , Group Purchasing/legislation & jurisprudence , Humans , United StatesABSTRACT
A lack of entrepreneurial behaviour has often been highlighted as a contributor to the decline in the research and development (R&D) productivity of the pharmaceutical industry. Here, we present an assessment of entrepreneurship in the industry, based on interviews with 26 former and current leaders of R&D departments at major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Factors are highlighted that could be important in promoting entrepreneurial behaviour, which might serve as a catalyst for revitalizing R&D productivity.
Subject(s)
Biotechnology/organization & administration , Drug Industry/organization & administration , Entrepreneurship , Biotechnology/economics , Drug Design , Drug Industry/economics , Efficiency, Organizational , Humans , Research/economics , Research/organization & administrationABSTRACT
This study estimated expected damage and casualties in Shelby County, Tennessee and Los Angeles County, California due to selected scenario earthquakes, Costs for various levels of building strengthening are then estimated and compared with resulting from mitigation measures is also estimated. Benefit/cost ratios are developed of various mitigation strategies in the two counties. Comparison of benefit/cost ratios may provide guidance in application of eearthquake mitigation investments (AU)
