In long-term care, you are purchasing and restocking tens of items on a daily basis. Keeping track of that can be difficult, which is why we are working to help you connect your physical counts to your EHR. Soon you will be able to document your purchases using our Materials Management tool.
Materials Management Allows You To:
- Create purchase orders. You will see a list of the vendors from whom you purchase and a list of the items you regularly purchase.
- Submit orders to vendors or to your warehouse. These can be items that you regularly carry in stock or have delivered from vendors consistently. They can also be items that you do not routinely use and need on an exceptional basis.
- Vendors fill orders and deliver the complete or partial shipments.
- Receive the orders, scan the purchase order, and confirm that you receive the item(s).
- Manage your warehouse by taking inventory, printing shelf labels, recording physical counts, printing item labels, and reading labels with a scanner to process purchases more quickly.
How It Works
The system connects to General Ledger and is integrated with Accounts Payable. Caretakers communicate to the facility’s warehouse or the vendor what they need (requisition). A nurse can easily enter the system and pull up the catalog of items that are routinely ordered, select the amount, and hit send. Those items—from paper clips to IV bags—are then pulled from the warehouse or delivered by the vendor and then distributed. Their payment is recorded in General Ledger. Some things, of course, will not be part of the facility’s routine, so a special request will be made to purchase from a particular vendor, like a chair from Staples.
After purchases are made, you will then be able to see the amount due along with the date and purchase number. And since the module ties into Accounts Payable, you will be able to check bills after receiving them from vendors. For instance, if you see that you only received eight of the item but are being charged for ten, you can then contact the vendor to get credit.