16 March 2018

Checklist of Purchase department for NABH accreditation preparation



The purchase department helps in steady supply of materials required in hospital for daily functioning. This requires a good deal of planning and management, as any disruption in functioning of purchase may cause disruption in supply of essential items, which can adversely affect various functions of hospital including healthcare. Also, as purchase function involves a large amount of money, an inefficient management can significantly add to the cost burden of running a hospital. Following practices are recommended for purchase, which if implemented appropriately can tremendously boost its efficiency.
As most of the work in purchase in a hospital is related to medicines and pharmaceuticals, it is highly recommended that this checklist must be used along with the checklist of Pharmacy.

Purchase:
1.       A documented purchase policy should be available that specifies who has the authority for taking purchase decision, according to the amount of purchase
2.       Purchase of capital items (beyond a defined cost) should always be done through a multi-disciplinary committee. The committee must consist of representative from the user department (where the purchased item is going to be used), representative from finance, management and purchase department

3.       Record of committee meeting for purchase decisions should be maintained in form of minutes of meeting.
4.       Purchase should always be planned. Any emergency or unplanned purchase should be recorded and assessed to find out the root causes
5.       For items of recurring nature, purchase should be done through vendors who are empanelled/registered with the hospital. Purchase done from other vendors should be considered as unplanned purchase
6.       A defined process with criteria should be in place to register/empanel the vendor
7.       For capital item purchase, supplier should be selected based upon pre-defined criteria. A multidisciplinary committee should take part in selection of supplier.
8.       A written understanding should be made with each registered vendor, which should specify the terms and conditions
9.       A vendor/supplier evaluation mechanism should be in place to continue purchasing from good vendors and reducing poor vendors. The evaluation criteria for vendors should be based on quality parameters.
10.   A vendor/supplier policy should be available that specifies, requirements that vendors must fulfil and what actions to be taken for vendor evaluation result
11.   Purchase procedure should be transparent and all records should be maintained, including
a.   Purchase decision (in case of capital items), in form of committee meeting minutes and written purchase order from authority
b.       Purchase order
c.       Goods received note from stores
d.       Goods inspection report by stores
e.       Invoice and bills, reflecting appropriate taxes
f.        Copy of payment receipt
g.       Suppliers’ bids evaluation records (in case of capital item purchase)

12.   Payment should be done only after receiving good received note from stores
13.   Other than purchase records following records should be maintained by purchase department
a.       Vendor empanelment/registration document
b.       Vendor evaluation form
c.       Minutes of purchase committee meeting
d.       Documents received along with goods from supplier
e.       Documents pertaining to warranty, legal clearances etc.
(Check this post on all legal documents required by a hospital)

Quality indicators
1.       % of local purchase made
2.       % of vendors with high score in vendor evaluation
3.       % of delays in receiving stocks
4.       % of rejection in goods inspection report
5.       % of stock out due to delay in purchase function

Checklists of other departments