This will be our final Newsletter for 2011. It has been a terrific year for WSHMMA and we are excited about or 2012 Annual Conference agenda. We have included a draft of what we are working on. We have some great speakers with relevant topics on how we can all better "Weather the Pressures of the Times".

Shanna and Michael have written an article on some of our typical year end activities and how we can better prepare for them.

Roberta and Valerie have written an article about WSHMMA including: number of members, number of CMRP's, number of AHRMM members etc.

I have included an article on the CAHPMM conference I attended in October and our annual membership drive.

We will also be offering scholarships to our Board and Members for AHRMM membership. An application is included in this newsletter.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter and the information it provides. Please send us your ideas on how we can improve this newsletter for you. We also welcome articles for the newsletters from our membership.

Happy Holidays to all and I hope you have a blessed season with family and friends.

Donna Bean
President, WSHMMA

Year End Inventory
Shanna Oberbeck, CMRP, President-Elect
Michael Moore, Newsletter Editor

In today's economy of being frugal we're all searching for new ways to save money and defer monies to next year's budget but decreasing yearend inventory may not be the best approach. I have seen some facilities intentionally decrease spending in December in order to accomplish two goals: 1) minimize the yearend inventory value, 2) make it easy for staff to complete inventory counts in an efficient and quick manner.

While both seem like great ideas there are many factors to consider. First, be sure to discuss the net effect with your CFO because there may be an adverse effect for next year's budget. Second, discuss options with your prime vendor because there may be options so as not to disrupt inventory planning and forecasts as it relates to the items for the main storeroom. Going down this pathway could produce low numbers for December and much higher numbers for January thus it becomes essential to make sure all of your business partners [both internal and external] are on the same page; over communicate your intentions to all involved to minimize any issues.

One way to encourage a positive experience for yearend inventory is to make the process fun and rewarding. This will provide for much greater success for future inventory counts.

Great ideas that have worked well in the past include:

• Make sure to plan your inventory well in advance of the fiscal year end date, 6 months in advance is not too soon if you will need to re-label shelves, update requisitions and generally get your supplies back in order.
• Having the staff count in pairs is best for accuracy, one counts while the other scribes.
• Decide who your teams will be, pairing up a Materials person with a non- materials person is the best, since they will know the unit of issue for the product best.
• If there were a lot of write-ins from the previous year, try to access those count sheets and review all of the write-ins. Make sure all of them have been added to the system and given locations etc.
• If you have a large OR to count and have your areas set up by specialty, you can make the process a little easier by setting up the count sheets in books by specialty.
• The OR inventory and the Stock inventory are usually the biggest ones to count. One way to make it less painful is to provide a lunch for everyone. Pizza or Sub sandwiches are usually a big hit and easy to eat.
• If your fiscal year ends on June 30th a barbeque is always fun.
• Another way to make it a fun event and to get more volunteers to help is to have a drawing at lunch time for small gifts. A $25.00 paid visa or gift certificate to one of the local stores is always welcome. It also provides something to look forward to once the counting is done.
• When the counting is done and the counts need to be entered into the system it's always great to have some of the accounting folks come over and help. We usually offer to provide lunch for anyone that is willing to help. It also doesn't hurt for them to get a little overtime if your organization allows.
• If you have scanning capabilities your process will be much faster. If you do cycle counts throughout the year you may be able to eliminate the once a year count of the perpetual inventories altogether.
• When the process is complete you have an opportunity to take a look at the whole process while it's fresh in your mind. Sit down and write down lessons learned and things that could be improved for the next year.

Feel free to visit WSHMMA on Linked-In to offer suggestions or ideas that have worked at your facility.

CAHPMM
Donna Bean
MBA, CMRP, FAHRRM, President, WSHMMA

Our sister chapter in AHRMM region 9, CAHPMM (California Association of Healthcare Purchasing and Materials Management, www.cahpmm.org) held their 38th Annual conference on 10/11 to 10/13/2011 at The Cliffs at Shell Beach Resort. This year it was clear and sunny. The temperatures were in the high 80's and low 90's. It was beautiful!

There was a lot of networking and catching up with peers and vendors.

The agenda included:

• A roundtable of members discussing "Supply Chain Implications of National Healthcare Reform.
• "Supply Chain Trends" - nterprise Performance
• "Evidence Based Purchasing" ECRI
• "PPI Focus on Peripheral Vascular Medicine" Aspen Healthcare Metrics
• "Medicare Value-Based Purchasing. A California Story (Kaweah Health Care District)
• "Best Practices in Reducing Hospital Acquired Infections"- Dr. Alfonso Torres-Cook, Epidemiology at Pacific Hospital Long Beach.
• "Purchased Services Focus: Integrated Waste Management"- Waste Solutions
• Keynote- "The Power of Every Moment"- Bobby Petrocelli
• Best practices round table
• Vendor Exhibits, Networking, Food and Drinks, Networking, games, Networking and prizes.

One of my favorite sessions was Dr. Alfonso Torres-Cook. He made infection control interesting, fun and inexpensive. He has introduced many new ideas on how to reduce HAI's by going back to the basics including simple hand washing, Improving patient hygiene, better cleaning of the "environment" including equipment and regular surface testing for "cleanliness" and the appropriate uses of antibiotics.

He improved the Infections rates while at the same time reduced costs by implementing some procedural changes. These changes included: Peripheral IV cath changes from 72 to 96 hours, In-line suction cath from daily to no change, Central line Catheter change from 7 to 14 days. He added Vitamin C BID to all patients with urinary caths to keep them "acidic" so the bacteria that caused UTI's couldn't survive thereby cutting UTI's significantly.

Another one of my favorites was Anthony Montagnolo from ECRI on "Evidence Based Purchasing. We have invited him to speak at WSHMMA in April on this same topic, so I won't divulge any of his presentation.

WSHMMA 2012 Annual Conference - Seaside, OR
Roberta Wilson
CMRP, Past President, WSHMMA

As we drive in the rain and experience some winter blues, we may want to consider a coastal view and sunshine of Seaside, OR. Feel free to reserve your room. On line registration for the conference will be available soon with a link on our website. The event will be in April 18-20. 2012.

Here are some pictures of the hotel / conference center:

Standard room rate start @ $99 and Ocean view rooms start at $129; please be sure to mention the WSHMMA conference when reserving a room.

More details about the hotel / conference center can be found on their website: www.oceanviewresort.com

Scholarships for AHRMM Membership
Donna Bean
MBA, CMRP, FAHRRM, President, WSHMMA

WSHMMA is offering 3 scholarships to current WSHMMA members for AHRMM membership (Membership is good through the end of the 2012 AHRMM conference). We have included an application for these scholarships in this newsletter and a link on our website (Resources Tab). All applications for scholarships must be submitted by 12/12/11 and you must send in your application to AHRMM before the end of the year.

Membership Drive
Donna R. Bean
MBA, CMRP, FAHRMM, President WSHMMA

WSHMMA has begun our 2011 Membership drive and encourage you to take advantage of reduced rates for groups as small as 3 and as big as 12. You can renew your membership for 2012 as well as sign up new members at a reduced rate. Membership is good for the remainder of 2011 and through 2012. We have included an application in this newsletter as well as a link on our website (Resources Tab). All applications must be submitted by 12/31/11 to get the discounts. Please encourage your materials management colleagues to become a member of WSHMMA for 2012 and beyond.

WSHMMA dues are regularly $29 annually but we do offer group discounts during our Membership drive:
3 for the price of 2 ($50), 5 for the price of 3 ($75), 6 for the price of 4 ($100), Corporate 6+ for $125

Remember, your membership benefits include:

• Regional Education conference
• Networking opportunities
• Professional forum for Solutions
• Access to National AHRMM/AHA Services
• Promotion of the Materials Management Profession
• Newsletters and Membership Communication

Membership Statistics

Chapter Members that are also AHRMM Members 46 Chapter Members that are CMRP and also AHRMM Members 23 New AHRMM Members in 2011 that are also Chapter 10 AHRMM Members that are FAHRMM within our chapter 3   Vendors 33 Non-Vendors 110 Total Members 143 Members by State:  • Washington 82  • Oregon 25  • Alaska 1  • Idaho 4

WSHMMA - Above and Beyond our Annual Conference

The Western States Healthcare Materials Management Association (WSHMMA) is a chapter of the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), a professional group of the American Hospital Association (AHA). WSHMMA was established in 1964 and defines its region as Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana.

The Association's objectives are to:

RECOGNIZE and address the complexities of healthcare materials management.
ELEVATE the value and impact of the materials management profession.
PROVIDE a forum for solutions.

VALUABLE Membership benefits:

• CMRP Certification Coaching Resources
• WSHMMA Newsletter
• Dynamic Website
• Opportunities for Professional Growth
• Leadership In the Promotion of Our Profession
• Peer to Peer Professional Networking
• Access to National AHRMM/AHA Services - educational programs
• Regional Education Conference

Education

The WSHMMA board is trying to determine if the members of WSHMMA would find value and benefit of attending a mid-year education session (face to face) and or a webinar with CEU's [in addition to our spring conference].

Please email our President Donna Bean at Beandr@trinity-health.org if you would attend a mid-year education session and or a webinar AND which you prefer. Thank you!

Social Networking - WSHMMA is now on-line

WSHMMA has had a website for many years and recently we jumped into the social networking world, professionally. WSHMMA now has a group on Linked In. Join the group and let's begin to network on-line. www.LinkedIn.com (to join or learn more about this social network site) http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3921279&trk=hb_side_g (WSHMMA's group can be found using this link)

2011-2012 AHRMM Membership - Scholarship Information

WSHMMA is pleased to offer financial assistance to qualifying members for an AHRMM membership. The following scholarship opportunities are made possible by the support from our vendors who exhibited at the 2011 WSHMMA conference.:

• Board member Scholarship* - Up to (3) $120.00 Scholarships will be given to Current Board members and At Large members who are not currently AHRMM members.
• Member Scholarship - Up to (3) $120 scholarships to WSHMMA members who are not current AHRMM members.

To qualify, you must be a current member of WSHMMA who would like to become an AHRMM member and will commit to keeping both their WSHMMA and AHRMM memberships current for at least another year. Applications must be received by WSHMMA no later than December 12, 2011.
Send Applications to: Donna R. Bean, WSHMMA President at
Saint Alphonsus Medical Center 351 SW 9th Street Ontario, OR 97914 or email to: beandr@trinity-health.org

REQUIREMENTS:

• Applicants must be active WSHMMA members.
• Based on "First come First Get"
• All applicants must provide a letter of commitment.
• Only one scholarship per organization will be awarded.
• All scholarships will be awarded at the sole discretion of WSHMMA President/Board.
• Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
• The applications below can be downloaded under the Resources Tab of the WSHMMA website.

WSHMMA Member Scholarship Application Form

Date submitted: _________________

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please type or print clearly. Illegible applications will not be considered.

QUESTIONS:

Send or email to:
Donna R. Bean, WSHMMA President
Saint Alphonsus Medical Center
351 SW 9th Street
Ontario, OR 97914
beandr@trinity-health.org

WSHMMA Member Scholarship Application Form

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please type or print clearly.

QUESTIONS:

Membership Fee (Choose one):

Send Application (one for each member) with Payment to:
WSHMMA
P.O. BOX 44838
TACOMA, WA 98448-0838

Please share this document with others and encourage them to enroll on-line (www.wshmma.org) to receive more information. If for any reason you do not want to receive information from WSHMMA, please email us at: information@wshmma.org.