3 Ways to Keep Pace with Rapid Advancements in Medical Device Technology

Ascent Solutions Extends Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud and Health Cloud

The healthcare and life sciences industry has come a long way from the days of tending to wounds with wine-soaked bandages. Efficiently managing medical device inventory, clinical trials, and equipment rentals is a rapidly growing area within the sector. Hospitals, clinics, treatment centers, veterinarians, and other medical device sales and service providers seek a more organized system to streamline inventory management, asset tracking, and enhance the patient experience. A key driver of this trend has been the FDA, which authorized a record number of new medical devices in 2023, higher than any other year in the history of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (Source: MedTechDive).

As medical technology proliferates within our daily lives, cloud software has expanded, in kind, to ensure manufacturers, distributors, and providers are able to properly manage device inventory and their supply chains. Let’s explore three areas where cloud ERP helps med tech companies dramatically improve operational efficiency.

1. Better Order Management for Complex Manufacturing and Distribution

One area of complexity for healthcare organizations is proper order management for the assembly, distribution, and relationships with third party vendors and regulators (e.g. FDA). Utilizing cloud-based technology to unify data into a single source of truth system is critical for overcoming these complexities. Salesforce, a robust CRM platform, can be extended with Ascent Solutions to offer a comprehensive cloud ERP system for managing medical devices.
Coacto, an Ascent Certified Partner, has implemented Salesforce at numerous healthcare manufacturing and distribution companies and we’ve summarized their most common use cases and benefits related to order management within the industry:

Use Cases

• Unite quote to sales process, services, and rental products; see inventory, lead times, available to promise and quantity on order
• Configuration of products that have variations e.g different voltages, specifications etc.
• Adjust pricing rules based time periods, percentage discounts, and other business logic

Benefits

• Better supplier/partner/vendor and customer/patient experience
• Break down departmental silos between sales, operations, customer service, warehouse, and financial teams
• Ability to embrace data and process-driven pricing and product management

2. Streamline Inventory Management for Medical Devices

As medical device technology has advanced, so has the need to effectively manage inventory. Cloud ERP allows businesses to track devices in real-time, ensuring they have full visibility into stock levels, usage, and availability. Inventory managers can automate manual processes, such as stock reordering, which helps prevent shortages or overstocking of critical devices. This level of automation enhances operational efficiency and ensures that hospitals and clinics always have the necessary equipment on hand to serve patients.

Use Cases

• Support clinical trials, some of which extend and require additional or reduced products and services
• Track serial numbered products allowing the rental, repair, and order history to follow the physical product inventory
• Return Material Authorization (RMA), Return to Vendor (RTV), and Rented Equipment Return allows sales and rental products to be returned while keeping inventory consistent

Benefits

• Real-time visibility into stock levels with automated restocking and alerts
• Reduced risk of stockouts or overstocking
• Centralized information/dashboard for tracking device locations and availability

3. Cross-departmental Compliance and Control

Lastly, effective procurement management is vital for healthcare manufacturers and distribution organizations within a highly regulated industry. While the FDA has approved a record number of new medical devices, they still closely monitor companies to ensure safety standards are continuously met. This includes a Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) system to address quality and product issues, which can be done within cloud ERP reporting/analytics. Thus, organizations must ensure products, sub-assemblies/parts, and vendors/suppliers are properly sourced, vetted, and managed to remain in compliance.

Use Cases

• Manage sourcing of new products as part of the sales process that is in lock-step with procurement.
• Purchase order (PO) management allows products for a specific trial to be ordered and allocated to a trial using staging.
• Create all types of invoices: (1) Products and services sold in a month, alongside product rentals (2) Ad hoc invoices for damaged or returned items (3) Early return invoices made before the contractual end dates and (4) Monthly invoices with a validation process for sales orders.

Benefits

• Break down departmental silos between sales, service, and finance.
• Streamline front and back office processes for more visibility and accountability.
• Improve accuracy and save time by reducing manual processes for POs and invoices.

Industry Perspective

Clinical ink, a leading medical device company, utilized Ascent Certified Partner Mamoon to implement a cloud ERP system with its existing Salesforce configuration, so the solution would meet all of their needs. Clinical ink now easily imports large quantities of new serialized items into the cloud-based system and manages a returns model for a large number of serialized inventory items – over 40,000. Read the full case study here.

To sum up, healthcare and life sciences companies continue to evolve and require cloud-based technology to effectively manage medical device inventory and rentals. Systems that are able to simplify complex processes, reduce manual errors, and improve efficiency, like Salesforce & Ascent Solutions, will continue to empower companies through the next century of med tech innovation.

Learn more about Ascent ERP and Ascent Rental on AppExchange or contact us directly with any questions.