Use your head before moving beds: precise planning aids vendor switch.

Converting to a new supply vendor is always a challenge, but when the switch involves patient beds, it gives the term “rollout” new meaning. In late April, Diakon Lutheran Ministries in Topton, PA, completed a four-month, $1.5 million implementation of a new contract with M.C. Healthcare Products in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada, to replace the entire bed stock for Diakon’s eight facilities, plus an 82-bed nursing home it acquired earlier this year. Diakon materials management executive Richard Benjamin, who spent much of his supply chain career in acute-care hospitals, says new, more patient-friendly technology was part of the reason for the decision to upgrade to M.C. Healthcare’s latest models, including the Maxxum line of electric beds. However, he notes that there were also other reasons, such as the financial benefits of standardization on one manufacturer and, just as important, the level of service the supplier provides. Before the change, Diakon had used beds from a variety of manufacturers that had different features and required different skills to operate. Joe O’Brien, a sales representative