Purchased services have become one of the most significant and complex areas of spend. With more than 50% of non-labor costs tied to purchased services, healthcare organizations are turning to group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to help streamline procurement, boost efficiency, and reduce costs.
But not all GPOs in healthcare are created equal. Many providers question: Are we getting full value from our current GPO relationship?
This post offers a strategic checklist for healthcare CFOs, supply chain executives, and sourcing leaders to assess the performance of their GPO and determine whether it’s time for a more data-driven, customized approach like the one offered by Valify.
What “Full Value” from a GPO Should Look Like
At a high level, a high-performing GPO in healthcare should deliver:
- Comprehensive spend visibility
- Category-specific benchmarking
- Access to pre-negotiated contracts
- Flexibility for local and custom contracting
- Advisory support with strategic sourcing expertise
- Rapid speed to value, not just long-term potential
- No hidden fees or restrictive contract terms
Valify’s GPO model is built to support these outcomes through a no-cost, no-minimum, analytics-powered platform for managing purchased services spend.
Strategic Checklist: Are You Getting the Most from Your GPO?
Use the checklist below to evaluate whether your current GPO relationship delivers the strategic, financial, and operational value your health system deserves.
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Do You Have Transparent, Category-Level Spend Insights?
Understanding where and how you’re spending is the foundation of good procurement. Yet many GPOs fall short regarding clean, categorized spend data.
Valify automatically categorizes purchased services expenses across more than 1,400 categories, offering clean, normalized, and real-time views that make opportunity identification immediate and actionable.
What to look for: AI-driven categorization, dynamic dashboards, and insights into off-contract or suboptimal spend.
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Can You Benchmark Pricing and Performance Against Peers?
Pricing without context is not enough. Your GPO should help you understand how your contracts compare to organizations of similar size, specialty, and region.
Valify leverages over $1 trillion in cumulative spend data to help you benchmark not just price, but also supplier performance and service quality.
What to look for: Peer comparisons, pricing benchmarks, and vendor scorecards.
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Do You Have Access to Pre-Negotiated, Competitive Contracts?
Your GPO should offer a broad portfolio of competitively bid contracts with nationally recognized suppliers while leaving room for local or niche vendors.
Valify’s Preferred Supplier Network includes hundreds of purchased services categories and supports aggregated sourcing events that allow multiple members to benefit from volume-based pricing.
What to look for: Breadth of categories, diversity of suppliers, and access to ongoing sourcing opportunities.
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Is Custom Contracting and Local Sourcing Supported?
National contracts are outstanding, until they don’t fit your operational needs. You may need flexibility to negotiate custom SLAs, service levels, or compliance terms.
Valify’s team supports custom contracting strategies that balance national pricing power with local relevance, ensuring tailored terms that drive better outcomes.
What to look for: Ability to modify or create new contracts, access to category experts, and local sourcing flexibility.
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How Quickly Can You Realize Tangible Savings?
Some GPOs require quarters (or years) to generate ROI. However, savings can begin within weeks with the correct data and contracts.
Valify focuses on rapid time-to-value, helping members prioritize high-impact opportunities and implement changes quickly with advisory support.
What to look for: Speed of onboarding, access to quick-win opportunities, and strategic roadmap development.
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Is Procurement Standardized and Governed Across Sites?
If your health system is decentralized, you need governance, not just good contracts. Your GPO should help enforce policy, reduce contract duplication, and ensure location compliance.
Valify encourages governance frameworks and provides tools for centralized contract management, audit support, and performance tracking.
What to look for: Contract lifecycle tools, dashboards, and collaborative sourcing processes.
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Is There Support for Vendor Diversity and Community Sourcing?
As health systems adopt more DEI and ESG goals, GPOs should support diversity in sourcing, not hinder it.
Valify’s sourcing model allows local vendor inclusion during aggregation events and helps identify certified diverse suppliers within categories.
What to look for: Supplier diversity tracking, local vendor engagement, and ESG alignment.
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Are the Terms Transparent and Non-Restrictive?
Does your GPO charge a fee? Require exclusivity? Limit your flexibility with other purchasing programs?
Valify’s model is fee-free, non-exclusive, and fully additive, meaning you can retain your existing GPO relationships while layering in purchased services expertise.
What to look for: No membership fees, no penalties, and flexible participation.
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Are You Receiving Ongoing Advisory Support?
Procurement isn’t a one-and-done task. Your GPO should offer strategic sourcing guidance to help you adjust contracts, renegotiate terms, and spot new savings.
Valify’s experts work hand-in-hand with your team to create sourcing roadmaps, identify top priorities, and implement solutions with lasting value.
What to look for: Category-level expertise, on-call support, and quarterly performance reviews.
How to Interpret Your Score
You’re in a strong position if you can confidently check off most of the boxes above. But if your current GPO falls short in several of these areas, you’re likely leaving value on the table.
Even minor improvements in purchased services strategy can translate into 10–30% savings, improved service quality, and greater agility for your organization.
Why This Evaluation Matters
Healthcare finance leaders are being asked to do more with less, without sacrificing quality. A high-performing GPO in healthcare is no longer just a contract aggregator; it’s a strategic partner.
With the right GPO relationship, you can unlock:
- Clean, actionable data
- Strategic sourcing power
- Faster savings realization
- Flexibility to evolve with your needs
Valify was built to meet these challenges with a GPO model that aligns with the unique complexities of purchased services.
Real-World Scenario: GPO Optimization in Action
A mid-size health system with over 20 facilities partnered with Valify to evaluate its purchased services contracts. Within weeks, they identified redundant vendors, off-contract pricing, and significant variation in service rates.
Valify’s team led sourcing events across three high-spend categories, resulting in a savings opportunity of 22 percent. With no disruption to service or operations, the health system reallocated those dollars to patient care initiatives within the same fiscal year.
Final Thoughts: Time to Reevaluate?
If your current GPO isn’t offering real-time insights, flexible sourcing, or measurable impact, it might be time to reevaluate.
Start with this checklist. Score your performance. And if you see room to grow, explore how Valify‘s purchased services GPO model can bring rapid, transparent, and sustainable value to your organization.
