title: Know terms and conditions for a healthy bottom line.
abstract: When negotiating with suppliers there are steps materials managers can take to ensure a contract is written in the hospital's best interest. One key point is that organizations should use their own contract template instead of the supplier's. This automatically puts a purchasing department at an advantage, as long as the templates are up-to-date. Also, seemingly innocuous language can be financially detrimental in the end, so it is imperative that anyone involved in the process be educated about contract language.
authors.affiliation: University Healthsystem Consortium, Oak Brook, IL, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cunningham
mesh_terms: D032982:Contracts / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D007802:Language; D008421:Materials Management, Hospital / Q000191:economics*; D017008:Negotiating; D014481:United States