Frequently Asked Questions

To get started, you will need to answer a few questions about your organization’s size, annual spend, class of trade, and provide a W-9. With this information, we will prepare executable agreements for electronic signature. Upon execution your price activation would begin within 45 days.

There is a program fee to become an Adventist Health Affiliate Member. The fee covers the costs for providing the affiliate services and driving value for our members. We typically generate a 5 to 1 return for the program fee. The program fee can be paid via the Admin Fee Share collected by Vizient on behalf of the member or via an annual fee set for the term of the Affiliate Agreement.

A typical implementation takes between 90 to 120 days to complete depending on the size of the organization and the quality and timeliness of the data provided by the organization. In certain situations, the implementation can be fast-tracked, but this is highly dependent on the number of new members being onboarded simultaneously.

For non-acute facilities, there are limited meetings. For acute care facilities, there will be weekly meetings during implementation that last between 30 – 60 minutes as needed. The Affiliate Team assigned will be providing updates on contract activations and seek approval for other contract activities. Input will be needed from your Supply Chain team weekly. Pharmacy, lab, and dietary leadership participation will be needed, but their attendance will not be required on a weekly basis. We do the heavy lifting for you.

The Adventist Health Affiliate team and the Vizient implementation teams have a documented, integrated process that outlines specific steps and sequences. Our teams will do the heavy lifting when it comes to aligning your supplies and services with Vizient and Adventist Health contracts and ensuring you are accessing the correct tiers.

Our teams will lead communications with any current suppliers not on a Vizient or Adventist Health contract to secure your current pricing, if not lower pricing. There are a few hours per week needed to validate information being provided by suppliers, as well as confirm spend or market share levels. Additionally, your time is needed to execute letters of participation when required by the suppliers.

In addition to the typical Vizient resources assigned to your size of organization, you will be assigned a dedicated affiliate manager and customer support specialist that will provide the Affiliate Member services outlined in your affiliate agreement, as well as facilitate communications with Vizient or your suppliers for needed support.

During the GPO implementation the standard initial training will be provided. Subsequently, the Affiliate team is available to provide ongoing coaching and support. And if additional training is requested, your Affiliate team will engage the appropriate Vizient resources to provide the additional detailed, comprehensive training needed. However, the intent of the Affiliate Program is to reduce workload for these types of analytics tasks so your team to focus on more strategic initiatives.