Avera offers the power of group purchasing to others

May 8, 2019

This paid piece is sponsored by Avera.

What do a growing business, a major health system, a camp near a lake and a high school all have in common? Each one is trying to save a few dollars while providing the best services possible to its customers.

For a business or an organization looking to relieve its budget difficulties, Avera PACE just might be one of Avera’s best-kept secrets.

Through Avera PACE, businesses can purchase food, drink, coffee, office supplies, ice melt, entrance mats, toilet paper, paper cups, paper towels, napkins, exam gloves, syringes, furniture and even large medical equipment at very competitive prices. Avera PACE has contracts with producers on just about any needed item.

“There are situations in which a company’s different locations are buying toilet paper, furniture, paper cups and other supplies from different vendors,” said Ryan Donovan, PACE managing director. “Avera PACE helps standardize where you are buying items and improves your spending power with our approved vendors.”

Avera PACE began more than 70 years ago. The Catholic Sisters who sponsor Avera realized early on that they needed a strategy to aggregate purchasing volume to save money and make sure some remote health care locations weren’t being taken advantage of from a pricing perspective.

In the beginning, Avera PACE partnered with a limited number of health care institutions, government and nonprofits. Today, Avera PACE serves almost 1,600 businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes, and that includes 397 schools.

An even larger snapshot of the entities that Avera PACE serves includes:

  • Assisted living facilities
  • Behavioral health facilities
  • Business and industry accounts
  • Camps
  • Child care facilities
  • Clinics
  • Educational facilities
  • Fitness centers
  • Home medical equipment businesses
  • Hotels and hospitality groups
  • Hospitals
  • Long-term care facilities
  • Recreation entities

“I like to say that any organization who spends money would be a good candidate for group purchasing,” Donovan said.

Most clients benefit from group purchasing, but that’s not all Avera PACE offers. Major offerings include:

  • Group purchasing – Avera PACE’s group-purchasing efforts are sponsored by Premier Inc., one of the largest group-purchasing organizations in the U.S. The benefits include bottom-line savings, contract pricing and quality products from brand-name manufacturers.
  • Capital management services – State-of-the-art equipment is expensive. Avera PACE’s capital management services works to negotiate a better price to save businesses some serious moola.
  • Anesthesia labels – These syringe identification labels meet ASTM International color standards, contain no natural rubber latex, are super-adhesive and can be sterilized.
  • Sales exchange – When an organization wants to get rid of gently used products or equipment, Avera PACE connects it with a similar business.
  • Locum tenens – A medical facility might need temporary skilled workers such as nurses or doctors. Avera PACE provides short-term credentialed staffing to fill those positions.

“A lot of people think Avera PACE is too good to be true,” Donovan said. “There’s no cost to the program and no minimum to what you spend. It’s just properly educating clients and signing you up. The heavy-lifting part is diving into your expenses and business practices.”

While most clients are clustered in the Midwest, Avera PACE will work with any interested business across the United States.

There are even opportunities for employees of businesses to save money as well.

“Because of our connection with Premier, which has thousands of group-purchasing contracts, we can offer cellphone deals through Sprint, AT&T and Verizon to your employees,” Donovan said.

To learn more, visit AveraPACE.org.

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Avera offers the power of group purchasing to others

This is one of Avera’s best-kept secrets, and if you’re a business that purchases a huge range of items, you could take advantage of it.

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