Unlocking a new approach to value-based procurement through connected data

Working in partnership with NHS Wales and the National Joint Registry (NJR),
NEC AdviseInc brought together procurement, implant and outcomes data to
support a more complete understanding of value.

Overview

NHS Wales already uses NEC AdviseInc’s spend analytics and benchmarking capabilities to
support procurement decision-making. Building on this relationship, NHS Wales partnered with
NEC AdviseInc and the National Joint Registry (NJR) to evaluate a new approach to value-based
procurement.

The Challenge

The UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Value-Based Procurement (VBP) guidance
encourages healthcare organisations to look beyond product cost and consider a broader
definition of value, including patient outcomes, clinical effectiveness and long-term impact.
However, procurement and outcomes data often sit in separate systems, making it difficult to
build a complete picture of value.

As a result, organisations can find it difficult to understand variation in implant choice, evaluate
procedure-level spend, assess whether products are being used for the most appropriate
patient cohorts, and understand the relationship between cost and outcomes. They can also
struggle to determine whether purchasing decisions align with established clinical evidence
and national guidance, including recommendations from Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT), the
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the National Joint Registry (NJR) and
the Orthopaedic Data Evaluation Panel (ODEP).

Importantly, organisations may lack the evidence needed to determine when higher-cost
products deliver additional value and for which patients those products are most appropriate.
Rather than focusing solely on cost, NHS Wales wanted a more complete understanding of value
by bringing together financial, clinical and outcomes intelligence, helping stakeholders identify
the right solution at the right cost for the right intervention.

The Solution

Building on NEC AdviseInc’s spend analytics and benchmarking capabilities, NEC Health
worked with the National Joint Registry to combine procurement, pricing and spend data with
orthopaedic procedure, implant, demographic and outcomes information. The solution enabled
stakeholders to analyse procedure activity, supplier utilisation, implant usage, variation and
patient demographics within a single environment.

NEC AdviseInc worked closely with stakeholders across NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
to shape the solution, ensuring it reflected real-world procurement and clinical requirements and
aligned with the needs of future users.

The solution was designed to support decision-making rather than prescribe it, helping
stakeholders identify opportunities and ask more informed questions.

NHS Wales stakeholders used the solution to:

• Bring procurement and outcomes information together in one place
• Better understand supplier and implant utilisation
• Identify variation across organisations and clinical pathways
• Support evidence-based procurement discussions
• Strengthen value-based decision-making through richer analytical insight

The Impact

The initiative helped NHS Wales gain greater visibility of variation, supplier utilisation and
procurement performance across orthopaedic services, while exploring a new approach to
value-based procurement that considers both cost and outcomes.

NHS Wales stakeholders identified opportunities to strengthen supplier rationalisation
programmes, improve analytical capability and gain greater visibility of variation across
organisations. Stakeholders also highlighted the value of combining demographic information
with procurement and outcomes data to support deeper analysis and reporting, identify
opportunities for pathway improvement, and better understand patient benefits through
outcomes reporting.

Key Highlights

• Costs for procedure comparison as well as individual products are displayed
• A common language for procurement, finance and clinicians to have informed debate
• Helps move the conversation from price to include patient outcomes

By bringing previously disconnected datasets together, NHS Wales, NEC AdviseInc and the
National Joint Registry established a stronger foundation for value-based procurement and a
more connected approach to decision-making. The initiative also demonstrated how procurement
and outcomes data can help organisations move beyond cost-based comparisons and towards a
broader understanding of value.

“Procurement teams have always had access to spend data and clinicians have always had access
to outcomes data, but bringing those perspectives together creates a very different conversation.
Being able to explore variation, challenge assumptions and understand value from multiple angles
has the potential to support more informed decision-making across the healthcare system.” Wyn Owens
Head of Operational Procurement & National Souring (BCU, WAST, PtHB, PHW), NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership

“The portal is easy to navigate and find the information needed. It will be useful for analysing
which suppliers are used by individual surgeons and could support supplier rationalisation across
organisations and across Wales. The patient demographics are a useful addition. Overall, it looks
like a useful tool for analysis and reporting.” Richard Deniz MCIPS
Senior Category Officer – Clinical, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership