A hospital-wide forms management program: doing more for less

The day-to-day management of the hospital forms business can be time-consuming, frustrating, and expensive. In many cases, the official inventory represents only a fraction of the total number of forms used throughout an institution. Since the responsibility for inventory and quality control becomes diffuse, forms users experience frequent stockouts and poorly designed forms. Without a centralized program, it is difficult to determine the costs associated with forms. An effective forms management program can be designed to fulfill most everyone's needs. The program described in this article incorporates the concept of stockless purchasing to gain better quality forms at significant cost savings.