Valify Marketplace
A One-stop Shop for Purchased Services

Today, it is increasingly difficult for hospitals and health systems to find, compare, and select the best vendor for a fair price. Because an average health system purchase cycle takes about 9-12 months, hospitals need years to realize the benefits from switching service providers, a timeframe no longer unacceptable for healthcare institutions tasked to find cost savings. Additionally, there is an ever-present question that healthcare organizations can’t seem to find an answer to—how to balance the quality of services and solutions provided by vendors with the rates that they charge.

With an aim to help healthcare providers mitigate these challenges, W.K. Cash Forshee co-founded Lucro, a digital platform for health systems to connect with and compare vendors. The firm was recently acquired by Valify, a leading healthcare cost management company dedicated to controlling purchased services expenses. After the acquisition, both entities combined their expertise to revamp Lucro and have collectively introduced the Valify Marketplace. Designed by experts belonging to America’s largest health systems, the Valify Marketplace serves as a one-stop shop for vendors providing services to health systems.

“We offer a modern sourcing management platform designed specifically for hospitals to see all vendors in a services category and how well they meet requirements,” says Forshee, the vice president of operations at Valify Marketplace.

The services marketplace offers hospitals and healthcare institutions a catalog encompassing over 45,000 qualified solution providers and their services. Unlike traditional approaches to sourcing, e.g., lengthy RFPs, the platform allows organizations to evaluate vendors that meet their requirements through an interactive, iterative process of asking questions and narrowing potential partners. Institutions can signup to the Valify Marketplace free of charge, post a project for the kind of solution they are looking for, ask questions to these service providers, and use score responses among stakeholders.

Not only does this increase sourcing efficiency by bringing together departments, stakeholders, vendors, and organizations on the same platform but also allows firms to see a 50 to 80 percent decrease in time selecting the right services provider.

Becoming part of the Valify team has propelled our growth and capabilities so that we can serve more hospitals and vendors. The Valify Marketplace is the solution hospitals need to find and select the best services vendors

Forshee highlights an instance wherein one of the Valify Marketplace clients used the sourcing capabilities of the platform to select two vendors that met their requirements from a list of 50 in only eight weeks. Amazingly, the entire purchase cycle took barely eight weeks to complete, which is considered “unbelievably quick for a project of that nature, size, and scale.”

The Valify Marketplace also supports vendors by providing free profiles describing their solution, responding to provider questions, and recommending their services for relevant projects. They can also opt for premium plans that enable them to add additional content and get promoted in their specific category. As the platform is engaging and interactive, it helps vendors sell their products and paves the way for new business opportunities.

Considering that the Valify Marketplace helps organizations select the right vendors, the company is currently investing in new provider tools to assess vendors, collaborate internally with stakeholders, and monitor vendor performance. Emphasizing the launch of a new and revamped online marketplace, Forshee says, “Becoming part of the Valify team has propelled our growth and capabilities so that we can serve more hospitals and vendors. The Valify Marketplace is the solution hospitals need to find and select the best services vendors.”