- CMRP
- Certified Materials & Resource Professional — the healthcare supply chain credential from the AHA Certification Center.
- AHRMM
- Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management — the AHA association that provides CMRP education and prep.
- AHA-CC
- AHA Certification Center — the division of the American Hospital Association that owns and administers the CMRP exam.
- PSI
- The testing agency that delivers the CMRP exam at test centers and via live-remote online proctoring.
- Supply chain
- The end-to-end flow of products from supplier sourcing through procurement, distribution, and use at the patient bedside.
- Materials management
- Managing the acquisition, storage, distribution, and use of supplies and equipment across a healthcare organization.
- CQO
- Cost, Quality, Outcomes — AHRMM's framework for weighing supply decisions on all three together, not price alone.
- Healthcare supply chain
- The network and processes that move medical products from manufacturer to clinician and patient.
- Charge capture
- Recording supply or service usage at the point of care so it can be billed and reordered.
- Stakeholder
- Anyone affected by a supply decision — clinicians, patients, finance, suppliers, and administration.
- Total cost of ownership (TCO)
- The full cost of a product over its life: acquisition, operation, maintenance, storage, and disposal — not just unit price.
- Value analysis
- A multidisciplinary process evaluating products by function, evidence, cost, and outcomes to select best value.
- Value analysis team
- A cross-functional group (clinical, supply chain, finance) that reviews products before standardization or purchase.
- Group purchasing organization (GPO)
- An organization that aggregates members' volume to negotiate lower supplier prices and better terms.
- Strategic sourcing
- A continuous, data-driven process of aligning suppliers and contracts to total value and long-term goals.
- Spend analysis
- Reviewing what an organization buys and from whom to find savings, standardization, and process improvement.
- Make-or-buy decision
- Choosing between producing a product or service in-house versus purchasing it from an outside supplier.
- Benchmarking
- Comparing your practices and prices against leading organizations to identify improvement opportunities.
- Should-cost analysis
- Estimating the lowest price at which a supplier can provide a product without a loss, to inform negotiation.
- Maverick spending
- Purchases made outside the organization's procurement policies and approved contracts.
- Supplier relationship management (SRM)
- Developing strategic, mutually beneficial long-term relationships with key suppliers.
- Supplier audit
- Reviewing a supplier to ensure compliance with contracts and industry standards (quality, pricing, service).
- Vendor credentialing
- Verifying that vendor representatives meet immunization, training, and compliance requirements before facility access.
- Physician-preference items (PPI)
- High-cost clinical supplies (implants, devices) chosen by physician preference — a major value-analysis target.
- Standardization
- Reducing the number of comparable products to a preferred few to lower cost and improve quality.
- Product trial
- A controlled evaluation of a product in clinical use before a purchasing or standardization decision.
- Competitive bidding
- Soliciting offers from multiple suppliers to obtain the best price and terms for a purchase.
- Consignment inventory
- Stock the supplier owns and stores on site; the hospital pays only when an item is used.
- Stockless / JIT purchasing
- Receiving supplies only as needed so little or no inventory is held on site, lowering carrying cost.
- Vendor-managed inventory (VMI)
- The supplier monitors and replenishes the hospital's stock based on actual usage.
- Purchase order (PO)
- A buyer's authorized document committing to purchase specific items at agreed price and terms.
- Three-way match
- Verifying the purchase order, receiving record, and invoice agree before an invoice is paid.
- Electronic data interchange (EDI)
- The electronic exchange of purchasing documents (orders, invoices) between trading partners.
- Backorder
- An ordered item the supplier cannot ship immediately and will deliver when stock is available.
- Stockout
- An item is out of stock at the point of use when it is needed.
- Capital purchasing
- Acquiring durable, high-cost assets through specs, business case/ROI, solicitation, and negotiation.
- Business case / ROI
- The justification for a capital purchase showing benefits and return relative to cost.
- Purchased services
- Outsourced services (e.g., maintenance, linen) managed and contracted like products under supply chain.
- Returns / RGA
- Sending products back to a supplier under a return-goods authorization for credit or replacement.
- Substitution
- Approving an alternate, clinically equivalent product when the preferred item is unavailable.
- Contract compliance
- Buying off negotiated contracts to capture agreed pricing and avoid off-contract spend.
- Code of conduct
- Ethical standards governing supplier relationships, gifts, and conflicts of interest in procurement.
- PAR level
- Periodic Automatic Replenishment level — the target maximum stock at a point-of-use location.
- Periodic Automatic Replenishment
- Refilling a location back up to its PAR level when stock falls below it.
- Low unit of measure (LUM)
- Distributing supplies in small, ready-to-use quantities to point of use, reducing on-unit inventory.
- Two-bin system
- When the first bin empties, usage moves to the second bin, which triggers a reorder to refill the first.
- ABC analysis
- Classifying inventory by annual dollar value into A (high), B (moderate), and C (low) to focus control.
- Cycle counting
- Counting a portion of inventory continuously on a rotating schedule rather than all at once.
- Safety stock
- Buffer inventory held to protect against demand spikes or supply delays and prevent stockouts.
- Economic order quantity (EOQ)
- The order quantity that minimizes total ordering plus carrying cost.
- Inventory turnover (turn rate)
- How many times inventory is used and replaced in a period; higher means leaner inventory.
- Fill rate
- The percentage of demand met from on-hand stock without a backorder or stockout.
- Demand forecasting
- Predicting future supply needs from historical usage, seasonality, and trends to set inventory levels.
- Bullwhip effect
- Amplification of demand variability as orders move upstream, causing excess inventory and stockouts.
- Just-in-time (JIT)
- Receiving supplies only as needed to minimize on-hand inventory and carrying cost.
- Centralized inventory
- Managing stock from one location to share resources and improve control across the organization.
- Decentralized inventory
- Holding and managing stock at multiple unit locations, closer to point of use.
- FEFO
- First-Expired, First-Out — rotating stock so the soonest-to-expire items are used first.
- Obsolescence
- Inventory that is expired, outdated, or no longer usable and must be written off.
- Postponement
- Delaying final product configuration until demand is known, to cope with unpredictable demand.
- Cross-docking
- Transferring received goods directly to outbound shipping with little or no storage.
- Point-of-use (POU) system
- An automated cabinet or station that dispenses and tracks supplies where care is delivered.
- Cart exchange
- Swapping a depleted supply cart for a fully stocked one to replenish a unit.
- Pneumatic tube system
- A tube network that quickly transports small items (meds, specimens) between hospital areas.
- Automated guided vehicle (AGV)
- A self-guided cart that moves supplies and carts through the facility without a driver.
- Recall management
- The process to identify, quarantine, and remove defective or unsafe products from inventory and use.
- Physical inventory
- A full count of stock, typically annual, to verify and value inventory on hand.
- Consolidated service center (CSC)
- A self-distribution warehouse that receives and distributes supplies across a health system.
- Distribution
- Moving supplies from central stores or receiving to the units and point-of-use locations.
- Inventory valuation
- Determining the dollar value of stock on hand for financial reporting and control.
- Overstock
- Holding more inventory than needed, tying up cash and increasing expiration and obsolescence risk.
- Lead time
- The time between placing an order and receiving the goods; longer lead times need more safety stock.
- GTIN
- Global Trade Item Number — a GS1 identifier that uniquely identifies a product (the 'what').
- GLN
- Global Location Number — a GS1 identifier for a location or party (the 'where/who').
- UDI
- Unique Device Identifier — the FDA-required identifier on medical device labels for traceability.
- Device identifier (DI)
- The fixed part of a UDI that identifies the specific device model and version.
- Production identifier (PI)
- The variable part of a UDI: lot/batch, serial number, expiration, or manufacturing date.
- Item master
- The trusted record of every item's number, description, GTIN, unit of measure, and pricing.
- Master data management (MDM)
- Maintaining a single, accurate source of truth for core data such as the item master.
- MMIS
- Materials Management Information System — the software that manages purchasing, inventory, and distribution.
- ERP
- Enterprise Resource Planning — integrated software centralizing supply chain, finance, and operations data.
- Gap analysis
- Comparing current system capabilities against requirements to find what is missing before selection.
- RFID
- Radio-frequency identification — tags read wirelessly to track materials and equipment in real time.
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Connected sensors and devices that collect and monitor supply and equipment data in real time.
- Predictive analytics
- Using historical data to forecast future trends, such as demand or expiration risk.
- Data governance
- Policies ensuring only high-quality, reliable data is used in supply-chain decision-making.
- GS1 standards
- Global standards (GTIN, GLN, barcodes) that let trading partners identify products and locations consistently.
- Interface / interoperability
- The ability of supply-chain systems to exchange data with clinical, finance, and EHR systems.
- Data analytics
- Analyzing supply data to find savings, utilization patterns, and improvement opportunities.
- HIPAA
- The privacy and security rules that govern protected health information shared across IT systems.
- Capital budget
- Funds durable assets with a useful life over one year above the capitalization threshold; depreciated over time.
- Operating budget
- Funds recurring, consumable day-to-day expenses used within the year; expensed immediately.
- Capitalization threshold
- The minimum cost (e.g., $5,000) above which an asset is treated as capital rather than an expense.
- Depreciation
- Spreading a capital asset's cost over its useful life rather than expensing it all at once.
- Net present value (NPV)
- Future cash flows discounted to today minus initial cost; positive NPV signals a value-adding investment.
- Return on investment (ROI)
- The profitability of a specific investment or project relative to its cost.
- Variance analysis
- Comparing actual financial results to budget to find and explain differences and take corrective action.
- Price variance
- The portion of a budget variance caused by a change in unit price.
- Utilization variance
- The portion of a budget variance caused by a change in the quantity used.
- GAAP
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles — standard rules governing financial accounting and reporting.
- Accounts payable (AP)
- The function that reconciles invoices and pays suppliers, capturing discounts and credits.
- Prompt-payment discount
- A price reduction (e.g., 2/10 net 30) for paying a supplier invoice early.
- DRG
- Diagnosis-Related Group — a fixed inpatient reimbursement by diagnosis, so supply cost above it erodes margin.
- Reimbursement / revenue cycle
- How a hospital is paid (Medicare, Medicaid, private payers) — supply cost directly affects margin.
- CMS
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — the federal agency setting major reimbursement rules.
- Payer mix
- The proportion of revenue from each payer type; more government payers can lengthen billing and lower rates.
- Operating margin
- Operating income as a percent of revenue; a falling margin signals trouble covering expenses.
- Days cash on hand
- How many days of operating expenses cash reserves can cover; higher reduces borrowing need.
- Cost of capital
- The required return on funds used to finance investments, including the cost of equity and debt.
- Tax-exempt municipal bond
- A common financing instrument hospitals use to fund large capital construction at lower cost.
- Asset management
- Tracking, maintaining, and reallocating equipment and surplus assets across the organization.
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
- A law setting financial reporting and internal-control requirements relevant to procurement integrity.
- Robinson-Patman Act
- A law prohibiting certain forms of price discrimination among buyers of like goods.
- SWOT analysis
- Examining internal Strengths and Weaknesses and external Opportunities and Threats for strategic planning.
- Balanced scorecard
- Measuring performance across financial, customer, process, and learning perspectives, aligned to strategy.
- Strategic plan
- A roadmap aligning materials management goals and resources with the organization's mission and strategy.
- Transformational leadership
- Leading by inspiring and developing people toward a shared vision — effective for change.
- Performance improvement (PI)
- Systematically improving processes using benchmarking, process-flow analysis, and needs assessment.
- LEAN
- A method that removes non-value-added waste to improve flow, quality, and cost.
- Six Sigma
- A data-driven method that reduces process variation and defects to improve quality.
- Benchmarking (strategic)
- Comparing performance to best-in-class peers to set realistic improvement targets.
- The Joint Commission (TJC)
- An accrediting body whose standards govern safety, supplies, and vendor tracking in hospitals.
- OSHA
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration — workplace safety rules, including safe materials handling.
- Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
- A document detailing the hazards and safe handling of a chemical; part of Employee Right to Know.
- Safe Medical Devices Act
- Requires reporting device-related deaths to the FDA and manufacturer and serious injuries to the manufacturer.
- Product recall program
- A defined process to identify, quarantine, and remove unsafe products and notify affected areas.
- Emergency preparedness
- Planning, drills, and supply readiness for disasters and mass-casualty events.
- Supplier diversity
- Sourcing from minority-, women-, and small-business enterprises to broaden the supplier base.
- Insourcing vs. outsourcing
- Deciding whether to perform a function internally or contract it out, based on cost-benefit analysis.
- Perfect order fulfillment
- A metric: the share of orders delivered complete, accurate, on time, and undamaged.
- Succession planning
- Preparing staff to fill key roles to maintain leadership continuity.
- Corporate compliance
- Programs ensuring the organization follows laws, regulations, and ethical standards.
- OIG
- Office of Inspector General — oversight body; vendor credentialing checks OIG exclusion lists.
- Universal precautions
- Standard infection-control practices treating all blood/body fluids as potentially infectious.
- Environment of Care
- TJC framework for managing safety, security, and hazardous materials in the facility.
- Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- Health reform law affecting reimbursement and cost pressures that shape supply-chain strategy.
- NIMS / HICS
- National Incident Management System / Hospital Incident Command — structures for coordinated disaster response.
- Materials manager
- The professional accountable for the healthcare supply chain — sourcing, inventory, distribution, and cost.
- Modified Angoff method
- The standard-setting method used to determine the CMRP passing score from expert item judgments.
- Pretest (trial) items
- 10 unscored questions mixed into the CMRP exam that are field-tested but do not affect your score.
- Point of use
- Where care is delivered and supplies are consumed — nursing units, the OR, procedure rooms.
- Central supply / SPD
- The department storing and distributing sterile and general supplies to clinical areas.
- Service level
- How reliably the supply chain meets customer (clinician) needs for the right item at the right time.
- Continuous improvement
- An ongoing effort to improve supply-chain processes, quality, and cost over time.
- Standard work
- Documented best-practice procedures that make a process consistent and repeatable.
- Request for proposal (RFP)
- A formal solicitation asking suppliers to propose solutions, pricing, and terms for evaluation.
- Request for quote (RFQ)
- A solicitation asking suppliers to quote a price for clearly defined goods or services.
- Contract
- A binding agreement defining price, terms, quantities, and obligations between buyer and supplier.
- Rebate
- A partial refund from a supplier, often tied to volume or contract compliance.
- Tiered pricing
- Supplier pricing that improves as purchase volume or contract commitment increases.
- Bulk purchase
- Buying large quantities at once to obtain a lower unit price, balanced against carrying cost.
- Sole source
- An item available from only one supplier, limiting competitive bidding.
- Single source
- Choosing one supplier among several available, often for standardization or partnership.
- Emergency purchase
- An expedited buy outside normal process to meet an urgent clinical need.
- Requisition
- An internal request from an end user to obtain supplies, routed for approval and ordering.
- Market analysis
- Studying supplier markets, pricing trends, and competition to inform sourcing strategy.
- Clinical effectiveness
- Evidence that a product achieves its intended clinical outcome — a value-analysis criterion.
- Cost-benefit analysis
- Comparing the costs and benefits of a purchase or program to support a decision.
- Capital equipment
- Durable, high-cost equipment (imaging, monitors) acquired through the capital process.
- Specification
- A precise description of required product features used in solicitation and evaluation.
- Standardization committee
- A group that decides which products to standardize across the organization.
- Carrying cost
- The cost of holding inventory: storage, capital, insurance, obsolescence, and expiration.
- Reorder point
- The stock level that triggers a replenishment order, based on usage and lead time.
- Min/max system
- Replenishing to a maximum when stock hits a minimum level.
- Stock rotation
- Arranging stock so older or soonest-to-expire items are used before newer ones.
- Expiration management
- Monitoring and using or removing dated products before they expire.
- Receiving
- Verifying that delivered goods match the order in quantity and condition before acceptance.
- Put-away
- Moving received goods to their proper storage location.
- Warehouse design
- Laying out storage and flow to optimize space, picking, and distribution efficiency.
- Inventory reduction
- Lowering on-hand stock and value while maintaining service levels.
- Backorder management
- Tracking and resolving items the supplier cannot ship immediately.
- Outdates
- Products removed from stock because they have reached their expiration date.
- Third-party logistics (3PL)
- An outside provider that handles warehousing, transport, or distribution for the hospital.
- Courier service
- A delivery service moving supplies between facilities in a health system.
- Barcode scanning
- Reading product barcodes to capture accurate item, lot, and expiration data quickly.
- Real-time location system (RTLS)
- Technology that tracks the location of equipment, supplies, or people in real time.
- Geographic information system (GIS)
- Mapping technology used to optimize routing and distribution of materials.
- Advanced planning & scheduling (APS)
- A system giving a real-time, cross-network view of inventory and supply planning.
- Machine learning
- Algorithms that improve forecasting accuracy by learning from historical data.
- Data warehouse
- A central repository consolidating data from many sources for analysis and reporting.
- Smart contract
- Self-executing contract logic that can automate ordering when conditions are met.
- Non-labor budget
- The portion of the budget covering supplies and services, distinct from salaries and wages.
- Length of stay (LOS)
- Average inpatient days; a shorter LOS can lower operating cost per case.
- Asset turnover ratio
- Revenue divided by assets; higher means assets are used more efficiently.
- Contribution margin
- Revenue minus variable cost; shows how much a case or service contributes after supply cost.
- Standard cost
- A predetermined expected cost used as a benchmark to measure actual cost against.
- Cost center
- A department or unit whose costs are tracked and budgeted separately.
- Charge description master (CDM)
- The list of billable items and prices linking supplies to patient charges.
- Document retention
- Keeping financial and purchasing records per regulatory requirements.
- Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
- Commercial law governing the sale of goods, including warranties and contracts.
- Needs assessment
- Identifying gaps between current and desired performance to guide improvement.
- Process-flow analysis
- Mapping a process step by step to find waste, delays, and improvement opportunities.
- Position description
- A document defining a role's duties, responsibilities, and qualifications.
- Customer satisfaction survey
- A tool to measure how well the supply chain meets clinician and department needs.
- Business plan
- A document justifying and planning a new venture, service line, or program.
- EPA
- Environmental Protection Agency — regulates hazardous waste and disposal relevant to materials.
- NFPA
- National Fire Protection Association — codes affecting storage of flammables and safety.
- ADA
- Americans with Disabilities Act — accessibility requirements affecting facilities and roles.
- Hazard Communication Standard (HCS)
- OSHA rule requiring labeling and SDS access for hazardous chemicals.
- Mass-casualty response
- Coordinated supply and staffing readiness for events with many patients at once.
- Evacuation plan
- A documented plan to safely move patients and staff out of a facility in an emergency.
- End-user order response time
- A supply-chain metric: how quickly end-user requests are fulfilled.
