Hospital Leadership,
I hope everyone has had a great week and winter hasn’t been too tough on you and the team. As we roll into March, that means that our favorite time of the year is fast approaching … quarterly inventory counting!
It is best practice to make sure we are closely monitoring and managing our inventory both physically and in our PIMS.
While this can be tedious, it is extremely important from a business perspective that inventory and costs are being tracked as accurately as possible.
Remember, the most important part of this effort is to ensure the count is complete and accurate, the costs are current and accurate, and any other info input into your PMS are based upon the same unit of measure.
Here are the details:
What if I have questions about inventory?: Please reach out to procurement@carevethealth.com, inventory@carevethealth.com, or your field team representative (VPO, SMO, DM).
Who does this apply to?: All hospitals who officially joined CareVet in or prior to December 2025. If your hospital was acquired in January, February, or March 2025, you are exempt.
When do we Count?: Between Monday, March 24, and Monday, March 31 – It is our expectation that your hospital will not have to shut down to do the inventory count.
What do we Count?: Think higher dollar/high turnover – Parasiticides (flea/tick/heartworm preventatives), pharmaceuticals (anti-inflammatories, antimicrobial agents, immunosuppressants, derm products, etc.), vaccines, lab consumables, food. No need to count white goods, gloves, needles, suture, gauze, supplies, etc.
How do we Count?:
- Print out the inventory count sheets from your PMS – contact your field team support, Procurement, your PMS support, or reference the instruction guides on CVLI for most softwares should you have questions.
- Conduct the count and write your count numbers on the print outs as you go.
- An eye-ball test is good enough for the purposes of the count. For example, if a 500-count bottle looks half full, record 250 pills.
- There are pill counting apps (for example, Pilleye, Pillphill and Mediscount-counting pills)
- It’s imperative you record the inventory count this way (hand-written counts) and return the documentation.
- Update your PMS with the updated counts.
- Ensure items don’t have negative quantities.
- Ensure old items are deactivated and/or zeroed out.
- Ensure all items with quantity have an associated cost.
- Ensure the unit of measure for the quantity entered matches the cost (i.e. count was done by the bottle so cost should be by the bottle).
- Print out updated inventory report – Please ensure this report includes item quantity, item cost, and overall value of the inventory. We are updating our books with the total dollar value of inventory on hand based on the reports provided.
- If you think the dollar value being generated from the reports looks inaccurate please dive into why that could be. For instance, if you are showing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on hand or less than $10,000, it is likely not accurate.
When Would We Like This Back?: By no later than Saturday, April 5th (the sooner the better once we enter the 3/24 to 3/31 counting window)
What Documentation do we Submit?: Initial inventory count sheets (which should have written, updated counts on them) and updated inventory report (which should have updated quantity, cost, and value of the inventory)
Who do we Submit Documentation To?: CareVet Inventory inventory@carevethealth.com and Procurement procurement@carevethealth.com with your field team representative (VPO/SMO/DM) in the CC line.
How do I Log the Hours?: Log the Inventory hours as “HQ Projects” in PayCor. Log out and back in before and after doing the inventory.
What if I Get Hungry?: Feel free to order a team meal on your hospital credit card.
We appreciate you helping us with this process and ensuring that we are tracking inventory accurately throughout the year. If you have any questions whatsoever, please reach out to the team.
Thank you,
The Procurement Team