Introduction
Purchased services constitute one of the biggest areas of controllable non-labor costs, yet there is no reliable way of tracking the performance of programs for many health systems.
A purchased services maturity assessment serves as an organized tool that can be used in analyzing existing strengths, spotting improvement areas, and making decisions based on facts.
The Four Assessment Dimensions
Data Visibility
Evaluate how effectively purchased services spend can be identified, categorized, and analyzed across the organization.
Assessment criteria:
- Percentage of non-labour spend categorized by purchased services category
- Visibility into vendor and facility-level spend
- Consistency of accounts payable data cleansing and normalization across facilities
How Valify Supports This Dimension
Valify categorizes more than 95 percent of non-labour spend across 1,400-plus purchased services categories, helping organizations establish a reliable foundation for spend visibility.
Contract Governance
Measure how effectively contracts are managed throughout their lifecycle.
Assessment criteria:
- Percentage of active contracts centrally managed
- Visibility into renewal dates and notice periods
- Clearly assigned ownership for purchased services agreements
How Valify Supports This Dimension
Valify helps organizations strengthen contract governance through centralized contract visibility, renewal tracking, and advisory support for purchased services programs.
Sourcing Process
Assess the consistency and effectiveness of sourcing decisions across purchased services categories.
Assessment criteria:
- Use of benchmarking during contract renewals
- Frequency of competitive sourcing events
- Review of contracts before automatic renewal
How Valify Supports This Dimension
PinPoint Benchmarks, benchmarking insights, and aggregated sourcing events help organizations make informed sourcing decisions using market data and peer comparisons.
Savings Tracking
Evaluate how consistently negotiated savings are measured and sustained.
Assessment criteria:
- Documented savings initiatives with assigned ownership
- Validation of projected savings against invoiced spend
- Ongoing reporting through dashboards and variance analysis
How Valify Supports This Dimension
Valify’s WorkPlan dashboard helps organizations monitor realized savings, contract compliance, and purchased services performance across initiatives.
Example Maturity Scoring Framework
Hospitals can use a simple internal scoring model by assigning up to 25 points for each assessment dimension.
| Score |
Maturity Level |
| 0 to 5 |
Foundational capabilities are limited and require significant development |
| 6 to 15 |
Core processes are established but applied inconsistently |
| 16 to 19 |
Most capabilities are in place with opportunities for refinement |
| 20 to 25 |
Processes are standardized, controlled, and continuously improved |
By combining all four dimensions, the maturity level out of 100 points is estimated.
This scoring approach is an internal assessment framework supported by Valify’s data and insights, not a proprietary industry standard.
Interpreting Assessment Results
The results of the assessment will guide what leadership needs to improve.
- Early Stage: Focus first on spend visibility and contract management before moving on to sourcing.
- Developing: Strengthen benchmarking, vendor management, and savings validation processes
- Advanced: Focus on continuous improvement, executive reporting, and long-term performance monitoring
Valify’s benchmarking solutions, built on more than $1 trillion in categorized spend across 1,400-plus purchased services categories, provide additional context when evaluating organizational performance.
Running the Assessment
For the assessment to be repeatable:
- Assess on an annual basis
- Have an executive own the process in the supply chain or finance area
- Base scoring on categorized spend, current contract data, sourcing activity, and documented savings performance
- Make frequent assessments to gauge progress and adjust priorities
The Valify technology across spend analytics, benchmarking tools, and advisory services will ensure you have the tools and advice necessary to do that.
Evaluate Your Purchased Services Maturity
A structured assessment assists healthcare organizations in understanding how advanced their purchased services program is and where improvements will have the most effect.
Benchmarks obtained from peer assessment results offer a realistic guide to improvement in governance, sourcing, and financial performance.
Schedule a purchased services maturity assessment conversation with the Valify team.
Frequently Asked Question’s
What is a purchased services maturity assessment?
It is an evaluation of the efficiency of hospital management of purchased services in four categories: data visibility, contract management, sourcing process, and savings capture.
How frequently should the health system conduct this evaluation?
Such an assessment should be conducted annually, ideally aligned with the budgeting period or strategy development period, to use the obtained results to plan activities for the next year.
Whose responsibility is it within the organization to own the process?
Internal ownership of this process normally belongs to supply chain or finance management.
What would be a satisfactory maturity rating score?
A score ranging from 20 to 25 in all categories or around 100 overall signifies a standardized, controlled, and improved process. Most health systems are significantly below this level.
How is this assessment different from a spend analysis?
A spend analysis looks only at categorized spend. This assessment also involves contract management, the procurement process, and the savings capture maturity rating.
The Valify Editorial Team is dedicated to sharing insights, strategies, and innovations that help healthcare organizations gain control of purchased services spend. Backed by years of expertise in data analytics, procurement, and healthcare technology, the team curates practical resources and thought leadership to guide hospitals and health systems toward greater efficiency and savings. By combining industry knowledge with real-world case studies, the Valify Editorial Team delivers content that empowers decision-makers to drive smarter, data-driven sourcing strategies.
