Ambulatory practices face sustained pressure on operational costs in 2026. About nine in 10 medical groups reported year-to-date operating costs were on the rise in 2025, of which most said they saw 11.1% increases compared to 2024. To maintain fiscal health and market reputation, practice managers must move beyond simple "resilience" and toward a model of strategic, intelligent operations.

By implementing the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model, practice managers can transform their supply chain from a back-office expense into a tool for competitive advantage and improved bottom-line performance.

Framework for efficiency: Breaking down the SCOR Model

Moving from reactive "firefighting" logistics to a defined management strategy requires utilizing Top-level, Configuration, and Process elements to fine-tune operations.

Applying SCOR to ambulatory realities:

• Plan (Inventory Control): In a clinic setting, this means moving beyond guesswork for high-turnover items like vaccine inventory. A September flu vaccine shortage is an inconvenience that also means lost visits, emergency purchasing at a premium, and patient attrition that is difficult to recover. Tracking supply expense per visit, which can reach 15% to 20% of net revenue depending on practice type and service mix, gives managers the data needed to distinguish routine fluctuation from structural waste.
• Source (Vendor Management): Sourcing involves identifying specific vendors who can provide goods and services to meet planned demand economically and efficiently. For many practices, this means confronting a familiar problem: too many active vendor relationships, each with separate contracts, billing cycles, and account representatives. Consolidating medical supply and durable medical equipment (DME) vendor contracts — potentially through a group purchasing organization (GPO) — helps reduce administrative friction and creates leverage for better pricing.
• Make (Service Alignment): This process addresses how the organization transforms resources into a consistent healthcare "product" — such as a lab draw or imaging session — based on consumer preferences. Purchasing standardization across sites reduces variation in charge capture and protects clinical consistency when staff turn over or patient volume shifts. to ensure clinical consistency across sites, aiming for 95% adherence to formulary items.
• Deliver (Consumer Integration): Delivery involves direct and indirect integration with patients through imaging partners, lab networks, and pharmacy coordination. A patient waiting three weeks for imaging results because no turnaround standard was set in the referral contract is a delivery failure, regardless of how good the clinical care was. Smooth delivery also supports more reliable charge capture for supplies used during procedures, which is a meaningful revenue protection measure.
• Return (Relationship Preservation): Return addresses the end-of-use lifecycle for supplies, medications, and equipment. Expired biologics, malfunctioning DME, and misdirected specialty pharmacy shipments all carry direct cost and compliance exposure. Practices that define return workflows for controlled substances and temperature-sensitive medications are better protected from regulatory risk — and avoid the recurring cost of emergency procurement when returns are mishandled. This is a critical component for minimizing the potential deterioration of relationships with patients, providers, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

The financial pivot: Fee-for-service versus sustainability

The fee-for-service (FFS) model presents a dual impact on ambulatory practices. While it can increase short-term revenue through volume and service-based reimbursements, supply chain failures under FFS carry direct financial consequences: rescheduled procedures, interrupted care sequences, and patient attrition that is difficult to recover — especially if consumers perceive care as unethical or ineffective due to poor coordination.

The goal of an optimized supply chain is to minimize logistics cost while maintaining high-quality, consistent outcomes. Monitoring stock-out rates — with a target below 2% for high-use items — is on practical marker of whether a practice is achieving that balance. Practices with lower stock-out rates and tighter vendor contract structures are better positioned to absorb cost increases without reducing service volume or quality.

Strategic growth through network management and partnerships

Strategic growth in 2026 is increasingly found in structured partner alignment rather than managing an ever-growing number of independent vendor and service relationships.

• Service Network Alignment: Developing formal coordination arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers, specialty pharmacies, and outside lab and imaging partners allows smaller practices to set performance expectations within established service frameworks.
• Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs): Joining a GPO can result in a 10% to 15% reduction in supply costs by sharing financial burdens such as technology, marketing, and promotional finances.
• Formulary and Vendor Transparency: For relationships with PBMs and specialty pharmacy partners, it is essential to maintain clear documentation of formulary agreements and prior authorization workflows, and to ensure that patient-facing staff understand which network applies (e.g., Blue Shield and Future Scripts). This reduces mid-visit coordination failures that can harm patient experience and staff efficiency.

Conclusion

Supply chain management is a brand-building tool, not just an expense line. Practice leaders who use the SCOR framework will find that its five processes provide a common language for vendor management, purchasing decisions, and partner accountability.

Re-establishing more productive management processes — standardizing purchasing, tightening vendor networks, and monitoring the right metrics — is how practices protect future revenue in an increasingly competitive, cost-pressured landscape.