Vendormate: Tackling the Compliance Side of Supplier Risk Management
Earlier in the month, I had a great discussion with Andy Monin, who started the supply risk management / supplier compliance upstart Vendormate. For those that do not know Vendormate, the two year old vendor specializes in supplier credentialing, monitoring and tracking in the healthcare sector. While the core Vendormate technology could apply to virtually any industry, the founders concluded that the most compelling business need was in the healthcare world. And their hypothesis appears to be correct, as recent demand for the solution in their target market, from what Andy told me, is very high, even though they only signed their first hospital customer in January of this year, just over a year after the company began development.
Vendormate provides a number of benefits to users. First, it captures supplier information through an online registration portal, allowing a common and standard view into supplier credentials for a hospital or healthcare network. For example, suppliers can upload insurance certificates to the system, allowing these to be tracked in a common repository by the healthcare provider. The system can also be used to track both company and individual (employee) information on the supplier level.
Once suppliers register, Vendormate uses 126 diffferent data points in their rating and scoring system -- which each customer configures based on their own thresholds and risk tolerance levels. Relying on verification information from third parties as well as information that suppliers self-provide when they register, Vendormate uses a rules-based probability engine to continuously monitor and alert users to suppliers that may have fallen out of compliance.
Perhaps the largest benefit that Vendormate brings to users is the ability to manage compliance risk through exception. By automating the data collection and verification process, Vendormate lets healthcare procurement and finance organizations focus their energies on more strategic activities, such as contract negotiation as well as drilling down on the handful of suppliers where risk exists. In the coming months, I look forward to continuing to get to know Vendormate and sharing their success stories on Spend Matters. A related vendor that I also plan to investigate in more detail is Browz, which also offers supplier compliance tracking and monitoring capabilities.
- Jason Busch
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It is almost illegal what they are doing, and trust me - there is a lot of heat in the field. Most medical reps are 1099 employees and trained in their medical field. They are all tested and have their medical records on file with their hospitals. This "web 2.0" company offers no service at all. Nothing that a $150 dollar badge system can't do.
TOTAL SCAM
Tell you what, when the patients are screened better besides a, what's your birthdate question, then we can talk about needing to track the vendors movements.
I'm a small one-man shop and I don't have the tax IDs and other info that VendorMate's application asks for, so I called their toll free number and waited on hold.. and waited.. finally I left a message. That was almost a week ago. Then I found their corporate page and wrote them an e-mail. That was 3 days ago. No responses at all.
Further, the hospital told me that because I was a minor vendor with no patient exposure, the fee would be only $25. I reluctantly agreed. Then I finally got disgusted with waiting and used my SS# instead of the tax ID that I don't have and spent the next 55 minutes trying to find my business classification in their search system. Finally got to the last page, having verified no patient contact, and surprise, they're going to bill my card $100! I stopped right there.
Now, the hospital is holding my paycheck (for work I did last week) hostage and they're dangling the carrot of another job this week, but only if I sign onto this scam.
I'm tempted to report this as a complaint to the AG in the state of Georgia, as well as CT, and also the BBB and then go to the news media with this story. This probably runs afoul of the Sherman Act and possibly other federal laws. I also plan to write the CEO of the hospital and tell him he's losing an excellent vendor because of this.
Way back when, I was warned about 'pay to work' scams. This seems no different. If the hospital wants to do a background check, let them pay for it. Don't make me spend 3.5 hours on hold and filling out forms that require info I don't possess. Very angry with this company's utter lack of regard for the people they hold hostage with their system.
I thought it seemed suspicious that the hospital hired me literally 24 hours before the event they needed. What major institution doesn't have their vendors contracted weeks in advance of an important event?
I feel ripped off, cheated by this system. The cost of due diligence should be on the hospital, not on the contractor who is struggling to earn an honest living.