Purchase Agent Role in Hospital Transactions

With over 25 years of experience in federal service in the U.S. Army, Bryant Livingston trained and developed many U.S. army soldiers and won the 25-year federal service award. Bryant Livingston currently serves as a Salem VA Medical Center purchase agent.

Purchase agents are highly important in the healthcare industry as they are responsible for acquiring the needed equipment for a hospital. Purchase agents need to ensure that a hospital or healthcare facility has everything to provide high-quality treatment, from supplies to tools and services. They negotiate prices with the companies that manufacture hospital goods or medical supplies to reduce the costs as much as possible so that the hospital can fuel more money in other areas. They also bid for the goods and process orders before they are acquired.

One of their responsibilities is to analyze all acquisitions of all hospital departments to ensure that they have high-quality products and good quality-price reports. For an individual to become a purchase agent, they need to have at least a bachelor’s degree.