How a senior living community selected Entegra as its purchasing partner

When looking for a group purchasing organization for food and supplies for Kendal Senior Living’s communities, Sarah M. looked for the right balance of pricing, products and services.

She found it in Entegra after a thorough search process. So we asked about the most important considerations that led to moving Kendal to Entegra. You can watch the video below or read how a prospective client decided to become a valued current partner.

Why did you decide to switch from your previous GPO?

“We were at the height of the pandemic. There were shortages on various things. The supply chain disruptions were just terrible. We were working with one of the big-name GPOs and we just were not getting the partnership that we needed.

We were a small fish in a big pond with them and getting what we needed, getting someone on the phone, getting someone to collaborate with us, was not happening.”

What made you consider Entegra as your senior living procurement provider?

“When we decided that we wanted to take more ownership in the process and be able to advocate for ourselves from within, and have someone there to advocate for us, Entegra was one of the obvious partners that we wanted to go with.

That partnership has done a lot for us.

One of the reasons that we wanted to partner with Entegra was the access to the various contracts that they have available and their expertise in negotiating those contracts on our behalf. That’s a skillset that we don’t necessarily have in house.”

What value have you found from being part of a group purchasing organization for your senior living communities?

“We can go out and talk to manufacturers and distributors and try to get contracts ourselves, but the purchasing power and volume that Entegra has is not something that we have access to.

Being able to access that with the level of customer service that we receive has been great. Being able to get those benefits and share in the benefits with Entegra has been really helpful.”

What’s been the biggest surprise since joining Entegra?

“What has surprised me most? This relationship is about so much more than purchasing products. Any opportunity or problem that comes up, there’s someone there who wants to talk to me about it. If I have an idea that seems outside the box, there’s someone there that’s interested in talking through a solution or a possible partnership.”

Would you recommend Entegra’s GPO?

“Yes, I would definitely recommend Entegra to my colleagues. The level of customer service and responsiveness is great. The varied expertise is excellent.

There are so many opportunities for us to find savings, to find value, to collaborate with Entegra. There’s programming, tools, process improvements. There’s the test kitchen that we have access to. We have access to other peers in the industry that we can connect with.

There’s just so much more that you can find than with any other standard GPO that I’ve ever worked with before.”

Find out what your “so much more” can be with Entegra. Call us at 833-977-1765 or fill out contact form.