To my mind, the overarching challenge of modern healthcare systems is to increase the value and outcomes of care, not just to control costs. As someone keenly interested in procurement, this leads me to question what it all means for how health systems buy the technologies they need. In a competitive healthcare system, like the Netherlands, healthcare provider organisations are increasingly establishing organisational strategies with clear objectives. By applying value-based procurement (VBP), which puts the primary focus on improving patient outcome, procurement systems are tasked with selecting the one(s) out of many medical devices available on the market (or to be developed) that contribute the most to the improvement of these outcomes. Identifying the outcome advantages to the stakeholders involved and finding the corresponding proof is crucial – but at the same time, very challenging – for procurement to do. Prescribing desired outcome levels, collecting outcome data and various indicators involve a lot of precious time and increase transaction costs. And of course, quite often there is a simple lack of consensus on valid and standardised measurement of ECO (economic, clinical & operational) outcomes. I believe that taking a best value approach, thus giving suppliers a proactive role in procurement, may help advance our field and deliver on the shared goal of improving outcomes. First, it is up to procurement professionals and provider organisations to determine together what outcome they wish to achieve or improve through the purchase of a specific product or solution. This could include reduced mortality, length of stay, improved patient satisfaction or increased staff efficiency, for example. Reaching out to the supplier market may also be of help here. Ideally, these objectives should be well alignedto the healthcare provider’s overarching strategic goals. Next, suppliers should be asked to submit their proposals and to identify how their...