Healthcare Insights
Most common types of hospital RFPs
Hospitals issue requests for proposals (RFPs) to begin the vendor selection process for many different types of projects, products, and services.
In the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product, we track RFPs from numerous federal, state, local, and healthcare system websites. Between January 2018 and August 2022, we recorded more than 98,600 hospital RFPs.
To learn more about the types of services hospitals need, this list breaks down the most frequent categories for issued hospital RFPs January 2018 and August 2022.
| Rank | RFP category | Count of RFPs | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Professional services | 22,660 | Explore |
| 2 | Medical/surgical equipment or supplies | 13,835 | Explore |
| 3 | Technology services | 10,175 | Explore |
| 4 | Maintenance/facility management | 8,294 | Explore |
| 5 | Construction - new building/renovations/design | 7,361 | Explore |
| 6 | Laboratory/blood related | 6,586 | Explore |
| 7 | Consulting - strategic/financial | 4,897 | Explore |
| 8 | Physician services | 3,373 | Explore |
| 9 | Pharmacy | 3,086 | Explore |
| 10 | Non-clinical supplies | 3,086 | Explore |
| 11 | Technology software | 2,603 | Explore |
| 12 | Technology hardware (including telecom) | 2,420 | Explore |
| 13 | Radiology/medical imaging | 2,231 | Explore |
| 14 | Food services | 2,029 | Explore |
| 15 | Transportation services | 1,993 | Explore |
| 16 | Insurance | 1,627 | Explore |
| 17 | Electronic health/medical records | 923 | Explore |
| 18 | Coding/patient billing/revenue cycle | 522 | Explore |
| 19 | Real estate | 399 | Explore |
| 20 | Anesthesiology | 157 | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product. RFPs and hospital purchasing data are from a variety of sources and updated daily. Data accurate as of August 2022.
What is the most common hospital RFP type?
Hospitals most often issue RFPs for professional services, which includes a variety of healthcare-related areas such as supplemental provider staffing, laundry services, and janitorial services. Professional services RFPs account for 23% of the nearly 99,000 hospital RFPs analyzed.
Medical/surgical supplies are the second most common RFP type, and the remaining top 10 categories include:
- Technology services
- Maintenance/facility management
- Construction - new building/renovations/design
- Laboratory/blood related
- Consulting - strategic/financial
- Physician services
- Pharmacy
- Non-clinical supplies
How are hospital RFPs monitored?
The Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product tracks federal healthcare RFPs from the System for Award Management website and collects non-federal RFPs by monitoring state, local, and healthcare entity websites for RFPs and purchasing requests.
What do hospitals issue RFPs for?
Hospitals use RFPs to announce purchasing plans and outline the specific requirements they need. RFPs help hospitals protect the purchase and allows them to review multiple bids to find a suitable price point. Projects, products, and services that a hospital might issue an RFP for include:
- Expanding or renovating facilities
- Implementing new technologies
- Installing durable medical equipment
- Seeking new food services contracts
- Supplementing specialty providers
Learn more
Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers.
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