Sixty-three percent.

Over the next three years, 63% of long-term care (LTC) organizations are likely to consolidate non-clinical suppliers. Another 33% have already done so. That’s nearly all LTC organizations consolidating their non-clinical purchasing in the next three years.

That is one of several findings from new research conducted by Staples Business™ in partnership with Healthcare Dive. The survey included 150 executives representing long-term care organizations with 300 or more beds. The report, “2026 LTC Procurement Benchmark Report: Reducing Cost, Complexity and Strengthening Operations,” examines how long-term care providers are approaching non-clinical purchasing amid growing financial and operational pressures.

Long-term care providers are operating under sustained pressure from reimbursement challenges, workforce shortages and increasing operational complexity. As a result, leadership teams are reexamining processes that can help reduce administrative burdens, improve efficiency and support high-quality resident care. While many organizations are pursuing greater consolidation and standardization, the research suggests that significant gaps remain in how purchasing is managed across suppliers, categories and locations.

Non-clinical procurement, in particular, represents a significant but often overlooked opportunity. Historically fragmented across sites, categories and vendors, non-clinical procurement can create unnecessary complexity, limit visibility into spending and reduce opportunities to leverage scale.

Here are three key findings from the survey, which was conducted between February 13 and March 5, 2026.

Long-term care providers may be underutilizing GPOs in key purchasing categories

Key stat: The top three non-clinical supply categories sourced through group purchasing organizations are office supplies (97% of respondents), furniture (97%) and housekeeping or janitorial supplies (93%).

What it means: GPOs can help healthcare organizations leverage collective purchasing power and access contracted pricing across multiple product categories. Given the frequency and scale of purchasing in these categories, the findings are not particularly surprising.

What is surprising, however, is that many leaders are not using GPOs for everyday supplies they presumably could be. Items such as print or marketing products (43%), activity supplies (21%) and durable medical equipment (9%) were among the least likely categories to be sourced through GPOs.

Delays and slow turnarounds are top challenges that could be resolved through consolidation

Key stat: Among the top three non-clinical supply categories, delays and slow turnarounds were the top challenges:

• Shipment delays were the top challenge for 48% of respondents sourcing housekeeping or janitorial supplies.
• Shipment delays were the top challenge for 51% of respondents sourcing furniture.
• Slow turnaround times were the top challenge for 48% of respondents sourcing print and marketing products.

What it means: Among LTC leaders, expectations for fast delivery are consistently unmet. This survey asked about three specific non-clinical categories that represent high-frequency, operationally critical purchases where delays can jeopardize resident/patient experience and staff efficiency:

• Housekeeping/janitorial supplies
• Furniture
• Print/marketing

Across these categories, roughly half of respondents identified shipment delays or slow turnaround times as their top sourcing challenge. Some respondents also pointed to a need for greater visibility into delivery timing and supplier communication. One participant said their supplier “lacks transparency regarding delivery schedules.”

Missed opportunities to standardize could be contributing to procurement burdens 

Key stat: Only 5% of participating healthcare leaders consider GPO alignment when selecting non-clinical suppliers, indicating an opportunity to better align vendor selection with GPO participation across multiple categories to drive standardization and cost savings.

What it means: Across the three major procurement categories in the survey, all were similarly burdensome — pointing to systemic inefficiencies rather than category-specific issues. Much of that discontent may stem from a lack of standardization in procurement. Among respondents whose organizations had more than one location, fewer than half reported their processes were fully standardized across common procurement categories.

“Our biggest frustration is managing multiple vendors across different categories, which makes the ordering process time-consuming, inefficient and difficult to standardize,” one respondent said.

This represents a significant missed opportunity that can lead to problems with inefficient ordering, a lack of enterprise-level transparency into procurement data and unmet minimum thresholds toward bulk-buy discounts. Greater standardization across locations can help organizations create more consistent purchasing processes and improve visibility into enterprise-wide spending. Yet fewer than half of respondents from multi-site organizations reported having fully standardized their processes.

The research points to a clear opportunity for long-term care providers: Non-clinical purchasing can play a larger role in reducing complexity and strengthening operational efficiency. For organizations managing multiple locations, suppliers and purchasing categories, the next opportunity may be to examine where greater visibility, standardization and supplier consolidation can make the biggest difference.

This Views article is sponsored by Staples Business and is adapted from their report “2026 LTC Procurement Benchmark Report: Reducing Cost, Complexity and Strengthening Operations.” To download the full report, click here.