Gartner, a research and advisory company that annually ranks health system supply chains, extracted three core priorities common to this year’s top performers.
An expansion of clinical collaboration initiatives, resurgence of cost management and acceleration in the digital supply chain emerged as key themes in 2025, according to Gartner.
For over a decade, the company has published annual rankings on health system supply chains. On Nov. 19, Gartner released its 17th annual top 25 ranking. Across these organizations, three priorities dominated strategy:
Leading health systems are pursuing clinical supply chain efforts past value analysis teams and clinical integration, according to Gartner. An increasing number of systems are adopting a “dyad” model which pairs a clinical leader with a supply chain leader to align on priorities.
This year, supply chain leaders among the top 25 also cleansed and optimized thousands of outdated physician preference cards. In their standardization efforts, they saved millions of dollars. New dashboards also show data on supply usage, case costs and practice patterns, allowing systems to quickly identify misalignments.
2. Cost management
In addition to minimizing clinical variation, organizations implemented a variety of cost management measures as supply expenditure grew. Many invested in consolidated service centers, technology to capture real-time monitoring and analysis on global trade activity, and targeted programs on high-cost pharmaceuticals.
Many supply chain teams’ scope has expanded to oversee construction, capital planning and IT.
3. Digital supply chain
Health systems also heavily invested in AI and automation solutions, enterprise resource planning systems, and advanced analytics and data management. Analytics platforms enable clinical leaders to “ask natural-language questions about costs, outcomes and variation, receiving instant, data-driven insights and visualizations,” according to Gartner.
Organizations are utilizing bots for bill-only processes to simplify workflows and generate savings, Gartner said. Other key technologies include cloud-based platforms, radio-frequency identification technology and virtual item masters within enterprise resource planning systems.
