Ask healthcare supply chain leaders where they’re creating the most strategic value today, and many point beyond procurement and contracting.
Instead, they describe work that spans clinical operations, technology adoption, inventory management and long-term planning — areas they say have become an increasingly important part of the function.
For many leaders, that starts with giving health systems better visibility into the supplies they already have.
Michael Brown, vice president of supply chain at Texas Children’s in Houston, said advanced health systems are building systems that provide complete inventory visibility across hospitals, operating rooms, procedural areas, physician offices and distribution centers. While those efforts require years of organizational commitment, he said the payoff is greater resilience during shortages and back orders, lower costs and more efficient product utilization.
“Contract savings are only meaningful if we are utilizing our products efficiently at the point of care,” Mr. Brown told Becker’s.
Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System is taking a similar approach. Nalin Kulasekara, system vice president of ancillary operations and supply chain management, said standardized inventory organization, perpetual inventory systems and automated ordering are improving productivity while reducing time spent managing supplies. He added that technology is allowing teams to make decisions based on “clinical quality and outcomes and not just focusing on reducing price of items.”
Others said supply chain’s strategic value increasingly comes from helping shape decisions before products are ever purchased.
Don Barton, chief technical officer and director of supply chain management at Shelbyville, Ind.-based Major Health Partners, said supply chain now partners with clinical and operational leaders to evaluate new technologies, capital equipment, procedures and product utilization before decisions are finalized. By combining clinical outcomes, workflow impact, total cost of ownership, market benchmarking and contract leverage, he said, supply chain helps ensure investments support both patient care and long-term financial sustainability.
For Mark Campbell, senior vice president of supply chain at Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital, strategic partnerships with suppliers have become another way the function creates value. Those relationships give physicians access to “the best technology when first released” and, in some cases, opportunities to help design new products and features, leading to academic research opportunities and mutual value for both the health system and industry partners.
For other leaders, the greatest opportunity lies in making clinicians’ jobs easier.
Scott Meiser, vice president of supply chain at Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health, said his team has shifted inventory management, shortages and back-order planning into the supply chain organization so clinicians can focus on caring for patients rather than managing supplies.
“We do this through shifting products into our distribution center and managing inventory, back orders and shortages so that the clinician can order the product and it is there,” Mr. Meiser said.
Les Feka, director of supply chain at Birmingham, Ala.-based Baptist Health Princeton Hospital, said his department views itself first and foremost as a customer service organization. Rather than expecting nurses to know exact part numbers or product names, supply chain staff are trained to ask the right questions and quickly identify what clinicians need.
The role is also expanding into broader organizational strategy.
At Louisville, Ky.-based Baptist Health, Cindy Gueltzow, vice president of supply chain services, said her team uses utilization and revenue data, along with strategic partnerships, to identify growth opportunities and joint ventures that can strengthen the organization.
Judi Melton, director of supply chain at Salinas (Calif.) Valley Health, said purchased services contracting has become a strategic tool for aligning vendor agreements with organizational goals. Beyond negotiating pricing, she said the work includes standardizing contract terms, managing vendor performance, reducing risk and improving service levels while achieving sustainable cost savings.
Meanwhile, Rosa Costanzo, senior vice president and chief supply chain and procurement officer for Miami-based Jackson Health System, said supply chain is creating value through procedural margin reviews, protecting against unnecessary clinical supply variation and optimizing value across the enterprise.
“Supply chain is key to any healthcare organization’s resilience and operational readiness,” Ms. Costanzo said.
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