Hospital supply chain leaders say the next five years will redefine their role — shifting it from traditional procurement and logistics toward enterprise strategy, technology integration and cross-functional leadership.
Across health systems, leaders described a future in which supply chain is no longer measured solely by cost savings, but by its ability to drive value, resilience and continuity of care.
“The changes in the supply chain leader role can be summed up in two words: collaboration and technology,” said Eric Berger, system director of supply chain at Tewksbury, Mass.-based Covenant Health.
Automation and analytics become foundational
Many supply chain leaders said automation, analytics and AI will move from optional tools to core infrastructure.
“Supply chain leaders will be asking, ‘Is there an option to automate this process?’ again and again,” said Tracy Cleveland, vice president of supply chain and president of the Northern Michigan Supply Alliance. He said technology will be used to enhance productivity while allowing team members to focus on value-added work that automation cannot replace.
Mr. Berger added that technology will increasingly drive supply chain decision-making, whether through AI-enabled efficiencies or analytics that help leaders identify and communicate opportunities for savings and improvement across departments.
George Godfrey, chief supply chain officer at Miami-based Baptist Health South Florida, said the role will require significantly greater technical competency, particularly in deploying robotics and AI.
“Over the next five years, what will matter most is our ability to harness these new capabilities to elevate service levels, providing clinicians the reliable and intelligent support they need to deliver exceptional patient care,” Mr. Godfrey said.
Several leaders also pointed to predictive tools and end-to-end visibility as critical for future operations. Ryan Koos, senior vice president and chief supply chain officer at Phoenix-based Banner Health, said demand planning and control towers will be essential for proactive disruption management and continuity planning.
Deeper integration with IT and digital infrastructure
As supply chain technology becomes inseparable from healthcare IT, leaders said close partnership with IT will be essential.
“Over the next five years, the hospital supply chain leader’s role will continue to evolve from a primarily cost- and quality-focused function to a highly strategic one, deeply integrated with IT,” said Don Barton, chief technical officer and director of supply chain management at Major Health Partners in Shelbyville, Ind.
Mr. Barton said nearly every capital purchase and many contracts now involve network connectivity, EHR integration or cybersecurity implications, requiring early and ongoing collaboration with IT teams.
That collaboration will extend into AI strategy. Tony Bramer, director of supply chain operations at Edgewood, Ky.-based St. Elizabeth Healthcare, said supply chain will work closely with IT to drive AI initiatives across operations, procurement and strategic sourcing, particularly for systems with multiple hospitals.
Elevation into enterprise and clinical leadership
Several leaders predict the supply chain role will rise within organizational leadership structures.
“I see the role of the hospital supply chain leader continuing to be elevated to a seat directly in the C-suite,” Mr. Bramer said.
With that elevation comes deeper involvement in clinical strategy. Mr. Bramer said supply chain leaders will increasingly guide value-based purchasing efforts, physician education and compliance initiatives designed to support patient outcomes.
Similarly, Noah Dunlap, chief supply chain officer at Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare, said the role is shifting into a more strategic, data-driven leadership position that directly impacts patient care, financial resilience and organizational agility, requiring leaders to work across multiple stakeholder groups.
From procurement to enterprisewide resource management
Several leaders also said supply chain is moving into a more centralized role, with greater influence over how resources are managed across a health system.
“Over the next five years, the scope of the hospital supply chain leader will expand beyond traditional supply chain perspectives into a broader, enterprisewide resource management role,” said Michael Alfaro, director of materials management at Ventura, Calif.-based Community Memorial Healthcare.
Mr. Alfaro said centralized supply chain frameworks, developed in close collaboration with clinical and operational partners, will enable systemwide value realization, while strengthening financial performance and improving outcomes.
That expansion is also opening doors for supply chain leaders to apply their skill sets in areas where they have not traditionally had a seat at the table. Nicholas Trzeciak, vice president of supply chain operations at Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Healthcare, said supply chain leaders are uniquely positioned as “the hub of the wheel” across many processes. He said applying that experience to functions such as revenue cycle or previously siloed workflows — including documentation within procedures — will be an area where supply chain leaders can bring significant value over the next five years.
That broader mandate aligns with what Colin Baird, systems director of supply chain management at Robbinsdale, Minn.-based North Memorial Health, described as a shift from negotiation to stewardship.
“Hospital supply chain leaders will move from negotiators to architects of resilience, measured by continuity of care as much as price,” Mr. Baird said.
Balancing resilience, value and financial pressure
Leaders affirmed that resilience will remain a defining priority as financial pressure intensifies.
Mr. Baird said supply chain teams will increasingly operate as intelligence hubs, using analytics and automation to predict risk, stabilize workflows and protect margins.
Michael McCaffrey, vice president and chief supply chain officer at Portland-based Oregon Health & Science University, said supply chain leaders must evolve into value generators as healthcare organizations navigate ongoing financial strain.
“Value creation must be prioritized through highly effective sourcing expertise for all types of spend — direct, indirect and capital,” Mr. McCaffrey said. He added that leaders will need to place greater emphasis on workforce productivity, particularly as labor costs remain high.
“Essentially, it’s about driving how we grow efficiently and effectively using new tools and embedding AI into our process-laden activities,” he said.
Mr. McCaffrey also emphasized the human side of resilience, noting that the growing complexity of healthcare supply chains will require outcome-oriented leadership.
“The demands on healthcare supply chains will only grow, so it will take people-focused leaders to help teams set priorities based on the most important objectives — and to arm them with the right resources to accomplish those objectives, understanding that not all things are equally important,” he said.
At the same time, Luke Martin, administrative director of supply chain management at San Angelo, Texas-based Shannon Health System, said leaders must remain resilient in decision-making, adopt change quickly and invest in talent development. He said supply chain teams are expanding their focus beyond traditional categories toward non-labor expense management to support systemwide financial goals.
Mr. Koos added that supply chain leaders will also need to align procurement, sourcing and operations with value-based care models, and collaborate with clinicians to reduce variation while supporting long-term patient outcomes.
For executives, the future of hospital supply chain leadership will be defined not just by what organizations buy, but by how effectively supply chain leaders connect technology, clinical priorities and enterprise strategy across the system.
