Supply chain was for a long time considered a support function at most health systems — the team that managed purchasing, kept shelves stocked and stayed out of the way of clinical decision-making. At UC Health in Cincinnati, Derrick Billups says that model is gone.
“I think the biggest change has been the evolution of supply chain from what was traditionally viewed as a support function into a more strategic enterprise function,” Mr. Billups, vice president of supply chain and support services at UC Health, said in an interview with the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.”
The shift has roots in the pandemic. Supply shortages that disrupted care delivery across the country made visible what supply chain leaders had understood for years: logistics and patient care cannot be separated because if products aren’t available, the team can’t provide sufficient patient care.
At UC Health, the supply chain team now works in close partnership with physicians, nursing leaders, finance partners and executive leadership — a departure from the largely transactional role it once held. The expectation today is that supply chain contributes to quality outcomes, organizational resilience and financial sustainability, not just purchasing and inventory management.
“It’s so critical that each dollar we spend delivers a good and strong value while supporting our patient care,” said Mr. Billups. “We know cost and expenses are going up and reimbursements are, in a lot of cases, staying flat or in some cases declining. Supply disruptions continue to remain a reality.”
While there are supplies often in shortage, instances like Hurricane Helene that resulted in a national IV fluid shortage spotlight the need for more supply chain resilience. And clinical variation management is the third — a persistent challenge in academic medical centers where innovation and specialization naturally produce diverse product and practice patterns.
To address all three simultaneously, UC Health designed an initiative that integrated supply resilience planning, clinical collaboration and data analytics into a single strategy. The goal was to ensure clinicians had the right products when and where they needed them, while building the organizational capacity to absorb market disruptions and ongoing financial pressure.
“For most academic medical centers, those are environments that encourage innovation and highly specialized care, which naturally creates a variation of products and practice patterns,” said Mr. Billiups. “Our approach is still to make sure decisions are guided by evidence and collaboration with our clinical partners, and through strong value processes, we have physician engagement and data-driven insights. We’re working to balance innovation, patient safety, operational effectiveness and financial stewardship.”
The team worked closely with physicians and nursing leaders to map utilization patterns, identify standardization opportunities grounded in clinical evidence and strengthen supplier relationships through proactive conversations about market conditions and risk. Utilization analytics, benchmarking tools and market intelligence were combined to support decisions in real time.
Within 12 to 15 months, UC Health reduced its business price competitive index by 10 — a measure of how an organization’s pricing compares to peer hospitals of similar size and scope — and reached best-in-class standing in that benchmark. The initiative generated approximately $23 million in annualized savings.
The method mattered as much as the result.
“This wasn’t about just cutting cost,” Mr. Billups said. “It was about collaboration, [aligning] supply chain, physicians and clinical leaders around a common goal, which created the value and improved resilience and ultimately strengthened our ability to support our patients and our patient care.”
That collaboration produced a lasting structural change. Supply chain at UC Health now holds a consistent seat in clinical conversations — earned, Mr. Billups said, through demonstrated contribution to both financial and patient care outcomes.
“Supply chain is definitely one of the entities that’s at the table with the physician providers and our clinical partners,” he said.
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