Publisher’s Letter
February 2023 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Happy New Year! And for the first time in a few years, I actually mean that! At the beginning of 2021 and 2022 there was so much uncertainty that I simply couldn’t project a happy year ahead. Uncertainty has always been scarier to me than known challenges. This year, I’m much more confident that we have good things to look forward to, and I will get to those shortly.
I’d be naïve, and it would be insensitive, for me to not acknowledge that we still have many challenges looming in the U.S. healthcare supply chain. The biggest challenges that come to mind are inflation, supply interruptions and labor issues.
Inflation will put a lot of pressure on buyer-supplier relations. The costs of raw material, transportation and labor are putting upward pressure on product costs. This will certainly have suppliers seeking price increases even mid-contract. It will be interesting to see how these increase requests are received and accommodated.
Supply chain leaders I’ve spoken to tell me they are spending over half their time chasing back orders and stock outs. Hopefully that will recede. Suppliers must do a better job communicating to providers when there is going to be a disruption.
Labor issues are in every corner of industry today. The one that suppliers should really pay attention to is what their client’s nursing situation is. Any value proposition you can take to IDNs that helps them make their nurses happier and safer will be received with open arms!
Reasons to be happy in 2023 are plentiful, but the top of the list for me are a full cadence of industry meetings, people returning to the office and a bountiful amount of grace and patience by all.
In-person meetings are so important. I had no idea how much I valued them until they were gone. I know much of the industry meetings have become routine, and much of the content can be shared virtually. But it so hard to build trust and really read a person if you are not face to face. From what I can tell, 2023 should be a banner year for meetings.
People returning to the office will foster collaboration that may have been missing for the last few years. I’m not sure we will ever be back to pre-pandemic hours, but we will see it increase from the last couple years. In some way the separation we have seen may make us appreciate our time together a little bit more, and be more mindful of the value of collaboration.
I do believe we’re witnessing more grace and patience than before the last trying years. It seems when you tell someone something they didn’t expect, they’re more apt to be understanding than disappointed. Maybe we are willing to give people a little more benefit of the doubt. I hope you are experiencing this as well, and I for one hope this is a long-lasting side effect of the pandemic.
Happy New Year! Thanks for reading this issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting!