November 2021 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
In its second year, the Capstone Leadership Institute is still providing valuable lessons for healthcare supply chain professionals that are looking to develop a core group of skills and expand their knowledge. Despite surges in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Delta variant, the Capstone Leadership Institute leveraged Zoom classes and lectures. This virtual component allowed for face-to-face interaction that resulted in more connectivity between the students and subject matter experts.
Seasoned supply chain leaders were looking for an opportunity for more leadership development training, so Capstone created a member-led council of high-level supply chain leaders to discuss how the organization could help. Those conversations created the Capstone Leadership Institute. The Capstone Leadership Institute is a value-added education platform built to empower and prepare the future leaders of the healthcare supply chain. This comprehensive program is exclusively for Capstone Health Alliance members, and has been designed to expand the knowledge of current and future leaders for the advancement of quality healthcare.
The 2021 Capstone Leadership Institute courses covered topics like the importance of physician and provider relationships, contract management, value analysis, forecasting, group purchasing organizations and inventory management.
Tim Bugg, Capstone President and CEO congratulated the class of 2021, saying, “I am very proud of this year’s graduate class. These hard-working individuals did an outstanding job in completing the curriculum while continuing to deal with the pandemic and the Delta variant. What an amazing group of professionals! Congratulations class of 2021!”
Even in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, students were eager to start classes. Patrick Henry, Contract Manager, Mon Health Medical Center, said, “The Capstone Leadership Institute provided a myriad of courses that allowed me to temporarily step away from my job responsibilities to focus on education, growth, and career development.” His primary goal was to gain additional knowledge from subject matter experts about the various aspects of supply chain management that he hadn’t experienced firsthand.
“Mike Rawls led a course in March 2021 focused on disaster preparedness,” Henry said. “At that point in time, we were all one year into the pandemic, so we had a lot to discuss. Mr. Rawls discussed the various facets of disaster preparedness, one being a PPE stockpile. PPE was still scarce, so creating a stockpile was difficult due to allocation restrictions.”
The real-world applications of insights like this are invaluable to the students who will go back to their organizations with a newfound knowledge of which steps to take next. Because of Mike Rawls’ course, Henry and his team were able to create a sufficient inventory of critical PPE, helping Mon Health throughout the multiple waves of COVID that we experienced in 2021.
For Tara Torrence, Director of Pharmacy, Granville Health System, the time she spent with the Capstone Leadership Institute proved to be a valuable commodity. She said, “At first, I thought it would be daunting to commit the time investment to this. Time is my most precious resource, and I am already spread so thin. I found that I looked forward to that 1-hour class on my calendar every other Tuesday and always took something away.”
As for the courses that proved to be most useful, she also found Mike Rawl’s course valuable. “Mike Rawls presented the idea that vendors are our teammates, which was a new concept to me,” she said. “Blair Childs outlined the distinct differences in the primary approach to healthcare and reminded us there are no easy solutions. Additionally, Li Ern Chin highlighted the importance of building relationships with providers and physicians.”
Torrence explained how she might apply these lessons to the real world, saying, “Application of any idea takes diligence and commitment. We have to be able to recognize the opportunity for application, meaning we have to be looking for the opportunity. For example, I was reminded to take the opportunity for that short conversation to build the relationship. When I’m talking to vendors, I can approach that conversation differently and ask them to be on my organization’s team.”
With two years of success for the Capstone Leadership Institute, plans for a third year are already underway. Applications are being accepted from Capstone members for the Class of 2022 through December 1. Please email kscott@capstonehealthalliance.com for more information.
The 2021 Class of the Capstone Leadership Institute
- Hannah Bentley, Buyer, Catawba Valley Medical Center
- Mark Boateng, MM. Warehouse Supervisor, BayHealth Medical Center
- Tanja Bonnette, Value Analysis Specialist, Jefferson Regional Medical Center
- Ginger Brooks, Clinical Value Analysis Manager, Greater Baltimore Medical Center
- Brandi Cooley, Lead Distribution Technician, Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center
- Dusti Gorby, Buyer/Recall Specialist, St. Mary’s Medical Center
- Amanda Hallmark, Contract Coordinator, East Alabama Medical Center
- Lucas Han, Supply Chain Manager, Adventist HealthCare
- Patrick (PJ) Henry, Contract Manager, Mon Health Medical Center
- Dawn Motiejunas, National Account Manager – Acute Care, CHAMPS GPO
- Jonathan Palardy, Pharmacy Buyer, Greater Baltimore Medical Center
- Dennis Reed, Purchasing Manager, St. Joseph’s/Candler
- Amanda Smith, Clinical Resource Manager, Riverside Health System
- Tara Torrence, Director of Pharmacy, Granville Health System
- Megan Valentine, Purchasing Team Lead, St. Joseph’s/Candler
- Donna Webster, Contract Coordinator, TidalHealth Peninsula Regional