David Gillan
David Gillan
- Senior vice president, supply chain aggregation services, Vizient, Inc.
- Vizient consists of about 4,500 members and an annual spend volume of approximately $100 billion.
David Gillan joined Vizient (the new brand identity for VHA Inc., University HealthSystem Consortium, Novation and MedAssets’ Spend and Clinical Resource Management business) in 1999, following his experience at an academic medical center and, later, at a healthcare consulting firm. Over the past 17 years, he has held various leadership roles at Vizient, in research and development, supplier relations, purchased services, custom sourcing and supply chain aggregation services. Last March he moved into his current role in which he oversees the strategic direction and management of Vizient’s supply chain aggregation services (also referred to as an industry supply network and/or a regional purchasing collaborative). In this area, Vizient’s objective is to help accelerate the collective performance of the healthcare organizations it serves by helping bend the supply chain cost curve on a local level, while enabling improved quality of care through the use of data and best practices, especially in the realm of value analysis.
The Journal of Healthcare Contracting: What has been the most challenging and rewarding project you have been involved in recently?
David Gillan: Since early 2015, I’ve participated in two significant corporate integrations. First, during the merger of VHA, UHC and Novation, I served on the team that led the go-to-market strategy for our offerings in the clinical, operational and sourcing areas. Second, in support of the acquisition of MedAssets’ supply chain management business, I served on the team focused on defining the go-forward sourcing philosophy, which helped set the tone for member and supplier communications and ultimately helped inform them about our portfolio integration.
JHC: Please describe a project you look forward to implementing in the next year or two.
Gillan: This is an exciting time in our organization: We have many new opportunities to turn knowledge into practice and enhance our ability to be an indispensable partner to the healthcare organizations we serve. Over the next 12 months, I am excited to build on the supply chain aggregation platform that Vizient has established. Specifically, I will use this time to focus on moving supply chain beyond scale and price. With the strength of our integrated portfolio, enhanced data analytics and clinical integration systems, we can assist healthcare organizations in developing an evidence-based and outcome-focused approach to aggregated product and service selection, with a heavy emphasis on value analysis and supply utilization misalignments.
JHC: What are the most important qualities you look for in a supplier partner?
Gillan: We look for both cost and quality paradigm. We need innovation from our supplier partners, but not just in terms of product and service offerings. We need suppliers who can provide comparative data and guidelines designed to reduce provider variation, and strategies to maximize reimbursement.
JHC: What is the greatest change we can expect to see in healthcare contracting in the next five years?
Gillan: As more care is delivered in a value-based format, there will be a greater need for those in supply chain to have an evidence-based and outcomes-focused approach to their product and service selection. Value analysis [will continue to be] a critical part of the solution, but it will require a more strategic focus on savings goals, objectives and opportunity targets.