April 27, 2023 – Mark Carpenter is the Director of Regional Administration at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Read an excerpt from The Journal of Healthcare Contracting’s “Future Leaders”.
What interested you about a career in healthcare?
I started my first job in healthcare as a freshman in college. One afternoon, I was in the hospital standing in the main lobby and watching all the people come in. There was a variety of people coming in and they all had different emotions. They were nervous, scared, hopeful or relieved. And while I’m not a clinician by trade, I help support the care for them by doing a behind-the-scenes operation. That could be me walking in the door or a family member or a friend. That energized me that day and I realized my purpose of being at work. It takes everyone to come together to provide that support and care for the patient. That’s something I fell in love within healthcare, and it grounded me. I’ve worked in a couple of different industries and felt like healthcare is where I could make a change.
What do you like about working in supply chain? Was it a position you sought, or found out about once you began working in the field?
I did a couple of different internships at Cleveland Clinic, and they were all on the operations side. One was with human resources. One was with protective services. They weren’t with supply chain, but I really liked working with Cleveland Clinic and when I saw positions open with supply chain that drove me into it.
In what ways has the supply chain changed over the last 2-3 years, from your perspective?
In the past 2-3 years, what’s changed in supply chain has been on the data front. We used to have a bunch of spreadsheets and massive databases, and what’s changed is that you need all that data right now at your fingertips in a user friendly format. Something to easily understand with the ability to dive into the details and the complexities of supply chain. You’re leveraging that data to tell your story, to convey a message, to mitigate an issue or risk, or to make a decision. Having all of that at the forefront with Covid and having to make quick, rapid decisions reinforces that data-centric supply chain.
Read more in the latest issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting.