December 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Administrative Director of Procurement, MMIS and Business Intelligence for Adventist Health
Ivana Drahotuski serves as the administrative director overseeing business intelligence, material management information system (MMIS) and procurement for Adventist Health. She leads 35 professionals structured in four different teams.
What’s a recent or current project or initiative that you’ve been excited to work on?
We successfully integrated three new hospitals into our supply chain and materials management information standards. This process involved understanding their business models, purchasing patterns, and aligning them with ours. Additionally, we identified cost-savings and operational improvement opportunities during the integration that resulted in supply expense reductions for all organizations.
In our near future, we are converting our 27 hospitals from our current ERP to Oracle Cloud. I’m excited about designing our future-state infrastructure processes with new technology while collaborating with our partners and our core team through that ideation phase. I enjoy tackling complex challenges and finding straightforward solutions – solutions that are easy for our end users to adopt and implement into their daily operations
Tell us a little bit about the teams you lead. What’s unique?
I’m extremely proud of my team, which represents a diverse mix of generations, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z, with each member bringing unique experiences and perspectives. I expect them to approach every business challenge with an open mind, leveraging both their expertise and technology to deliver results.
As a shared service supporting over 250 supply chain professionals and numerous clinicians, we must remain agile and consistently deliver an exceptional customer service experience.
How do you measure your collective success beyond just cost savings?
Driving impact on the financial bottom lines is always the key focus for every
supply chain executive, so identifying and implementing those cost savings initiatives remains our top priority, but there are several critical KPIs that help us
measure our supply chain organization success through the lens of prioritizing
the patient outcome.
First, patient care impact is extremely important for us – product availability, quality of products, and timely delivery of supplies is our top priority.
With operational efficiency, we want to make sure we optimize our inventory and always have high responsiveness.
Supply chain resilience is another important factor. By resilience, I’m specifically referring to supplier performance and their ability to effectively support us. Making sure they have access to critical supplies, and they are also able to adapt to changing needs without compromising services. Our suppliers are a big part of our success.
Customer service. We pride ourselves in responding to any question or system issue within 24 hours. The urgent requests are solved, within one or two hours.
Another focus is technology and innovation adoption. Technology evolves rapidly and we need to stay current and adopt what’s necessary to effectively support our customers.
Finally, team performance. KPIs are the measure of our performance. We monitor them monthly and address gaps quickly, which helps us be a high performer within our organization.
As a leader, how do you try to anticipate and navigate disruptions?
Change is a constant in supply chain, and my teams must stay agile to adapt.
I’m deeply committed to a holistic approach in optimizing supply chain operations. My focus is on cultivating a team of highly skilled professionals who have a clear understanding of our operating model, including key processes and accountabilities, and equipping them with the technology to empower them to work both efficiently and strategically.
This alignment of the right talent, well defined processes, and adequate technology positions us for sustained high performance across the organization and quick response to internal and external disruptions.
When it comes to diversity in the U.S. healthcare supply chain workforce, has the industry improved since you started your career? If so, in what ways? And how can we improve?
Diversity in healthcare supply chain workforce has improved in the past decade. I strongly believe that diversity significantly enhances team performance and ideation by fostering a broader range of ideas and innovative solutions.
Equity ensures all members feel valued and empowered to contribute, which boosts engagement and morale.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Be curious and explore. My background wasn’t in supply chain; I entered this field over 20 years ago, driven by curiosity. I was amazed at how intricate and vast the supply chain puzzle is, offering many directions for professional growth. It can be overwhelming at times, like in any business, due to the many moving parts and market pressures from all sides (internal and external). However, I believe that staying curious and being willing to explore and try new strategies is key to moving forward.
Don’t fear making mistakes – they are part of growth.
Don’t let setbacks discourage you – view them as challenges and keep pushing forward.