About Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is an academic medical center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with an integrated health care network that serves the residents of 24 counties in northwest North Carolina and southwest Virginia. The Medical Center’s primary divisions are Wake Forest Baptist Health, a regional clinical system that includes Brenner Children’s Hospital, three community hospitals, more than 230 other primary and specialty care locations, approximately 2,000 physicians and 1,184 acute care beds; and Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Jonathan Kepley
Jonathan Kepley
Director of Strategic Sourcing
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Born and raised in Lexington, North Carolina, about 20 miles south of Winston-Salem, Jonathan Kepley joined Wake Forest in 1995 in the general storeroom. He was promoted to coordinator of the receiving dock, then buyer and purchasing agent, contract administrator and contract administration manager. He assumed his current role – director of strategic sourcing – in 2015, and is responsible for contract administration, purchasing, value analysis and the health system’s materials management information systems group. His experiences have given him a broad perspective of supply chain, from the point at which supplies are requested all the way through invoice payment.
JHC: What is the most challenging and/or rewarding supply-chain-related project in which you have been involved in the past 12-18 months?
Jonathan Kepley: Over the last 18 months, I led a medical/surgical products distribution vendor conversion from a 20+-year incumbent, and a GPO conversion from a 10+-year incumbent, and integrated two regional medical centers into the Wake Forest Baptist network. In addition, I served as lead for a project to remove $30 million of non-labor expenses from the health system. To reach that goal, we examined all costs associated with supplies, equipment, service contracts, purchased services and implants (especially spinal, orthopedic and cardiac rhythm management). Over the years, I’ve developed close working relationships with the chairs of our clinical service lines, so they were very engaged throughout the process. It should be noted we weren’t asking our surgeons to change vendors, but rather, to leverage those vendors we already had.
We also evaluated our revenue cycle, human resources and IT agreements. We worked with all departments, including some we traditionally have not worked with. As a result, we have developed working relationships throughout the system, and have opened many doors.
JHC: Please describe a project on which you look forward to working in the next year.
Kepley: We are preparing to acquire another hospital and physician practice group this fall. When that acquisition is completed, we will have examined its entire contract portfolio, changed their GPOs, med./surg distributor, pharmaceutical distributor and their ERP system.
JHC: In what way(s) have you improved the way you approach your job or profession in the last five to 10 years?
Kepley: Technology plays a much bigger role in our purchasing decisions than it did even five years ago. Data companies and GPOs can gather and analyze all kinds of information, including price and utilization benchmarks. Having that information at our fingertips makes such a difference when negotiating contracts or making operational decisions.
JHC: In your opinion, what will be some of the challenges or opportunities facing the next generation of supply chain professionals? What should they be doing now to prepare to successfully meet those challenges and opportunities?
Kepley: The next generation is obviously a lot more tech-savvy than we were, but they may need some help with their interpersonal skills. They communicate very well digitally, but at some point, they will have to master face-to-face conversations with executives and physicians. They’ll also have to give lots of presentations to work groups and committees. But that aside, I find their ability to analyze data and look at projects from a new and different perspective to be very positive.