Melissa Amell
System director, supply chain operations, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Dallas, Texas.
Tenet Healthcare consists of 80 hospitals; over 214 outpatient centers; six health plans and Conifer Health Solutions; $16.6 billion in net operating revenues; $2.6 billion in total supply spend.
Melissa Amell’s supply chain career took off at St. Thomas Health in Nashville, Tenn., where she held various supply chain positions. From there, she joined Vanguard Health Systems as director of supply chain operations. Once Vanguard was acquired by Tenet, she joined the Tenet team in October 2013. Today, she provides direction and leadership for Tenet’s supply chain operational activities, including the reduction of supply expenses. She works closely with clinical, financial and operational teams to standardize and contract for clinically acceptable products, while maintaining positive outcomes and providing exceptional patient care. Finally, she leads the teams responsible for master data management, analytics and reporting within the company’s supply chain department.
The Journal of Healthcare Contracting: What has been the most challenging and rewarding project you have been involved in recently?
Melissa Amell: We have been working through the Tenet acquisition of Vanguard and bringing both legacy supply chain organizations together to form a consolidated supply chain team. For the past 20 months, we have worked to standardize purchasing practices, products and processes, while maintaining relationships with two GPOs. Currently, Tenet has an outsourced relationship with MedAssets for all supply chain operations, while the previous Vanguard facilities each maintain a market-based team. I have actively participated in the development of a supply chain organization in which we have a very compliant, value-based GPO partner(s). We have developed strategies to combine the best aspects of both Vanguard and Tenet organizations to improve service and cost for everyone.
JHC: Please describe a project you look forward to implementing in the next year or two.
Amell: I look forward to continuing to develop and build capabilities to support supply chain operations internally, including managing and standardizing data in one central location, while continuing to operate disparate materials management systems in currently owned facilities and potential future acquisitions. This will permit more consolidated visibility of information and allow us to develop a good understanding of our supply chain/product category spend in both acute and non-acute facilities. As a result, we should be better prepared to negotiate and contract with our suppliers.
JHC: What is the most important quality you look for in a supplier partner?
Amell: We look for credibility, commitment and the ability to identify new and innovative ways to work together.
JHC: What is the greatest change we can expect to see in healthcare contracting in the next five years?
Amell: As more hospitals become affiliated with – or owned by – larger systems, contracting will continue to move toward a centralized model. There will be multiple benefits, such as visibility, which is essential to making good decisions for both standardization and pricing. Another benefit will be the centralization of information, which will allow for accuracy of data and facilitate a smooth transition when making product changes. Centralized data and contract negotiations will allow smaller facilities, both acute and non-acute, the benefit of the same pricing and discount advantages of much larger facilities. The influence and significant contract pull on a national scale of larger IDNs, combined with the changing supplier landscape, will likely cause group purchasing organizations to re-think their business model to remain relevant.