Mark Thill
By Mark Thill
Our annual pursuit of “Ten People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting” always yields a goldmine of ideas. Some are involved in brand-new, never-been-done-before projects; others are implementing improved versions of older ideas. Either way, it’s clear that successful supply chain executives are continually in a learning and building mode. Here are examples of what I’m talking about.
Alisha Hutchens, senior director, supply chain administration, Novant Health, Inc., reports that she and her team enhanced their value analysis program by creating a full supply chain project implementation team. That team will rely on two nurses in the value analysis department to take a more proactive approach in working with Novant Health’s strategic sourcing team, as well as operations and logistics, during product conversions and project implementations
David Gillan, senior vice president, supply chain aggregation services, Vizient, Inc. has participated in two significant corporate integrations since early 2015. During the merger of VHA, UHC and Novation, he served on the team that led the go-to-market strategy for offerings in the clinical, operational and sourcing areas. Second, in support of the acquisition of MedAssets’ supply chain management business, he served on the team focused on defining the go-forward sourcing philosophy.
Durral R. Gilbert, president of supply chain service, Premier Inc., reports on that organization’s Partnership for Advancement of Comparative Effectiveness Review (PACER) collaborative, in which health systems come together to examine clinical evidence and outcomes, as well as price and usage data, to determine best practices and unnecessary variation across physician-preference-item areas.
Jim Marziale, senior vice president of account management, Intalere, is looking forward to two important projects: Intalere’s outpatient pharmacy/ PBM program and its Total Cost of Ownership utilization program, the latter of which he calls “the next frontier in supply chain management,” with a potential per-line product savings of 22 to 41 percent above price.
Jocelyn Bradshaw, senior vice president, strategic sourcing, HealthTrust, has worked with to incorporate two new members – Barnabas Health and St. Luke’s Boise – into the HealthTrust program, together representing about $4 billion of additional volume to the contract portfolio.
Kevin Keller, director of materials management, Crystal Run Health, sits on the leadership council of the Intalere Eastern Alliance. What began as a strategic collaborative of Eastern acute and non-acute organizations, is now rapidly growing elsewhere, he says.
Matthew Mayer, vice president, material resources, corporate office, Franciscan Alliance Inc., describes a project involving hospitals, physicians and HPG SourceTrust to save almost $6 million annually on orthopedic total joint and spinal implants. Today, Franciscan Alliance has some of the lowest supply cost ratios in healthcare, he reports.
Nate Mickish, senior director, Texas Health Supply Chain Services, describes the formation of a new forprofit division under Texas Health – Texas Health Supply Chain Services (THSCS) – enabling the parent organization to focus on extending its nonacute and affiliate contracting service model to the greater market place.
Tim Miller, senior director, supply chain services, Banner Health, reports that in March 2015, Banner acquired the University of Arizona Health Network, adding two academic medical centers and resulting in the formation of Banner University Medicine Division (BUMD), accounting for 31 percent of the $1.5 billion that Banner Health spends on supplies and purchased services. Miller and his team integrated over 600 supplier and purchased services contracts.
Tim Nedley, vice president, materials management, UPMC, and his team have implemented an inboundfreight-reduction project. “We’ve taken a very stern approach, and [permit our vendors to] only charge us what it actually costs to ship the product,” he says.