Executive Director Supply Chain Services,
Banner Health
August 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Banner Health’s corporate strategy includes the concept of “One Team” – enabling strong teams to deliver reliable care. Supply Chain Services (SCS) expands on that concept with a motto of “One Team – One Supply Chain”, said Paul Oppat, Executive Director Supply Chain Services, Banner Health. “We have organized our SCS team into segments that align with stakeholder priorities and needs.”
Oppat said he has “the pleasure” of leading the Operations segment of Banner Health’s SCS team. The Operations segment consists of hundreds of talented individuals who form workgroups in Procurement, operate a Consolidated Service Center and a dedicated Logistics Center, and deliver 24/7 services to customers in 30 acute care hospitals and to hundreds of clinics and health centers in six states. Oppat is responsible for ensuring the timely and efficient execution of our supply chain strategy to the point-of-use.
“We have a talented team, which makes my role easy.”
What’s a recent win for your Supply Chain team?
We recently completed a multi-year project to improve core functionality and reliability within the applications we use in our procure-to-pay cycle. We partnered with external and in-house talent to implement new applications, analytics, and workflows to better visualize Supply Chain performance, and to ensure the procurement process is aligned with formulary and sourcing strategy.
We also enhanced connections with clinical systems to provide better real-time data from an expanded item master that is supported by a new contracts database. We are pleased with the improved results we are experiencing in Supply Chain performance, clinical documentation, and in the revenue cycle.
What’s coming up on the calendar that you’re excited to work on?
We pride ourselves on being a clinically integrated Supply Chain team. That means not only focusing on the cost of care, but also the culture of care. We are renewing our commitment to promoting a culture of safety and embracing high reliability principles.
This year we are educating our team members on what it means to be a high reliability organization (HRO), and how they can align with those characteristics and behaviors in their Supply Chain role.
The U.S. healthcare system has had its share of disruptions amid the pandemic and now post-pandemic. What are your takeaways as a Supply Chain leader?
It seems marketplace disruptions are the new normal. We are experiencing a less predictable global economy fueled by the lingering effects of the pandemic and geopolitical turmoil. Supply disruptions are common and sometimes impact the quality of care.
My takeaway: be prepared.
Supply Chain disruption is not only likely, but certain. We must balance the need for an efficient Supply Chain with one that is more resilient and capable of consistently delivering despite these disruptions. We must change how we measure efficiency in a Supply Chain to enable increases in resilience and preparedness.
What are the most important attributes of a successful Supply Chain team today?
Our SCS team has five goals that support Banner’s overall strategy:
- Make healthcare more affordable.
- Increase supply chain efficiency.
- Improve the customer experience.
- Ensure Supply Chain Services is a great place to work.
- Drive community health and well-being.
Everything we do fits within one or more of those goals, and we have ongoing and annual objectives to support those goals. A successful Supply Chain team understands the need to go beyond the cost-to-serve; we must remember we are people serving people. Great outcomes come from great teams of individuals who do meaningful work, together, that makes a difference. Obvious and plentiful teamwork is the attribute I admire most in a successful Supply Chain team.
How does a high-performing Supply Chain benefit the overall organization?
Like our peers in this industry, we have many key performance indicators (KPIs) we use to track performance over time. Our goal is simple: to do things better today than yesterday.
Beyond the numbers, our influence in the organization is probably the best measure of our overall performance. Are we proactive or reactive? Are we part of the development of strategy, or are we simply a business unit that executes strategy developed by others? Being viewed as trusted business partners who add value; that is my KPI.
How should suppliers approach their work with today’s health system supply chain teams?
Providers and suppliers trade in a challenging space. In healthcare, the customer seems obvious – the patient. But some might consider the customer to be a caregiver, or a payer. Value goes beyond price, and both providers and suppliers are challenged to find a balance of when and how we measure value for various stakeholders.
A great provider/supplier relationship exists when we can trust one another to openly discuss where we both add or subtract from the value chain, and when we work together to make things better, for the patient.