The New Normal
John Pritchard
The last decade has been so crazy, I have wondered what normal would feel like. Maybe it’s 2018. Just think of all we have digested in that last dozen or so years; the Great Recession, the passing and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and era of unprecedented consolidation. While any one of these events would have sent shockwaves through the best-run IDNs in the past, the compilation and continued onslaught has become almost routine.
Now we deal with concerns of tariffs, trade wars, product shortages, and uncertainty of the coverage the Affordable Care Act facilitated. Yet for some strange reason things feel more stable than they have in a long time. The Supply Chain Leaders I talk to are making progress on some of the big areas they have wanted to focus on for a while.
Real progress is being made on understanding, organizing and contracting for Purchased Services. This is an area that even the best Supply Chain Leaders know there is room for improvement, but it takes expertise and focus. Look for more articles in The Journal of Healthcare Contracting about Purchased Services and please contact me if you have a story to share.
Alternate site supply has also improved greatly. It wasn’t long ago that a major IDN’s Supply Chain Leader told me he used to let his ambulatory site distributor handle those facilities. Today, the same guy has a Director focused solely on the formulary and contracts for the alternate sight facilities. This spend is no longer an afterthought.
The other trend I see happening is the focus on professional development of Supply Chain departments. There is more talk of training, career laddering and professional development. This bodes very well for the U.S. Healthcare Supply Chain, because the better equipped our next generation of leaders are, the better suited they will be to help their IDNs navigate this crazy market.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and thanks for reading this issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting!