Chief Procurement Officer, VP, Supply Chain,
Indiana University Health
August 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
As the Chief Procurement Officer and Vice President of Supply Chain for Indiana University (IU) Health, Sam Banks is responsible for $1.2 billion in annual spend, 550 people across 16 hospitals, numerous Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) and their 296,000 square-foot Integrated Service Center (ISC). The main functions under the Supply Chain umbrella include Hospital Operations, ASCs, Warehousing, Distribution, Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing, Value Analysis, Program Management, Operational Excellence, Business Analytics, Fleet Management and Freight.
Any recent stories of successful Supply Chain projects you can share?
Over the past year, we created a five-year strategy. In 2023, we completed 19 projects to bring this strategy to life, marking a notable step in our journey toward transforming our Supply Chain. As we move into 2024, we continue to progress our strategy, with 14 projects completed year-to-date.
IU Health is on target to increase the number of items sourced from the ISC by 20% in a single year. Also of note, we have established robust business reviews with our key suppliers with a focus on listening to what our suppliers have to say, working together to solve problems and being more innovative.
Part of the strategy is utilizing WaveMark, which will be fully implemented in our large hospital ORs by early 2025. This will provide point-of-use data on our high-cost procedural area supplies, enabling enhanced data-driven waste reduction, expiration management, and par level optimization. In all, over 200 ORs and Endo procedure rooms will utilize WaveMark for IU Health helping us drive a multi-million-dollar return.
What about upcoming initiatives you are excited to be working on?
We are in the second year of our five-year strategy, and it is exciting to see our initiatives and hard work starting to yield dividends. I am especially excited about our initiative to double the throughput at the ISC in the coming years. This will dramatically improve our risk profile, reduce lead-time, drive efficiencies, and improve our cost profile.
IU Health continues to invest in its most valuable resource, its people. With that in mind, our “Future Vision” statement in Supply Chain is for the people foundation project which highlights our intent for people and leadership development over the next few years, creating a highly skilled, innovative, disciplined, accountable, empowered, diverse and engaged team. Working with our HR partners, we measure employee retention, and collect responses from Gallop Employee Engagement surveys at the end of each quarter regarding employee satisfaction.
How do you measure the success of your team and its impact on the organization as a whole?
Our success comes in the form of every patient being treated, without delay, and with the needed device or supply. Our top goal is to be a trusted partner in patient care. Our clinicians should never have to worry about supplies. As we achieve this goal, we will provide a sustained advantage for IU Health and support our unique role in Indiana as the preeminent academic medical system. Our current measures include critical operational drivers, such as zero stock outs, percent of supplies managed at the ISC, collecting quality data to reduce price/OUM/part number exceptions, and fill-rates. We lead procurement efforts to manage inflationary pressures and reduce the total cost of care. We also support critical clinical initiatives like utilization and standardization programs.
What’s the biggest takeaway for you as a supply chain leader over the last few years of marketplace disruptions?
As Supply Chain professionals, we need to be curious. We need to be asking the right questions to our suppliers. We need to have a better understanding of our total supply chain network – going beyond an understanding of the Tier 1 level. Discussions around risk mitigation and supplier resilience needs to be part of the daily job and not once a year or one-off event.
What are the most important attributes of a successful supply chain team today?
We must continue to evolve, ask questions, be curious and enthusiastic around improving. Communicate within our team, all of IU Health and our external contacts. Problems arise. Being able to solve those problems efficiently either alone or with a team is key.
What are the keys to a successful provider/supplier relationship?
At IU Health, we believe we need to have a much more transparent relationship with our suppliers. We have opportunities to improve through open communication with our suppliers. Any inefficiencies driven into the supply base can be corrected with honest conversations and collaboration. When our suppliers gain an understanding of our strategy and what is important to us, they in turn are able adjust their focus and plans for mutual success.