Volume 3 | November 8, 2017
Insights-Trends-Opinions
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I hope you enjoy this issue of National Accounts Weekly!
Kreg Koford shares what he is looking for in the Supply Chain Leader of the future
Kreg Koford, Assistant Vice President, Supply Chain Solutions and Sourcing for Intermountain Healthcare shares his thoughts on what skills Supply Chain Leaders need to thrive in the era of great change.

This clip was captured at a conference held by The Journal of Healthcare Contracting . Kreg is always a crowd favorite because of his candid and insightful views on what suppliers need to do to be successful. This clip will give you a great view into what the person you will be negotiating with will be like.

The successful Supply Chain Leader of today will;
  • Have executive presence
  • Have an MBA
  • Really understand the big picture

You can hear Kreg give the complete description in a 3 1/2 minute clip by clicking below.


Access to hospitals by reps is in great decline

It is not news to any of us that access to hospital decision makers is in great decline. A new study shows some very telling statistics:

  • 36% of hospitals denied access to Pharma Reps in 2016, up from only 22% in 2010
  • In hospitals allowing access to Pharma Reps, 53% are allowed to provide meals
  • In hospitals allowing access to Pharma Reps, 60% are allowed to discuss drugs not on formulary

Very telling that finding a balance between sales access and life-saving education is getting very hard to do.


Owens & Minor to buy Halyard's infection prevention business for $710m in cash

A lot of speculation lately about O&M and its well being and what the future holds. Last week they made a bold statement announcing their largest acquisition in history.

It seems they are following Cardinal's strategy of becoming a product company as well as a national distributor. This should be interesting to watch play out.

Full story is below...

UPMC partners with Microsoft to spend $2b on 3 new digital hospitals, not adding a single bed!
UPMC is building new patient-focused cancer, heart and transplant, vision and rehabilitation hospitals. The new hospitals will be integrated with three current hospitals.

UPMC is collaborating with Microsoft to build these hospitals of the future. Interestingly, the new $2b spend will not render any new beds.

This is in addition to the nearly $1b capital investment UPMC has already announced for 2018.


Are Government Accounts, National Accounts?
The wins and losses are bigger than ever and the same question still looms large ... Are Government Accounts, National Accounts?

I have seen great companies include VA, VISNs and other government contracting agencies in National Accounts, and I've seen companies exclude them from National Accounts.

To learn what one expert says, click below. He also shares how much government accounts are expected to increase in 2018!

Merck eliminating almost 2,000 jobs
Merck announced it is laying off 1,800 sales reps, cutting three U.S. sales teams: primary care, disease-focused endocrinology and hospital chronic care.

They will add positions for a new chronic care team. It isn't clear if any National Accounts positions were directly impacted.

From the Lobby!
From the lobby is our weekly survey question! Please participate!

Last week we surveyed readers the following question:

Please choose the reason that best describes why you believe Risk-Sharing contracts are not more common.

Below are the responses.

We (Suppliers) do not trust the Providers' ability to document results
5%

Results are too hard to measure for all involved
58%

GPOs are not doing all they can for this escalated form of sourcing
8%

Too hard to agree on Risk-Sharing benchmarks
23%

Providers and GPOs think Risk-Sharing is shifting more risk to Suppliers
6%

So our main obstacle to move forward with risk sharing seems to be accurate data and measuring results. It seems all involved continue to be interested in it, but the mechanics of it seem too cumbersome. To me, it still comes back to a trust issue.

I was glad to see the finger wasn't pointed at GPOs. Often times they are easy targets of frustration. I think they are in a great position to help facilitate risk sharing.

This week's survey asks about distributors buying product companies!

Dale Wright is running for the Missouri House of Representatives
Mr. Wright served as divisional President and Chief Contracting Officer at Amerinet (now Intalere). The seat he is pursuing has become available due to an exiting representative's hitting the end of a term limit.

It is great to see one of our own looking to give back to his community. I am sure Dale will bring a wealth of insight about Healthcare should he be elected.

People in the news and on the move!
Shaun McCamant named Chief Nursing Officer for HealthTrust Workforce Solutions
John McClellan Corporate Account Manager at Luminex Corporation
Scott Gucciardi Senior Vice President at NextGen Healthcare
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I hope you enjoyed this issue of National Accounts Weekly. Please send me what you think of this newsletter and if you have news you’d like to be included in the next issue!

John Pritchard


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