Register for the ANAE Regional Meeting in Tennessee; National Accounts Weekly remembers national accounts legend; UPMC announces Heart Institute expansion; plus Jobs!

November 9, 2023

Hello NAW Subscribers -

I hope you like this issue of National Accounts Weekly.

Sincerely,

John Pritchard

President of ANAE

Publisher of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

In Memoriam: John Penhollow

John Penhollow, the former Director of National Accounts at Medical Action Industries, passed away on October 4 surrounded by his immediate family.

Penhollow was affectionately known in the industry as the “Godfather of National Accounts” and many in our industry learned from, looked up to and tried to emulate John’s professionalism and the quiet diplomatic approach that John took in good times and in very challenging times. His welcoming smile would brighten any room that he entered, and Penhollow was respected nationally by his GPO and IDN customers as well as his competitors.

Penhollow, along with Rick Owens, started the National Accounts Forum for small suppliers to gain access to the leaders of the GPOs and IDNs in an intimate setting that allowed for literal fireside chats that often facilitated GPO’s and IDN’s asking for feedback from the suppliers that were participating. The NAF continues to this day and is approaching 30 years of providing a unique forum for learning and networking. His career started selling cookies in Seattle. After that, he went to work for the Kendall Company and later Vollrath Plastics, which became Medical Action Industries.

He always loved the ocean, sailing and being with family and friends. Please join us at the Balboa Yacht Club, overlooking the harbor, to come together and celebrate his life. Details are below.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

11:30 a.m. – luncheon gathering
1:00 p.m. – tribute
Balboa Yacht Club – 1801 Bayside Dr, Corona Del Mar, CA

Valet parking will be provided. Please RSVP via text to Kim Gordon at 952-807-1360 or Lori Forman at 949-212-1294.

Late in his life, Penhollow faced Parkinson’s. If you would like to make a donation in his memory, please consider The Michael J Fox The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research for Parkinson’s Research.

Please join The Association of National Account Executives on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 for a regional meeting in Brentwood, TN! ANAE members and prospective members will be able to network with their peers and hear a presentation from LifePoint Health and HCA!

Location: Mere Bulles, 5201 Maryland Way, Brentwood, TN 37027

Registration:

ANAE Members - $119
Non-ANAE Members - $295

Agenda:

4:00 PM: Networking
4:30-5:10 PM: Jay Kirkpatrick, Vice President, Supply Chain Operations LifePoint Health and Bill Kellar, VP Strategic Sourcing, HCA
5:10-5:30 PM: Q&A
5:30-7:00 PM: Networking

Questions? Please contact Anna McCormick at [email protected]

SMI establishes Tom Hughes Collaboration Award

The SMI Tom Hughes Collaboration Award has been established to recognize efforts that involve both supply chain trading partners successfully collaborating to bring innovation, discovery, and improvements to the healthcare supply chain. Tom Hughes was a long-recognized supply chain leader and tireless innovator, pioneer, and creator who was at the forefront of promoting the power of provider-supplier collaborations to create impactful and lasting positive change in the industry.

The award recognizes members of the SMI community who have successfully collaborated to solve a problem together and achieved measurable results. Awards will be presented annually at the Fall Forum as determined by the Tom Hughes Collaboration Award Committee.

UPMC announces Heart Institute expansion

UPMC will construct a new Heart Institute at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, elevating care and technology in pediatric cardiology for patients and their families.

The Heart Institute will be home to state-of-the-art clinical space with new cardiac catheterization labs, an interoperative MRI, inpatient and outpatient procedural and diagnostic and consultation spaces, plus waiting and reception rooms. The new 50,000-square foot, three-story addition will be built on the UPMC Children’s Lawrenceville campus.

UPMC Children’s is a leader in cardiology and heart surgery, ranking in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. Each year, UPMC Children’s provides comprehensive care to over 18,000 patients with congenital conditions throughout their lives, from prenatal through adulthood. As a comprehensive pediatric heart transplantation center, and a national leader in the use of pediatric heart-assist devices, the Heart Institute at UPMC Children’s continues to advance the field of cardiovascular medicine.

Medline announces new partnership with University of Utah Health

Medline announced it has entered into a multi-year prime vendor distribution agreement with University of Utah Health, a healthcare provider for the people of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, western Colorado, and much of Nevada and the only academic medical center in the Mountain West.

Medline will exclusively provide an extensive portfolio of essential medical supplies and solutions across University of Utah Health’s inpatient acute care hospitals and outpatient network of physician offices and ambulatory surgery centers.

University of Utah Health’s network of facilities will be serviced by Medline’s recently opened 710,000-square-foot Salt Lake City, Utah, distribution center. The Salt Lake City facility is part of Medline’s ongoing Healthcare Resilience Initiative, in which Medline has invested $2 billion since 2018 in domestic manufacturing, distribution, and IT to strengthen the country’s healthcare supply chain.

Through Medline’s advanced analytics platform, University of Utah Health will have the ability to easily monitor key metrics, such as item utilization, contract compliance, price accuracy and spend by product categories. In addition, University of Utah Health will gain operational efficiencies through streamlined logistics and inventory management with the transition to Medline’s Put Away Ready® lowest-unit-of-measure delivery system, which reduces labor effort and improves dock-to-stock time.

Capstone Health Alliance hosts successful healthcare leadership forum

Capstone Health Alliance recently concluded its healthcare leadership forum that brought together industry experts, thought leaders, and key stakeholders to discuss emerging trends and share best practices in the healthcare supply chain sector.

The leadership forum, held from in Myrtle Beach from October 17 to October 19, 2023, attendees participated in engaging sessions, interactive panel discussions, a Supplier showcase, networking opportunities, and a platform for knowledge sharing.

Event topics focused on cost optimization strategies, supply chain management advancements, value-based care incentives, and innovative solutions to address evolving challenges faced by healthcare providers.

A Conversation with Dr. Eugene Schneller: Managing the health care supply chain

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting recently spoke to Dr. Eugene Schneller regarding the second edition of his book, Strategic Management of the Health Care Supply Chain, Co-edited with Yousef Abdulsalam, Karen Conway and Jim Eckler. The world and health care industry has changed so drastically since the release of the first edition in 2007, most notably with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are four key takeaways from that conversation Dr. Schneller.

Innovations introduced during COVID-19 aren’t sticking around

During the disruption of COVID-19, it was necessary for healthcare systems to find innovations to work around the many obstacles they were experiencing. Now that COVID has largely subsided, Dr. Schneller and his team found that many of the innovations that came from the desperation and pressure of the pandemic are not staying in place.

He said, “A healthcare CEO survey reported in Becker’s recently reported that provider CEOs saw their biggest issue as system expansion. Way down at the bottom of their list of concerns was disruptions – which of course is key to supply chain, clinical risk, and organizational resilience. When the pressure’s off, you don’t pay as much attention to those as you did in the past. Notably, we still don’t have provider systems that have resilience in their mission statements or as part of their governance processes.”

Cost is still an issue for supply

“In the face of the many mergers and acquisitions across the healthcare systems, costs have continued to escalate,” Dr. Schneller said. “Hospital management continues to look at the growing costs for supplies as a major opportunity for savings.”

Costs are still going up for health care organizations across the board. While Dr. Schneller did make the point that value-based purchasing for products could potentially reduce costs, that process is still in the early stages of being utilized. Cost-cutting measures are a must for health care organizations everywhere, especially when it comes to managing supply inventory levels.

Transparency in information is crucial for successful partnerships between suppliers and providers

Building successful partnerships between suppliers and providers is critical to the health of the health care supply chain. Like any relationship, these partnerships will work best when both sides are getting what they need. One of the benefits of the pandemic is that it necessitated a certain level of transparency between suppliers and providers. When the pressure starts to subside, that level of cooperation is one of the first things to go.

Dr. Schneller said, “Much sharing of data happened during COVID. When the crisis goes away, how do we sustain collaboration? Putting governance structures in place to assure access to and equitable allocation of critical products is important. Resilience is important. Providers knowing how suppliers are managing their upstream risk is critical to great partnerships.”

GPOs are going through significant changes

According to Dr. Schneller, the major GPOs have begun to rebrand themselves as consulting companies or health information companies, competing with the big consulting firms. It’s an interesting evolution, spurned by the dynamic shifts that are always happening in the health care supply chain.

He said, “GPOs have realized that they need to be much more involved in creating value for the system and supporting their provider customers in their quest for value-based-purchasing by contracting for value. COVD led to many systems enhancing their strategic sourcing and contracting capabilities, frequently aligned with the evolution consolidated service centers. Hybrid purchasing models are evolving, with national GPOs having a significant supporting role.”

Safeguarding the patient journey

In today’s U.S. healthcare continuum, the right products, information, and support are critical to a successful patient journey. A successful journey not only helps patients lead a self-sufficient life, but it also has a positive impact on the health system. It can lead to less visits to the emergency department, less unplanned physician visits and less hospital readmissions.

Never is that more evident than with patients who undergo ostomy surgery. An estimated 725,000 to 1 million people are living with an ostomy or continent diversion in the U.S. and approximately 100,000 ostomy surgeries are performed each year nationwide.

An ostomy can be temporary or permanent and living with an ostomy impacts patients both physically and psychologically. Reactions are individualized and personal. One may find it lifesaving or restoring their life, while another may find it devastating. Each adjusts in their own way.

Preoperative and postoperative education and ongoing care tips from a Wound, Ostomy and Continence (WOC) nurse or coordinator associated with a supplier-sponsored patient support program help patients during their adjustment period and along their path.

How to build brand trust

Marketing has a major role to play in the rate of growth of companies within the healthcare industry. Companies that create successful marketing campaigns have the potential to gain more brand exposure and increase their recognition from influential supply chain executives.

Brand trust within the supply chain industry is a large part of what makes a company stand out and excel at marketing. Brand trust is defined as the confidence and loyalty that customers have in a brand. Customers that have high brand trust believe that a company will deliver on promises conveyed in their marketing efforts. Content creation and marketing campaigns can be a great way to start introducing brand information and positive rhetoric about your company that increases consumer trust in your brand.

Read on for four tips to increase brand trust:

Consistent Content Creation

Content that informs and persuades audiences is very influential in the healthcare industry, as it helps foster continuing brand trust. Highlighting a company’s products and services through content creation, blogs, podcasts, webinars, and other marketing efforts allows potential customers to gain positive exposure to a company. Consistent exposure to a brand’s marketing content also helps solidify a company as a knowledgeable leader in the medical supply chain industry.

Speak to Industry Needs

A successful brand has a knowledge of industry trends, challenges, and solutions. Using their expertise, through marketing a brand can convey to customers that they are the most knowledgeable source to navigate industry challenges. Informative marketing content allows supply chain execs to be more aware of potential solutions to any challenges they may face within the industry that your brand can solve.

Accessibility

Marketing content should be accessible to gain consumer’s trust — meaning that a brand should maintain regular interaction with customers through marketing efforts. This can be achieved through being available to customers, answering any questions, and frequently engaging in interactions with customers over social media, email, etc., according to Entrepreneur .

Transparency

Brands that are honest and transparent with consumers have the potential to gain an industry-wide trust and following. Brands should be open and honest about their strengths, challenges, and outcomes to gain the trust of industry execs. Brands that are honest are oftentimes more likely to have a consistent consumer following than their competitors that omit important information in marketing.