Increasing Costs and Confronting Challenges; IDN Insights News of the Weeks; Marathon Health Center opens; plus Jobs!

February 23, 2024

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

Increase Costs and Confronting Challenges

As we settle into 2024, how can national account executives best serve their customers? During the ANAE Regional Meeting in Nashville, attendees got to hear from Jay Kirkpatrick, the VP of Supply Chain Operations at LifePoint Health, and Bill Keller, VP of Strategic Sourcing at HCA, in a conversation moderated by Maria Hames, a partner at Healthcare Links.

They discussed how national account executives can address the financial challenges facing integrated delivery networks and the healthcare supply chain, integrating transparency into business conversations, and the need for transparency.

IDN Insights News of the Week

Are you interested in the news of the week for the IDN space? Click the link below to hear IDN Directory publisher John Pritchard discuss the latest IDN Insights news.

Watch Here

New Marathon Health Center opens

Marathon Health has announced its expansion in Hanover County, Virginia, with the opening of its newest Network health center. The organization will celebrate the opening of the Network health center with an official ribbon cutting Thursday, February 22, with its newest partner, Hanover County and Hanover County Public Schools. Marathon Health’s first Network location in Richmond, Virginia, opened in January and a third Network is slated to open in the coming months.

Marathon Health works with employers to build and operate onsite, near-site, Network and virtual health centers. With 680+ health centers in 41 states and over 2.5 million members, the health centers share the same focus: providing high-quality primary care for employees and their families, while reducing the overall cost of healthcare for both the employee and employer.

Vizient announces trends for providers to strategize in 2024

Vizient announced it has released trends providers should strategize for in 2024. These include payer strategy, ambulatory design considerations, an approach to primary care access and the importance of targeted technology adoption, in the 2024: A Year for Bold Bets.

The trends are projected based on market research and data analysis, including proprietary Sg2 all-payer claims data. Based on the data and in-house expertise, Vizient is advising providers to revisit their payer strategy, re-evaluate their ambulatory business model, change the game in primary care, and differentiate through targeted technology adoption.

Henry Ford Health's CSC Strategy

Mayo Clinic, BJC Healthcare, and six other hospitals and health systems have penned an open letter urging manufacturers to upload communications on recalls and supply chain disruptions into a central platform. The platform the health systems want to utilize is created by a company called NotiSphere, a medical recall software company.

The medical device and drug recall process in the U.S. is inefficient for both suppliers and providers, according to Becker’s Hospital Review, as recalls for products mean high costs for providers.

BJC HealthCare in St. Louis; Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; UChicago Medicine; Baptist Health in Little Rock, Ark.; Munson Healthcare in Traverse City, Mich.; Novant Health in Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia signed the letter.

The Value of the GPO Sourcing and Contracting Process

Healthcare providers initially formed GPOs in the early 1900s as an efficient means to aggregate purchasing volume, drive competition among suppliers, and reduce healthcare costs. Today, traditional healthcare GPOs serve as the sourcing and contracting partners to hospitals, long-term care facilities, surgery centers, clinics, and other healthcare providers across the country. GPOs secure high-quality medical products at fair prices for the benefit of patients, providers, Medicare, Medicaid, and taxpayers. Both independent and industry funded studies confirm the effectiveness and tremendous value of GPOs, finding that GPOs deliver annual cost savings of 12-18%.

Through their comprehensive sourcing and contracting process, GPOs allow smaller providers to obtain critical supplies at the same value as large providers while allowing all healthcare providers to focus on their core mission: providing first-class patient care.

GPOs take a comprehensive approach to sourcing and contracting that not only accounts for the competitive price offered, but also the quality, reliability, and stability of supply. The GPO business model is voluntary, flexible, and clinically driven. GPOs work in close collaboration with member hospitals and healthcare providers to develop sourcing policies and contract award decisions. GPOs recognize that market conditions change, and when they do, work with suppliers to adjust contracts. GPOs work diligently to ensure member hospitals and providers can select the products they need to care for their communities and patients most effectively and provide clinical resources across their network of providers.

Please join The Journal of Healthcare Contracting and ANAE for IDN Insights East on March 20-21, 2024 in Atlanta! Attendees will hear how large health systems measure successful contracts, the challenges these health systems are dealing with, what successful supplier/provider relationships look like, how best to partner with your GPO, and much more!

View the agenda here

Speakers:

Joe Pettinato, VP of Operations, Henry Ford Health
Doug Pytlinski, System Vice President, Supply Chain Operations, AdventHealth
Tim Nedley, Vice President, Supply Chain Management Operations, UPMC
Alisha Beringer, Director, Supply Chain Distribution & Logistics Supply Chain, Northwestern Memorial Healthcare
Bruce Radcliff, MBA, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Services, Premier, Inc.
Dan Hurry, President, Advantus Health Partners, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Bon Secours Mercy Health
Melanie Stone, System Executive Director Clinical Quality Value Analysis, WellStar Health System
Donna Drummond, SVP and Chief Expense Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer, Northwell Health
More to come!

Questions? Email Anna McCormick at amccormick@sharemovingmedia.com

ANSI/NEMA SC 1-2020 American National Standard for Supplier Credentialing in healthcare

Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI), in partnership with C4UHC is advocating for the adoption of ANSI/NEMA SC 1-2020 American National Standard for Supplier Credentialing in Healthcare as an industry best practice.

SMI’s Collaboration Council, co-chaired by Jim Francis, Chair of Supply Chain Management at Mayo Clinic, and Susan Louis, Vice President of Healthcare at Staples, voted in support of the adoption of ANSI/NEMA SC 1-2020 American National Standard for Supplier Credentialing in HealthCare at the Fall 2023 Forum in Nashville,TN. SMI also endorses the use of a verification letter, affirming that a supplier representative has successfully met the national standard.

Advantus Health Partners President awarded the GHXcellence Supply Chain Leadership Award

Dan Hurry, the President of Advantus Health Partners and CSCO Bon Secours Mercy Health at Advantus Health Partners was awarded the GHXcellence Supply Leadership award at the 2023 Healthcare Exchange Summit.

He said in a post on LinkedIn, "Our vision at Advantus extends beyond traditional solutions, pioneering a transformative movement in the healthcare supply chain to deliver quality care. This award serves as both recognition of past efforts and a catalyst for future endeavors. We believe every link in the supply chain contributes to the well-being of patients and communities."