SPECIAL FOCUS Sponsored by Future-ready supply chains linked to data,


sourcing, real-time visibility strategies Pandemic sparks process revolution to ignite procedural evolution by Rick Dana Barlow


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s hospitals and healthcare organiza- tions continue to grapple with the ongoing pandemic, their supply chain future vision focuses more on palpable and realistic options than on some of the manufac- turing and retail technology that has turned heads and gained popularity over the years. Augmented and virtual reality for educa- tion, training and stock location purposes may draw attention; drones and self-driving vehicles may elicit oohs and aahs; ware- house robotics and 3-D printing may raise eyebrows even as 3-D printing was used to create personal protective equipment (PPE) components to satisfy COVID-19-driven demand spikes.


Against the backdrop of the global pan- demic crimping and crippling supply chain fl uidity, healthcare supply chain leaders and professionals have been forced to concentrate on short-term problem solving for product access as well as long-term horizon scanning. If the aftershocks of COVID-19 taught sup- ply chain practitioners one thing about their industry and its resilience, it’s this: Know where available product is at all times up and down through the entire supply channel among a network of companies. The outlook emphasizes enterprise planning to extend beyond a single organization, no matter how large.


In no uncertain terms, healthcare supply chain experts told Healthcare Purchasing News that future-ready supply chains command and control data, sourcing and real-time visibility as fundamental and foundational tenets of standard operating procedure. Any technology tools simply should reinforce those aims. Period.


“While healthcare is one of the most noble, exciting and innovative industries in the world, COVID-19 has also exposed its sprawling, fragmented and often ineffi cient opera- tions,” observed Chaun Powell, Group Vice President, E-Invoicing &


Chaun Powell


Payables, Premier Inc. “The pandemic has been instrumental in changing not only the way providers deliver care, but also the way they do business.”


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Tom Redding, Senior Managing Director, Healthcare Services St. Onge Co., emphasizes the stark lesson learned from the coils of COVID-19, that of layering operational nuances to the process. “If we’ve learned any- thing from the pandemic, predicting and managing demand is a critical com-


Tom Redding


ponent to operating a highly effective supply chain,” he noted. “The pandemic-induced bullwhip has and will continue to impact manufacturers’ and distributors’ ability to meet the needs of their customers. As a result, most healthcare systems no longer trust that the end-to-end supply chain will function properly when it is needed. Therefore, health systems are building another layer to the sup- ply chain to absorb fl uctuations in demand and product availability.”


Communication, transparency and visibil- ity are critical to buildingtrust and a stable, responsive supply chain, according to Greg Colizzi, Vice President, Marketing, Health Systems, McKesson Medical-Surgical. “When it comes to emergency prepared- ness efforts, building trust and increasing collabora- tion between clinical, sup- ply chain teams and distributors is key,” he said. “We’ve all had to adapt, and we’ve learned that with greater visibility and trans- parency into each other’s supply chain opera- tions, providers and suppliers can better manage the fl ow of supplies from the manu- facturer all the way to the patient’s bedside. “Transparency is critical,” Colizzi contin-


Greg Colizzi


ued. “Providing our customers with more frequent communications and visibility to shared data were among the fi rst things we implemented to help our providers avoid potential disruptions to patient care, includ- ing allocation updates, alternative product lists, critical product availability reports, quality and compliance standards and direct sourcing recommendations.” While available to the general public for the


last three decades, the internet and World Wide Web in which to conduct electronic


October 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com


commerce has proven to be a consumer and business convenience as well as a reliable part of life, according to Bill Koptike, General Manager, Amazon Business Healthcare. “E-commerce provides the opportunity for healthcare providers and manufacturers to glob- ally, in real-time, access an expanded source of suppli- ers to meet their evolving needs,” Koptike told HPN.


Bill Koptike


“While this technology is no longer a new subject, its adoption into mainstream pro- curement continues to grow at a pace faster than traditional sources of supply.” Ongoing technological developments facilitate growth and progress, he observes. “Both cloud and AI-enabled e-commerce technology help customers access new fea- ture innovations to make it easier and more effective in deployment,” he continued. “The access for business speed solutions outpaces the traditional, confi ned sourcing methods for individually negotiated contracts. It is an everyday industry fl aw that healthcare providers are forced to manage backorders, to the point where it impacts patient care. This does not need to be the expectation of our present supply chain.”


Three by two


Healthcare companies should be adopting technologies that require moderate invest- ment and provide return-on-investment (ROI) quickly, according to Bindiya Vakil, CEO and Co-founder, Resilinc, which has emerged within the last two years as one of the go-to subject matter experts and software evangelists for crisis management. Vakil points to three key solutions that should be adopted now and why, followed by two that have been in the pipeline for at least a year. Leading Vakil’s priority list? Supply chain monitoring and mapping.


“Companies that invest in technology- based supply chain risk management tools, particularly monitoring and mapping their supplier networks, have an unmatched visibility and a clear picture of how any evolving disruption will affect their supply chains in the weeks to come,” she said. “This


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