JHC Oct 19 by BOC design Inc

Providing Insight, Understanding and Community

October 2019 | Vol.15 No.5

Future Supply Chain Leaders Audrey Branyon, Associate Director, Supply Chain Projects/Systems Encompass Health Corp.

CONTENTS »» OCTOBER 2019 The Journal of Healthcare Contracting is published bi-monthly by Share Moving Media 1735 N. Brown Rd. Ste. 140 Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8153 Phone: 770/263-5262 FAX: 770/236-8023 e-mail: info@jhconline.com www.jhconline.com

Editorial Staff Editor Mark Thill mthill@sharemovingmedia.com Managing Editor Graham Garrison ggarrison@sharemovingmedia.com Art Director Brent Cashman bcashman@sharemovingmedia.com Publisher John Pritchard jpritchard@sharemovingmedia.com Vice President of Sales Katie Educate keducate@sharemovingmedia.com Sales Executive - East Lizette Anthonijs Lizette@sharemovingmedia.com Sales Executive - West Amy Cochran acochran@sharemovingmedia.com Circulation Wai Bun Cheung wcheung@sharemovingmedia.com

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting (ISSN 1548-4165) is published monthly by Share Moving Media, 1735 N. Brown Rd. Ste. 140, Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8153. Copyright 2019 by Share Moving Media. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: $48 per year. If you would like to subscribe or notify us of address changes, please contact us at the above numbers or address. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Share Moving Media, 1735 N. Brown Rd. Ste. 140, Lawrenceville, GA 30043-8153. Please note: The acceptance of advertising or products mentioned by contributing authors does not constitute endorsement by the publisher. Publisher cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of an opinion expressed by contributing authors.

Future Supply Chain Leaders Adrienne Ainsworth

2 Editor’s Letter

40 GPOs on the front lines of healthcare

4 Making contracts work

41 Industry workgroups look for solutions to back order and shortage issues

Where will future ‘Future Leaders’ come from? Once an agreement is signed, then the tough (but rewarding) work begins

8 Future Supply Chain Leaders 38 Safety first

MD Anderson created a Continuous Quality Improvement Team to ensure safety with new devices and procedures

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

42 Healthcare Innovation News you might have missed

44 Health News & Notes 46 Calendar 47 Contracting News & Notes

EDITOR’S LETTER

Mark Thill

Where will future ‘Future Leaders’ come from? It’s always interesting to learn how people find their way into this business. After all, very few dream about being a healthcare supply chain executive as kids. But once they find themselves in it, well, it just clicks. That’s true for many of this year’s “Future Leaders in Supply Chain.” Adrienne Ainsworth at Advocate Aurora Health, for example, had once thought about direct patient care, but instead accepted a role at UHS (now Agiliti), supporting clinical engineering services and later, managing purchasing and logistics. “Once I got into the industry, I realized I really enjoyed the business side of healthcare,” she says. “I love collaboration and the thrill of being able to provide great solutions to help people in a different way outside of direct patient care.” Ruvini Schultz at Centura Health was born with an interest in life sciences. Her own systemic autoimmune disease found her in contact with healthcare providers starting in high school. But it wasn’t until graduate school, when she heard a presentation about the reach of healthcare supply chain, that she even thought about supply chain. She applied for an internship and found that the profession “fulfilled my passion to find solutions in areas such as patient safety, cost reduction, patient education, process improvement and value analysis.” Andrei Tabara at Intermountain worked on a continuous improvement project as an undergrad, and found he had an interest in healthcare operations. “I am very process-oriented. I try to create infrastructure where it doesn’t exist.” Supply chain was – and is – a good fit for him. People find their way to healthcare supply chain via many different paths. Still, there might be some things we as an industry can do to nudge good people into the field.

Jennifer Taylor, for example, has been working on creating a meaningful, structured program for supply chain interns at UHS. “We are currently in Year 2 and have an established program that feeds into our career ladder and includes a pool of highly qualified candidates.” Audrey Branyon at Encompass Health told us, “I believe there should be more emphasis on educating students on the possibilities and the skills that are necessary to enter into a career in healthcare supply chain.” Hospitals should create educational leadership programs within supply chain “to ensure that the future generation will be well versed, so that we are able to continuously improve the environment.” The need to attract and keep young talent will only grow. “In the past, people would leave one healthcare organization to work for another one,” says Ryan Rotar, UNC Health Care. “Now, people are leaving to work for Amazon or another 3PL. So in this regard, we have to change the way we staff, recruit and run our operations.” “Healthcare supply chain needs the best and brightest people,” says Jun Amora at Geisinger. “Are we attracting those people to join our profession? The future of healthcare supply chain will require new solutions – the application of AI, blockchain, digital transformation, etc. Can we look to healthcare supply chain to solve business problems that can then be applied to other industries – instead of the other way around (as it is today)?”

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Making contracts work Once an agreement is signed, then the tough (but rewarding) work begins

Patric Merritt, senior director of national accounts and strategic alliances for Cantel, was recently named National Account Executive of the Year by the Association of National Accounts Executives. The Journal of Healthcare Contracting interviewed Merritt and found that, all things considered, the job of the national account director isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all that different from that of the supply chain executive.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

For both, negotiating win-win contracts is essential. But the tough part is what follows – making those contracts work. For the national account director, that includes introducing the contract to GPO members, promoting standardization as a key to operational and clinical efficiencies, and continually monitoring members’ participation in the contract. It’s selling. And it sounds a lot like a supply chain executive’s job, doesn’t it? Following is an edited version of the interview. The Journal of Healthcare Contracting: A little bit of bio. Patric Merritt: I grew up in Waco, Texas, and graduated high school in 1982. I went to Texas Tech University and received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in marketing in 1986. Prior to my medical career, I was fortunate to have world-class training in the grocery industry with Colgate-Palmolive and M&M Mars, who taught me how to ask questions, listen and provide solutions for customers.

I began my medical sales career in 1992 as a territory manager for Boston Scientific. For the next two years I carried a bag and won President’s Club, Founder’s Club, National Contest Winner of the Year, 1st Place Bonus Award and Best Presentation Award. I was promoted to region manager, with responsibility for eight reps in a 10-state area. Between 1997 and 2004, I directed sales for two start-up medical companies: Urologix (minimally invasive products for the treatment of urological disorders) and Neothermia (minimally invasive devices for detecting breast cancer). It was at Urologix that I learned how to sell to the C-suite; that’s because we had a $150,000 piece of capital equipment along with our disposable technology.

“ In new-product launches, you are either selling a different technology in an existing segment of a developed market, or you are creating a new market that has not been developed. The latter is more difficult, but it also is more rewarding.”

JHC: Tell the JHC readers something they probably don’t know about the challenges of bringing a new product to market. Merritt: I love launching new products. They usually represent clinical and technological breakthroughs, which lead to substantially different ways of treating patients. You have to be able to communicate this difference and show key doctors and RN staff a “new way/ innovation.” In new-product launches, you are either selling a different technology in an existing segment of a developed market, or you are creating a new market that has not been developed. The latter is more difficult, but it also is more rewarding.

My first job was a territory manager for Colgate-Palmolive in Oklahoma City. I was named Rookie of the Year after my first year. Then M&M Mars hired me to manage four clinical specialists and also a large national account grocery wholesale distributor named Skivner. While at M&M Mars, I finished my MBA, attending off-campus night classes, from Oklahoma City University. I was promoted to key account director in Dallas, where I managed the Albertsons and Winn Dixie corporate accounts. In my fourth year at M&M Mars, I was named Key Account Director of the Year out of 600 other directors around the U.S.

JHC: In what ways does the national account role differ from that of a territory manager? Merritt: Our company’s core competency is infection prevention and control. Our territory manager’s responsibilities are much more clinical in nature than mine. Their role is to support and assist the physicians, RNs and staff to drive cost-effective, clinical solutions for patients. They create remarkable

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

relationships, and through our education and training programs, they share with caregivers the most up-to-date society guidelines on infection prevention and control. My role is more financially focused with regard to providing a comprehensive program that assists an IDN with its goals and objectives regarding infection prevention. I build strong relationships with key sourcing and contracting personnel to help develop, implement and manage all aspects of broad GPO and IDN agreements. In my role, I am discussing a customer’s three-to-fiveyear plan toward standardization and reducing clinical variation, while providing quality products that add value. By 2020, supply costs will most likely eclipse labor as the largest expense in a hospital or health system. So my conversations are about improving financial, operational and clinical outcomes in the most cost-effective manner possible. Nowadays, IDNs want to collaborate with suppliers who carry quality products across the board, who understand their pain points, and who provide significant value-added programs, such as staff training. We talk with trust and transparency about the long-term benefits of a particular program that improves total cost of ownership. JHC: As a national account director, how do you help a national GPO keep its IDN members happy, even if those IDNs want a better price than the GPO contract allows? Merritt: Ten percent of my time is spent with the national GPO; the rest is spent talking to IDNs about savings goals, operational efficiency goals, and standardizing to our products. By standardizing, they reduce clinical variation, and they improve quality, efficiency and staff satisfaction. I like to say that the No. 1 enemy of quality is clinical variation. If an IDN commits to our product

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

line, that is, if I know we have the business, we will offer better pricing to them. JHC: What does it take to “work” a contract? Merritt: I always advocate getting an announcement out to IDN members when the agreement is signed. That can be done with a letter (under the GPO’s letterhead) or webinar. If the agreement is a win-win, and everyone knows the expectations and danger zones upfront, together we can more easily maximize the agreement moving forward. For large IDNs to meet and exceed their goals and objectives, there must be constant communication to review what is working and what isn’t. After all, getting one hospital to comply with a contract is difficult enough; but getting 10, 20 or 30 to comply is harder still.

“ In my role, I am discussing a customer’s three-to-five-year plan toward standardization and reducing clinical variation, while providing quality products that add value” Quarterly business reviews with the supply chain director are essential. These give us a chance to review sales and identify facilities that not complying with the contract. I have found that if I take the time to develop a true collaborative relationship with the IDN, they will address those issues as they arise. JHC: Anything else to share about the role of the national account director? Merritt: I have been at Cantel over three and a half years. I truly love my job, our team and the culture here. A lot of people don’t know the many talented internal team members at Cantel who do the hard work. Those team members in finance, legal, marketing and compliance make us look good in front of our key customers. They deserve a ton of the credit. Finally, this is a job that is constantly changing. All the consolidation and mergers/acquisitions keep you on your toes and you have to be strategic with situations that involve multiple agreements across multiple IDNs.

Future Supply Chain Leaders Editor’s note: Meet tomorrow’s supply chain leaders. Earlier this year, the Journal of Healthcare Contracting asked for nominations of young people with the energy, dedication and courage to shape tomorrow’s healthcare supply chain. As you can see, the supply chain will be in good hands. Adrienne Ainsworth

Jun Amora

Audrey Branyon

Jonathan Kempton

Robert Martin

Ryan Rotar

Ruvini Defonseka Schultz

Andrei Tabara

Jennifer Norfleet Taylor

Erik Walerius

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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Future Leaders

Adrienne Ainsworth Director, Strategic Sourcing Advocate Aurora Health, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

About Adrienne Ainsworth: Adrienne Ainsworth’s mother, Sharon Spencer, has been a respiratory therapist for over 30 years, and her late stepfather, Dale Spencer, worked in the pharmaceutical industry. Add some other relatives who were in nursing, and is it any wonder Adrienne is in healthcare today? After college, Ainsworth accepted a role at Agiliti (formerly UHS) in Minneapolis, supporting clinical engineering services and later managing the purchasing and logistics teams.

“Once I got into the industry, I realized I really enjoyed the business side of healthcare,” she says. “I love collaboration and the thrill of being able to provide great solutions to help people in a different way outside of direct patient care.” At UHS, she took on a project management role in manufacturer services, providing preventive-maintenance and repair services on behalf of equipment manufacturers. In that role, she also helped manage scheduling and billing. Then an opportunity

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

opened up in supply chain. “It was fascinating to me – fast-paced and critical to organizational success,” she says. Ultimately she became responsible for purchasing for UHS, one of the largest buyers of medical equipment in the country. “I had great leaders who helped me develop in my career,” she says. Exposure to company executives opened up new challenges and opportunities. “As someone with a neuroscience background, I had never even taken an accounting class.” To develop some business acumen, she got an MBA. “It helped me become more credible, and it helped me be a better leader and employee.” Seeking a position in which she could more directly support patient care, she took on a leadership role with Allina Health System in Minneapolis, Minnesota, supporting strategic sourcing in lab, capital and purchased services. In 2015, she moved to Milwaukee to lead the clinical strategic sourcing team for Aurora Health (now Advocate Aurora Health).

About Advocate Aurora Health: Advocate Aurora Health serves nearly 3 million patients annually in Illinois and Wisconsin across more than 500 sites of care. It is a leading employer in the Midwest with more than 70,000 employees, including more than 22,000 nurses and the region’s largest employed medical staff and home health organization.

has been the Advocate Aurora Health merger,” which occurred in April 2018, says Ainsworth. “As two sourcing teams from like-sized systems came together, we quickly realigned resources to optimize talent, established best practices, leveraged analytical tools to identify variation in practice and cost, and partnered with service line leaders across the system to set short-term and long-term strategies for every strategic category,” she says. “We’ve had excellent engagement with our physician leaders. In

“The most exciting supply chain project I’ve worked on over the last year

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “As healthcare policy uncertainty and cost pressures continue to mount, the healthcare industry is facing rapid

“ Adrienne has led our rack and stack process for the merger of Advocate Aurora Health and harmonizing the contracting between the legacy organizations. Her leadership on bringing the team together culturally and also making sure the financial synergy targets were blown out of the water.” — Bruce Radcliff, Advocate Aurora Health Care

our approach, sourcing doesn’t make decisions unilaterally. Our job is to partner with clinical service lines and physicians, get their feedback, specs and expectations, and source what they want at the best possible price. We’ve been successful in getting the value we need. This exercise resulted in substantial savings in the first six months of the merger, and a roadmap for the next year.”

Looking forward to: Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months:

and enrich our quality and cost-percase tools, allowing for more transparency and enhancing clinical engagement. Investment in these tools helps supply chain champion evidencebased decision-making while optimizing total value, reflecting the needs of our patients and providers.”

“As Advocate Aurora Health moves to a common EMR and ERP platform over the next year, our team will be able to better normalize disparate data

consolidation, increased consumerism and price transparency, and redesign toward a value-based care model. For supply chain, this means investment in and thoughtful development of technology to harness ‘big data’ and partnering more closely with clinicians across an ever-growing care continuum to optimize the value of products and services. “It all goes back to the patient. We won’t pay more for technology that doesn’t make a difference to the patient. And if the vendor claims it does, we need to be able to prove that – and we should be able to do that by looking at our own internal metrics.”

Future Leaders

Jun Amora Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain Services Geisinger, Danville, Pennsylvania

About Jun Amora: As an undergrad at the University of Washington in Seattle, Jun Amora worked in a lab at Seattle Children’s Hospital studying DNA binding proteins. He enjoyed the work and saw it as a steppingstone to medical school. But after graduation, he decided to defer medical school and work in healthcare operations for awhile. So at age 19, he started work as an inpatient unit secretary at Seattle Children’s. He enjoyed the exposure to operations, and after shadowing doctors on their rounds, he learned something about himself: Direct patient care wasn’t for him. Still, he sought a healthcare career that would

satisfy his intellectual curiosity and love of problem-solving. One day, browsing through the hospital’s intranet, he came across a blog by Pat Hagan, chief operations officer, who wrote about the need for experienced healthcare leaders to mentor the next generation. “I thought maybe he could be my mentor,” says Amora, “so I sent him an email. He wrote back and told me he’d love to meet with me.” Hagan opened Amora’s eyes to the world of lean process improvement. Soon after, Amora joined Seattle Children’s Continuous Performance Improvement team as an internal consultant.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Future Leaders “As consultants, we worked on a variety of projects across different departments,” he says. “I happened to be assigned to a project to deploy a 2 bin kanban system throughout the hospital. This was my first exposure to healthcare supply chain, and it taught me many lessons around change management, transformation, standard work and the financial impact of a properly designed operation.” He formed a mentor/mentee relationship with Charles Hodge, the vice president of supply chain, who

manage – and reduce – the system’s $1.6 billion annual non-labor budget. In April 2018, he joined Geisinger as vice president of supply chain, where he reports to Deborah Templeton, chief, system support services.

About Geisinger: Geisinger serves more than 1.5 million patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The physician-led system is comprised of approximately 32,000 employees, including 1,800 employed physicians, and comprises 13 hospital campuses,

If the first 12 months [at Geisinger] were about strategy, acceleration and execution, the next 12 months are about refining our operations; growing capacity and capability; developing talent; and [embarking on] a couple of even more innovative projects. encouraged him to continue exploring supply chain. At age 20, Amora was given the opportunity to design a supply chain program for the stillunder-construction Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center. He left Seattle Children’s in 2011 to take on a role with Cardinal Health as a manager of operational excellence consulting. Approximately two years later, he joined NYC Health + Hospitals, which operates public hospitals and clinics in New York City. Under the direction of Vice President of Supply Chain Services Paul Albertson, Amora set about the task of centralizing eight independent purchasing offices across the multihospital system and replacing them with a single supply chain department to

a nearly 600,000-member health plan, two research centers, and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: The first order of business – after joining Geisinger – was to understand Geisinger’s strategic goals and understand how the supply chain supports those goals, says Amora. “As such, we went through a process of evaluating priorities, creating project pipelines and setting achievable, yet aggressive, targets. Next, we accelerated many of those projects by building partnerships and appropriate governance across the enterprise, including clinical and non-clinical leaders throughout the organization.

“One of the most unique and innovative projects we worked on was creating an innovative partnership with Medline that aims at improving specific quality measures – hospital-acquired pressure injuries and central-line-associated bloodstream infections,” he says. “The partnership is built on a very different economic model, which incentivizes both parties to collaborate to find efficiencies in the operations to lower the overall supply chain cost. Critical to the success of this project are the partnerships we built with Geisinger’s quality, nursing and physician leaders.”

Looking forward to: “If the first 12 months [at Geisinger] were about strategy, acceleration and execution, the next 12 months are about refining our operations; growing capacity and capability; developing talent; and [embarking on] a couple of even more innovative projects. I envision more strategic collaborations with Geisinger departments, such as our Geisinger Steele Institute for Health Innovation.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “Healthcare supply chain needs the best and brightest people. Are we attracting those people to join our profession? The future of healthcare supply chain will require new solutions: the application of AI, blockchain, digital transformation, etc. Can we look to healthcare supply chain to solve business problems that can then be applied to other industries – instead of the other way around (as it is today)?”

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Audrey Branyon Associate Director, Supply Chain Projects/Systems Encompass Health Corp., Birmingham, Alabama

About Audrey Branyon: Audrey Branyon was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, by her parents, Tony (an industrial engineer) and Flossie. She has never strayed far from industrial engineering, receiving a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Auburn University (before earning an MBA from West Texas A&M University College of Business). After graduating from Auburn, Branyon performed project management duties for a construction engineering firm that builds power plants. Though she found the work rewarding, she wanted to get into healthcare, having worked on a patient-wait-time project at a hospital for her senior design project. Industrial engineering, she says, is all about promoting efficiency, whether it’s in a manufacturing plant or a healthcare facility. She takes the mission seriously. In 2017, she got her six sigma black belt to improve her skills in process improvement. “Working in healthcare supply chain permits me to utilize my skill set to improve the supply chain, which allows providers and patients to have the supplies and equipment needed for the possible best care,” she says.

and Puerto Rico. Encompass Health, which assumed its new name and brand in January 2018, is the result of the union of HealthSouth Corp. and Encompass Home Health & Hospice.

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: “Standardizing advanced wound care supplies that we utilize over the health system’s network of 132 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals.” The project involved working with the clinical leadership team to reduce SKUs. “Many of our hospitals have varying levels of wound care programs, so ensuring that we had a wide breadth of products while considering cost and the overall number of products we were utilizing proved to be an interesting and rewarding project,” she says. Working with Encompass’ national educational manager, Branyon helped put together a mobile application to help caregivers quickly look up wound type, suggested products and proper product usage. The app is supplemented with webinars and site visits. “We like to inundate people with information – but information that’s easy to digest, as we understand patient care is their first priority.”

About Encompass Health:

Looking forward to:

132 rehabilitation hospitals, 327 home health and hospice locations in 37 states

“Over the next 12-18 months, I look forward to helping create reporting

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

tools and dashboards with our IT developers to help our supply chain better identify areas of opportunity for financial savings in our network of hospitals.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: Limiting the generational age gap within the profession. “I believe there should be more emphasis on educating students on the possibilities and the skills that are necessary to enter into a career in healthcare supply chain,” she says. “Hospitals should strive to have educational leadership programs within the supply chain department to ensure that the future generation will be well versed, so that we are able to continuously improve the environment. Knowledge of the healthcare environment is necessary, especially for supply chain, because we work with so many individuals. It’s good to understand how it works as a whole.” Two ideas: 1) Institute a formal mentoring program; 2) establish rotations through clinical and operational areas.

Future Leaders

Jonathan Kempton Category Leader Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Utah

About Jonathan Kempton: Jonathan Kempton was born in Provo, Utah, and raised in Kearns, Utah. He has had an interest in IT and technology for some time, a fact he attributes in part to his mother, Sheryl, who enjoyed a long career in IT/technology prior to her retirement. That interest, as well as an educational background in economics, suited him well for supply chain. From 1999 to 2001, he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter Day Saints. After that, he started undergraduate work at Brigham Young University. While at BYU, he did a supply chain internship in Korea with LG Philips LCD, which manufactured LCD panels for flat panel TVs and laptop computers. After graduating, he moved to Korea, where he taught high school English for four years. He returned in 2008 and took a supply chain/procurement position with Novell, the software and services company based in Provo.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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Future Leaders “Novell was creating software and technology, but they needed to buy other technology for business functions not covered by the products that they developed,” he explains. “So I was working for a software company buying software from other companies. It was a good way to learn what to look for and how to evaluate technology contracts from a supply chain perspective.” In June 2017, he joined Intermountain as a category leader, with responsibility for software and hardware in certain categories. “I manage the contract administration and supply chain functions for our infrastructure and operations side of Intermountain IT,” he says.

requirements. “These two areas make healthcare challenging, but it’s also rewarding to understand the due diligence that’s necessary to implement technology that will protect our patient records and keep everything secure,” he says.

About Intermountain Healthcare: Intermountain Healthcare is a notfor-profit system of 24 hospitals, 215 clinics, a Medical Group with 2,500 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada.

“ We always get the best price, terms and value when working with Jonathan, but we also get someone who is building and coaching a team of future supply chain super stars who will give value to our organization for years to come.” — David Rasmussen, senior manager, supply chain solutions, Intermountain Healthcare

His transition from industry to healthcare was challenging, but interesting. Unlike industry, healthcare comes with a set of regulatory challenges, including HIPAA regulations, as well as technological ones, especially added cybersecurity

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: “We brought in a service provider to support infrastructure and operations, including service desk support, end user hardware support, server builds, network and unified

communications services, etc.,” he says. “As the contract manager of the agreement, I have enjoyed playing a part in setting up the vendor management processes to track and evaluate our success, including our reporting and performance metrics. From the initial evaluation and analysis, it has been challenging.”

Looking forward to: “I am excited about the opportunity to get more involved in developing our maturity in software asset management,” says Kempton. (“Software asset management” refers to the management and maintenance of a software license after a contract is signed, including staying in compliance with contract terms and realizing the full value of what has been purchased.) “I have been a part of the governance team, and feel there are a lot of improvements that the group is looking to make in our process and tools in the coming years. It is so helpful in supply chain to have good data to understand the needs of the organization and how to maximize the value of technology contracts. That is why I feel strongly about software asset management’s role as an input to supply chain.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “Technology use or misuse could be the biggest challenge for the healthcare supply chain in the future. The importance of data security coupled with the need to innovate and improve the digital experience of healthcare bring risks and advantages for healthcare systems.”

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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Future Leaders

Robert Martin Assistant Director, Supply Chain Project Management UChicago Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

About Robert Martin: Robert Martin likes to build things. That’s why he enjoys being right in the middle of the transformation of UChicago Medicine from an academic medical center in Hyde Park, to a health system including lower-acuity inpatient and outpatient facilities throughout Chicago. Born and raised in Chicago, Martin graduated with a general engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. A degree in general engineering is similar to one in industrial engineering in that both are concerned with building and improving processes for complex systems

and organizations, he explains. After graduation, he worked for three years for Danaher Corporation, as a commodity manager. “I spent a number of years doing manufacturing engineering, and fulfilling supply chain roles,” he says. “I learned to love the marriage of supply and business.” In November 2015 he joined UChicago Medicine as process transformation specialist. Less than a year later, UChicago acquired Ingalls Memorial Hospital, a general medical/surgical hospital in a southern suburb. Martin became manager of supply chain process transformation, and in 2017, assumed his current role in supply

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

chain project management. “I am in charge of our strategy and execution for the entire non-acute supply chain, including our outpatient center in Hyde Park and our ambulatory care network in surrounding communities,” including facilities in the southern suburbs as well as Chicago’s South Loop, he says. He also works with the system’s affiliate program, in which it shares supply chain services and expertise with other Chicago-area facilities, such as the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and La Rabida Children’s Hospital. “Today, we are up to about 40 sites. Whereas at first, we spent refining the way we got these sites up and running, today, we have that process pretty welltuned, so that we can focus on how to leverage this larger network. “It’s been great,” he says. “The environment is dynamic, and the attitude is, ‘We want to learn and grow, try new things and see what works.’ The dynamic nature of the healthcare industry combined with the real impact I’m able to have on our patients has been a major draw for me.”

About UChicago Medicine: The University of Chicago Medicine unites the missions of the University of Chicago Medical Center, Pritzker School of Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division. UChicago Medicine offers a full range of specialtycare services for adults and children through more than 40 institutes and centers, including an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Together with Harvey-based Ingalls Memorial, UChicago Medicine has 1,286 licensed beds, nearly 1,300 attending

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

physicians, about 3,200 nurses and over 1,100 residents and fellows.

Most interesting/challenging project in past 12-18 months: “In 2016, UChicago Medicine acquired Ingalls Memorial Hospital, which has several large ambulatory/outpatient facilities within their network,” he says. “I was able to develop the strategy for how supply chain will continue to grow and optimize with our expanding ambulatory network, which up until

supply chain group as we strategize how to expand our team and services to accommodate new sites while also leveraging our economies of scale to be more efficient and cost-effective.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “As hospital systems continue to face challenges with reimbursement and pricing, supply chain will be counted on even more to deliver cost-saving

“ Rob has quickly transformed our non-acute supply chain to a market leader and has expanded our affiliate program, including recently leading an engagement in Saudi Arabia to help provide consulting to drive improvement at a partner hospital.” — Eric Tritch, UChicago Medicine

that point had been largely focused on building new facilities. The Ingalls acquisition presented an exciting new challenge to implement our processes in an existing infrastructure while also having to change the culture and mindset towards supply chain. I enjoyed being able to work with the clinical end users to help deliver solutions for them that enhanced their work and the lives of our patients.”

Looking forward to: “UChicago Medicine continues to grow at a rapid pace as we expand our care coverage into the surrounding communities,” he says. “This brings exciting new opportunities for our

opportunities,” says Martin. “Additionally, as medical advancements continue to progress, personalized medicine and individual treatment plans will become more prevalent, which increases the complexity of the supply chain and could dilute the ability to leverage bundled opportunities, economies of scale and standardization. This will generate continued pressure for supply chain groups to streamline workflows and take advantage of economies of scale as the provider marketplace consolidates. New entrants such as Amazon and Walmart will likely play a key role in helping shape the landscape for how healthcare supply chain operates in the future.”

Future Leaders

Ryan Rotar Executive Director Supply Chain UNC Health Care, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

About Ryan Rotar: Born outside of Cleveland, Ohio, but raised in Redondo Beach, California, Ryan Rotar pursued a degree in gaming management while attending the University of Nevada Las Vegas. But before he completed that degree, he found himself drawn back to healthcare. No surprise, as he began working in hospitals at age 15 (thanks to his mom, Nancy, who worked in the radiology oncology department at Torrance Memorial Medical Center). He worked at Torrance a total of nine years, first as a radiology aide, later as

a surgical instrument tech and finally a supply chain analyst. (He ultimately got a business degree from the University of Sioux Falls.) “I found myself gravitating to areas that supported successful surgery – preference card management, IT systems, case picking, instrument sterilization, implant trays, etc.,” he says of his years at Torrance. While still there, he had the opportunity to pivot into supply chain to optimize an ERP system and focus on end-user training and inventory operations. He has been in supply chain ever since. He joined UNC Health

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Care in 2016 as system director of value analysis and project management. In May 2019, he was named executive director of supply chain operations.

About UNC Health Care: UNC Health Care is a not-for-profit integrated healthcare system owned by the state of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. Established in November 1998, UNC Health Care currently comprises UNC Hospitals and its provider network, the clinical programs of the UNC School of Medicine, and eleven affiliate hospitals and hospital systems across the state.

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: “In the last 18 months I’ve focused heavily on optimizing our centralized warehouse operations,” he says. “I’ve not only had to tackle many base functions of a successful supply chain – item master, EDI, inventory management, vendor negotiations, etc. – but I’ve had to change the way I think. I’ve had to understand distributor economics and how a healthcare system could be successful in monetizing classic distribution activity.” To be successful, the supply chain executive must approach the centralized warehouse as a business supporting healthcare, says Rotar. “When you’re running this kind of operation, you can’t do it on feelings or emotions, but on data-backed decisions that are rooted in sound business practices.” Doing so not only improves the center’s performance, but makes the health system – in this case, UNC Health Care – a viable long-term career choice for young people who could, if they

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wanted, seek employment with any number of commercial logistics organizations. “In the past, people would leave one healthcare organization to work for another one,” he says. “Now, people are leaving to work for Amazon or another 3PL. So in this regard, we have to change the way we staff, recruit and run our operations.”

Looking forward to: “At UNC, we are questioning and changing many foundational aspects of our business,” says Rotar. Rapid

change. But a year from now, our supply chain will look 180 degrees different than it does today. I’m blessed to be a part of all these changes.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “I feel that the biggest challenge in the coming years is our ability to manage and create change in our organizations and ourselves. Far too often, we pass on the opportunity to change the way we think, manage and operate

“ Ryan has a healthy appreciation for devising and seeing the big picture based on where he sees the industry going. He’s able to clearly articulate a vision for UNC’s supply chain and the personal and practical skills to implement it.” — Kevin Neuman, Alvarez & Marshal Health Industry Group

growth has forced administration to focus on scalability, adaptability and maneuverability. “We just solidified a better relationship with our GPO. We are changing our distribution partner. We are investing in our point-of-use inventory system, and we are redeploying value analysis as strategic sourcing.” “Seldom does someone in supply chain leadership get the opportunity to build a system from the ground up. Often, you settle for incremental

our teams. But as supply chain professionals, we should be constantly learning, growing and exploring opportunities for our organizations and patients. Gone are the days when we could have niche experience and be successful. Now, we have no choice but to be knowledgeable in nearly all facets of supply chain and the business of providing care. Keeping up with the sheer amount of change is a job in itself.”

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When a community has been hit hard by a natural disaster, one of the most difficult parts of recovery is knowing where to start. To facilitate recovery efforts, Henry Schein has joined with professional associations, small business associations, government agencies, and academic institutions to host expert-led symposiums to help health care professionals restore and re-open their practices post-natural disaster. These symposiums are uniquely tailored to each community, with the aim of getting practitioners back on their feet as soon as possible. “We work very much in partnership with a whole host of stakeholders,” said Jennifer Kim Field, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility for Henry Schein and Executive Director of the Henry Schein Cares Foundation. “We believe collectively you can be stronger and have a greater impact.” For instance, in 2017 following Hurricane Harvey, Henry Schein’s “Recovery Empowerment Symposium” for the Houston, Texas area was hosted in partnership with the Texas Dental Association, the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, the Texas Veterinary Medical Foundation, and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Dentistry. In 2018, following Hurricane Michael, Henry Schein’s “Recovery Empowerment Symposium” for the Panama City Beach, Florida area was hosted in partnership with the Florida Medical Association, Emerald Coast Medical

Association, Florida Veterinary Medical Association Florida Dental Association, Bay Dental Society, and Northwest District Dental Association. Speakers at these symposiums included experts on commercial and business insurance, as well as financial, tax, employment, and government resources for businesses. “We don’t claim to be the experts in all of those things,” said Field. “But it was important that we brought all of the players and partners together to provide the right types of resources.” Henry Schein also invited psychologists to talk to the local community about resiliency, “because these were individuals – whether they were doctors, dentists, veterinarians – who were under a tremendous amount of stress,” said Field. “They were managing a lot, whether it was patients, or their own healthcare system.” With each symposium, the needs for each community were different. “What we did for the symposium in Houston was very different than Panama City,” said Field. There were different agencies and associations to work beside, as well as different economies of scale. “It’s important to understand and hear from the community on what those needs are,” said Field. “For us, it’s about how we can help as a supply chain expert, bringing together all the stakeholders, because we want the providers to get their practices and businesses up and running as fast as possible in order to provide the best clinical care to those in need.” To view past Symposiums or for more information, visit www.henryschein.com/ DisasterResponse.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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1.800.P.SCHEIN HenrySchein.com/Medpod DISCLAIMER: All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. The Medpod logo may not be reproduced by any means or in any form whatsoever without Medpod Inc.’s written permission. The Henry Schein logo is a registered trademark of HS TM, LLC, a Henry Schein subsidiary. The Henry Schein logo may not be reproduced by any means or in any form whatsoever without HS TM, LLC ‘s written permission. All rights reserved 2016-2019. © 2019 Medpod Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Future Leaders

Ruvini Defonseka Schultz Supply Chain Manager Centura Health, Centennial, Colorado

About Ruvini Defonseka Schultz: Born in Fort Collins, Colorado, Ruvini Schultz has a world of experience. Both of her parents were born and raised in Sri Lanka. Ruvini spent her early grade school years in Singapore, where her father, an engineer, assumed a five-year assignment for HewlettPackard. Instead of spending money on a car, her parents decided to spend their disposable income on travel. And travel they did, to China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and elsewhere. When she was a senior in high school, Schultz was diagnosed with a systemic autoimmune disease, which

resulted in many hospital stays during her college and post-graduate years. “It allowed me to experience both the positive and negative aspects of healthcare,” she says. The negative? Medical mistakes and omissions, billing errors and more. On the positive side? “I had great experiences with providers who treated me as a person, not just as a patient – who wanted to take care of me, making sure my mental health was good and my environment was healthy.” Given a lifelong interest in life sciences, Schultz turned to healthcare administration as a potential career path. “During graduate school, a presentation about the reach of healthcare

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

supply chain caught my attention, and I applied for an internship with [Centura Health]. Healthcare supply chain fulfilled my passion to find solutions in areas such as patient safety, cost reduction, patient education, process improvement, and value analysis. “My personal mission statement reminds me daily what I value and want to share with others: I am on a mission to empower others, innovate processes and inspire preventive healthcare in my communities.” At Centura Health, Schultz and her team have supply chain responsibilities for the IDN’s ambulatory facilities, including about 250 owned clinics, 10 emergency and urgent cares (EUCs), seven urgent cares, and 13 home health and hospice locations. The team also provides supply chain expertise and assistance to affiliated facilities in the Colorado Health Neighborhoods, the largest physician-led network in the region, with more than 5,300 physicians and other healthcare professionals caring for more than 260,000 people across Colorado and Kansas.

About Centura Health: Centura Health is a network of neighborhood health centers, mountain clinics, urgent and emergency care facilities, and 17+ hospitals serving patients throughout Colorado and Kansas.

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: “I was able to lead the standardization of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) procedures across ambulatory locations in our system,” she says. “The decisionmakers included sports medicine

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

physicians, ortho physicians, clinic leaders, patient safety and billing. I was able to learn from both vendors and clinicians about the clinical aspects of PRP while getting information about product quality, equipment safety, and contracts. The initiative highlighted the value of collaboration within our system and built trust in partnering with supply chain.” In fact, since then, other

time,” she says. Taking into account each location’s order history, the system will automatically replenish stock (though each clinic will be able to manually adjust or cancel shipments). “In order to implement the new ordering system, we are reviewing our formulary with clinical input to remove duplication in supply categories and ensure that required supplies are available.”

“ Ruvini’s dedication to her team and attention to detail are second to none among supply chain professionals. Whether navigating complex contract negotiations, or doing a 250+ location implementation of a new distribution partner, Ruvini’s consistent commitment to excellence speaks volumes about her character and abilities.” — Jeremy Hastings, McKesson Medical-Surgical

physicians have asked the supply chain team for assistance with standardization. “They feel comfortable reaching out to us. They trust that we are not just looking for the cheapest item, but we’re working with them from a clinical standpoint.”

Looking forward to: “I am excited to work on an initiative with our distributor to automate supply ordering in the ambulatory space,” says Schultz. Currently, the nurses and medical assistants at the clinics may spend an hour or two every week checking inventory levels and ordering supplies – in addition to their work with physicians and patients. “We hope to save them

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “As healthcare systems and patients look to lower the cost of healthcare, there is a need to move minor or oneday procedures from the hospital to clinics and ambulatory surgery centers. These changes will require clinicians and other support departments to be aware of the regulatory, patient safety, billing and operational implications this creates in ambulatory spaces. We are starting to see more technology and equipment manufactured for specialty procedures in the ambulatory space, and we will need processes in place to properly review and implement these systems.”

Future Leaders

Andrei Tabara Category Leader, Cardiovascular and Respiratory Care Intermountain Healthcare Supply Chain, Salt Lake City, Utah

About Andrei Tabara: Andrei Tabara was born in Oradea, Romania, and lived there until 1999, when the family moved to West Jordan, Utah. He graduated with degrees in finance and operations management from the University of Utah. As an undergraduate, he worked on a continuous improvement project at Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake City, optimizing exam room usage in the oncology wards, so that neither patients nor caregivers would be rushed. “That was my

first taste of healthcare and it really piqued my interest as to the challenges, both cultural and physical, with regard to improving healthcare operations,” he says. Still an undergraduate, he listened to a presentation by a sourcing manager at Intermountain Healthcare and applied for the health system’s internship program. He has been with Intermountain ever since. “I am very process-oriented,” he says. “I try to create infrastructure where it doesn’t exist.” For those

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

reasons, supply chain is a good fit. “One of the emphases of operations management is supply chain. Coming out of school, I felt Intermountain would be a great opportunity to dig into that.” After five years there, he believes it has been just that. “We are very progressive in improving the supply chain – keeping the process lubricated, so caregivers get their materials on time, products are sourced correctly, etc.”

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: The reestablishment of the cardiac human tissue agreement. “When the contract first came across my desk I found out that our relationship with our tissue supplier was tenuous. Unfortunately, our contract had lapsed before I started in my role and the supplier was frustrated, but was allowing us to maintain our cost position. However, they were ready to move us to list if we didn’t put together a contract quickly. That said, we were looking at a price increase and a supplier whose good graces we were testing. The challenge was making a good enough argument to push the supplier to mitigate the increase, which they did, and simultaneously not alienate

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the negotiators on the other side. Ultimately, tact and logic won the day.”

Looking forward to: “In the next 12-18 months, almost all of my assigned categories [e.g., cardiac rhythm, peripheral intervention] will be sourced,” he says. “This is an exciting opportunity to be innovative and think outside of the boxes we’ve historically put sourcing initiatives in.

them to that. And I want to convince our key stakeholders that we need their help in keeping vendors honest on these metrics.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: The proliferation of value analysis committees and the growth of valuebased contracting as a counter to the

“ He is energetic. His follow-through with clinicians and suppliers has been refreshing. He has a clear focus on Cost, Quality and Outcomes in everything that he does. He continually tries to figure out a better way of doing our processes. He has never-ending ideas on data, negotiating, improving, and feedback loops.” — Shane Stevenson, senior manager, supply chain solutions, Intermountain Healthcare Supply Chain

We have large opportunities to improve partnerships with suppliers, while simultaneously generating value for Intermountain and improving our cost position.” Tabara looks forward to exploring value-based contracting, which, to him, means getting suppliers to stand behind what they market. “If a vendor comes to us with a drug-eluting stent and says its restenosis rate is 20 percent lower, I want to hold

maligned incentives that healthcare supply chains and suppliers face today. “Being tasked with generating savings and implementing standards, supply chain will be taking a more upfront role working with suppliers to initiate contracts and relationships revolving around joint metrics, with shared value along the value chain and, ultimately, lower costs in the form of improved outcomes for patients.”

Future Leaders

Jennifer Norfleet Taylor Manager, Contracts Universal Health Services, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

About Jennifer Taylor: Born and raised in Philadelphia, Jennifer Taylor majored in business administration and management at Penn State, then began a six-year career as a contract manager with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the nation’s fourth largest public housing authority. She managed contracts for various purchased services, including construction, architectural engineering and phlebotomy services;

and life-skills services, such as GED training and certification. “After about six years of valuable learning in that role, I felt the need for a new challenge, where I could impact people on a deeper level, and applied at UHS,” she says. “Initially I did not know much about healthcare; however, I found that sourcing and contracting knowledge is transferable across industries, so I sought to learn new vendors, terms and conditions,

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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Future Leaders specifics of the healthcare industry, and the overall operations of UHS.”

About UHS: Universal Health Services is one of the nation’s largest hospital management companies, with 27 acute care hospitals, nine freestanding emergency departments, six ambulatory surgery centers and surgery hospitals, and more than 300 behavioral health facilities, across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.K.

on throughout the summer that related to current course work, including six sigma training, contract terms and conditions, and request-for-proposal experience, she explains. As a result, this year’s summer interns visited ECRI Institute, the medical device research firm; a local Staples warehouse (to assist interns’ understanding of an RFP for promotional supplies on which UHS was working); as well as various departments within supply chain and UHS.

“ Jennifer has a passion for talent development and spends a lot of time with her team to enhance their personal and professional capabilities.” — Raymond Davis, vice president supply chain, Universal Health Services

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: Designing, implementing and managing the supply chain department internship program. “UHS has a corporate internship program, but I wanted to create a structured program for supply chain, in which we would expand the meaningful work being done by our interns,” she says. “I worked with our human resources department to attend career fairs and speak at college classes to help promote UHS and create a robust program.” The department assisted in identifying projects that interns could focus

“We are currently in Year 2 and have an established program that feeds into our career ladder and includes a pool of highly qualified candidates.”

Looking forward to: Taylor has assisted with the development, implementation and management of UHS’s in-house contract management system (known as the Enterprise Contract Management system, or ECM), which encompasses all 300 of UHS’s facilities as well as the corporate office. Now she is looking forward to enhancing the system, to align with

the supply chain strategy pillar of process improvement. Although UHS is a member of Premier, local facilities are responsible for some of their own contracts, particularly, purchased services such as landscaping, lithotripsy, snow removal, etc. “We’re really going to look at the entire picture of these contracts,” she says. Using ECM, the corporate team reviews terms and conditions, with a special eye for unfavorable terms, such as harsh termination fees or automatic renewals, and, of course, pricing. “This system facilitates the review and tracking of all contracts,” she says. To date, about 3,000 contracts have been routed for review. “Previously our process was a bit limited in functionality and lacked cohesion. We are working across the enterprise to make the overall process more streamlined, minimize the number of systems in use, include robust reporting, and provide a more user-friendly experience.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: Increased pressure from payers to lower the cost of procedure components – thereby putting further pressure on healthcare providers to negotiate with vendors. “We recently saw this with our total joint initiative,” she says. “We had to be extremely diligent in order to drive down costs with vendors while accommodating the requests of the surgeons. The challenge is to develop resourceful, win-win approaches to address these situations and maintain strategic relationships.”

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

About Erik Walerius: In his growing-up years, Erik Walerius spent school months in Seattle and most summers in Norway, where his mother, Aase, had been born and raised. Spending so much time near large bodies of water – i.e., the Norwegian Sea and Puget Sound – Walerius developed a passion for keelboat racing. In fact, after earning a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Washington in 2006, he returned to Norway, where he spent a year as a sailing instructor for the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club and as a researcher for the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

(“Through connections, I got an internship with the former defense minister,” he explains.) In 2007, he returned to the States, taking a position in clinical services development at Northwest Hospital (now part of UW Medicine), focusing on physician practice plans, community health and simulation training, in addition to oversight of the housekeeping and environmental services teams at Northwest Hospital. “It was an amazing experience,” he says. And challenging. “Everyone’s an expert on food and cleanliness,” he points out. So he learned a great deal about business as well as human relations.

Erik Walerius Chief Supply Chain Officer UW Medicine, Seattle, Washington

Future Leaders And he found the people who staffed these departments to be among the most hard-working and dedicated he had ever met. In 2009, Walerius was asked to oversee the hospital’s materials management department in preparation for its affiliation with UW Medicine. “This was my first exposure to the inner workings of our supply chain, and I quickly found a passion for this work. Even though I wasn’t providing direct

and admitted 64,410 patients in 2018. UW Medicine’s primary, specialty and urgent care clinics had almost 1.8 million patient visits in 2018.

Most interesting/challenging project in the past 12-18 months: “I am very excited about our team’s work over the past 12 months launching seven nurse- and physician-led groups, comprising over 120 members, including 80 nurses and doctors,”

To be our clinicians’ trusted partner in delivering the highest quality care to our patients in the most cost-effective manner is our supply chain team’s vision statement, and I see that work being incredibly exciting, impactful, and rewarding for years to come. patient care, our team was helping to ensure our clinicians had the necessary tools and equipment to provide world class patient care in the most cost-effective manner possible.”

About UW Medicine: UW Medicine offers patient care services in Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho (WAMI region). It includes Harborview Medical Center, Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center and Valley Medical Center Hospital,

he says. “This structure is supported by our supply chain team and focuses on addressing price, standardization and utilization opportunities across the products, services, and equipment used by our health system, ranging from Band-Aids to fixed wing and rotary aircraft.” The groups are surgery, cardiology, orthopedics, spine, nursing and patient care, cardiovascular and thoracic, and interventional radiology and peripheral vascular. “We have had a successful value analysis program for a number of

years, which has delivered over $30M in validated annual savings,” he adds. But it was primarily price-focused, and it leveraged clinicians on an ad hoc basis. “Our new structure has empowered our clinicians to take ownership of the projects, and we have named it ‘Clinical Products and Smart Innovation,’ or CPSI.”

Looking forward to: “Our continued maturity in our Clinical Products and Smart Innovation work as well as a similar structure we have launched this past year for purchased services,” says Walerius. The Purchased Services Oversight committee comprises eight core groups focused on large areas of purchasedservices spending across the health system. One group recently wrapped up an interpretive services agreement, which saved the system more than $450,000. “With the combination of our clinical and purchased services work, UW Medicine has 62 initiatives with a $12M annual savings target this fiscal year.”

Biggest challenge/change facing healthcare supply chain professionals in the next 5 years: “The greatest opportunity facing our teams for the foreseeable future is being able to analyze and act on meaningful data that addresses total cost of patient care and patient outcomes. To be our clinicians’ trusted partner in delivering the highest quality care to our patients in the most cost-effective manner is our supply chain team’s vision statement, and I see that work being incredibly exciting, impactful, and rewarding for years to come.”

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

SPONSORED:

VALIFY

health systems will benefit by requesting line item pricing and fee structures during the negotiation period. Limited similarities. With biomedical services, for instance, factors such as frequency of equipment use, age of equipment, current condition, and geography all impact the price of maintenance. Comparisons can be difficult as there are no two hospitals that have the same level of wear and tear on the same machine with the same distance from the repair technician. Service Level Agreements. The food service category, often more than others, can be largely influenced by patient and staff satisfaction, with quality warranting a higher price per patient day. In this case, service line agreements are paramount, sometimes even more so than financial impact considerations. For example, temperature, friendliness (or lack thereof) of staff, number of meals served, accuracy of orders, timeliness of meal delivery, and the tastiness (or lack thereof), as determined through third-party patient surveys, all impact the price per unit. Geography. Your hospital’s location can often affect the price you pay for purchased services. In the case of solid waste, for example, the farther the hospital is from where the container is collected, the higher the delivery charges. In the case of outsourced security, the level of security services needed in one facility (i.e., armed, unarmed, tenure, etc., which are all factors that affect price) may be determined by the crime statistics of a particular area or by response time for local law enforcement. Political landscape. Lithotripsy pricing can depend on whether your urologists are private practice or employed. This variable alone may be the determining factor on whether or not you can move away from your current vendor and bring it in house by making a capital investment into a lithotripter. Urologists commonly are investors in mobile lithotripters and may be unwilling to switch.

An information source The factors listed above are just a few of the areas that Valify takes into consideration when performing a benchmarking review on either a high-level (KPI) basis or for a deeper analysis into contact terms and financial impacts. Valify has been categorizing purchased services data since 2014 and has seen more purchased services transactions than anyone else in the industry – over $360 billion in total spend categorized. Valify’s categorization algorithms have grown smarter and faster at classifying spend. After, algorithms auto-categorize

the data, expert analysts (many of whom have been with Valify from the beginning) continuously look for new patterns in the data to increase auto-matching capabilities within the technology. All categorization takes place in a matter of days and is refreshed monthly so that customers always have reliable, dynamic intel at their fingertips. Upon request Valify reviews contracts, invoices, and any other pertinent information to provide meaningful feedback and benchmarking insights.

In some cases, service line agreements are paramount, even more so than financial impact considerations. Given the complexity of purchased services pricing and contracts, accurate benchmarking and good decision-making can only be done with reliable, solid data. With visibility into each facet of the respective service and a peer dataset with breadth and depth, you can turn benchmarking purchased services into a straightforward apples-to-apples proposition. Visit www.getvalify.com to learn more about Valify’s PinPoint Benchmarking process.

Ben Bailey is a director of client success-sourcing at Valify. Ben leads the Valify PinPoint Benchmarking program, helping clients assess their vendor agreements and accelerating their RFP process. Prior to Valify, Ben worked for MedAssets where he managed the Analytics team with a portfolio of more than $20B.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

savings identified through PinPoint Benchmarking

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savings achieved through Valify RFP platform

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savings achieved through Valify RFP platform

savings identified through PinPoint Benchmarking

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savings identified through PinPoint Benchmarking

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28%

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Contrary to common belief...

Yes, you can benchmark purchased services VALIFY’S PINPOINT BENCHMARKS In-depth analysis includes: • Review of terms and conditions to identify: contract status, notice periods, termination language, co-terminous opportunities within the health system • Invoice price ranges and averages compared to your contracted prices • Review of impact to patient and staff satisfaction • Comparison of all of the above to your peer group

972.963.5130 | GetValify.com See our article in this issue of the Journal of Healthcare Contracting magazine!

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Safety first

CQIT was inserted before the value analysis team, and its mission was/is to conduct a separate safety review.

MD Anderson created a Continuous Quality Improvement Team to ensure safety with new devices and procedures

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Neither surgeons – nor their patients – can afford a long learning curve when it comes to implementing new medical technologies. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is doing everything it can to shorten that learning curve even before new technology is acquired or new procedures are performed – and even before review by value analysis. In 2016, surgical oncologist Thomas Aloia, M.D., created MD Anderson’s Continuous Quality Improvement Team, or CQIT, to ensure safety associated with introducing new devices and technologies into practice, explains Elizabeth Ninian, director of perioperative services. Prior to that time, the health system’s value analysis team – comprised of surgeons, managers and perioperative materials management – was solely responsible for both the safety and business review of new technologies. In 2016, the

Evaluation time and complications decrease

The CQIT is composed of surgical quality officers and perioperative nurses, explains Ninian. (Ninian is no stranger to supply chain, having helped establish the PERT, or periop expense reduction team committee, which focuses on product review and impact. This subgroup reports to VAT chairs. ) As Aloia and colleagues explained in the Annals of Surgery earlier this year, all CQIT members were dually trained in surgery or surgical nursing and health safety/quality. The charge of the CQIT is to separate the safety review from the business review and to provide recommendations to the proposing surgeon or groups of surgeons, as well as to the value analysis team (VAT), regarding safety and oversight. To do so, the team uses a structured questionnaire and a corresponding decision algorithm. Based on their findings, the CQIT either recommends against bringing in the technology, or forwarding it for clinical evaluation by the value analysis team (with potential review by the Institutional Review Board and/or the health system’s Quality Improvement Assessment Board).

MD Anderson has found that total evaluation time for new surgical technologies has decreased since implementation of the CQIT, as have device-related complications.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

In a study whose results were reported in the Annals of Surgery, MD Anderson compared the safety and efficiency of a pre-CQIT dataset of 34 product requests evaluated and approved by the VAT alone from May 2015 to November 2016, with 46 product requests evaluated and approved by the VAT after CQIT assessment from October 2016 to August 2017. They found that total mean evaluation time decreased from 124 to 51 days. For new devices requiring intraoperative trial, the time between product proposal and trial decreased from a mean of 260 to 99 days. Safety improved too. The rate of devicerelated complications in the pre-CQIT group was 10% compared with 0% post-CQIT. Two devices, which administratively bypassed CQIT review, had both minor and major complications, including a mortality.

During the study, the team not only evaluated new products and devices (e.g., instruments, implants, suture), but novel procedures in a number of specialties, including interventional radiology, thoracic surgery, neurosurgery and plastic surgery. Five procedures approved by CQIT with simulation were performed without complications. “The CQIT offers an opportunity for the involved stakeholders to ensure proper individuals are engaged, from clinical staff, ancillary support, lab/radiology and IT, and that proper outcomes measures that span many aspects of value – cost, length of stay, outcomes – are considered to help demonstrate the impact of the new device/practice or supply,” says Ninian. “Any new group would benefit from a robust [CQIT] that includes faculty, anesthesia, nursing, finance, materials, sourcing, revenue and procurement.” Creating a checklist for dry runs of every product, technology or innovative process was “incredibly helpful,” she says. “Also key to our process journey was the recent implementation of a survey after product trial or pilot. “But for me the most impactful process has been the post-implementation metric review process, where every new product is reviewed for its value impact.”

Discovery questions The MD Anderson Continuous Quality Improvement Team (CQIT) devised the following questionnaire on which to build a decision algorithm for new technologies or procedures. 1. What is the rationale for implementing the innovative technique/ procedure/device? 2. Has this procedure been done/device been used before in humans outside of our institution? a. If so, what are the short-term safety/complications data from those treatments? b. Are there any long-term functional/complications data available? 3. Has the procedure been done/device been used at our institution in a different setting? a. If yes, is internal safety data available? b. If no, is there a center that could be visited to gain expertise on the technique/ procedure/device?

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4. Are there references in the literature describing the technique and outcomes? List references and summarize results. 5. Are there particular anesthesia/nursing/OR/ postoperative issues (preparation, training, cleaning, ancillary equipment, patient followup) that are new to our institution related to use of the technique/device? 6. Do the surgeons involved (submitting surgeon and/or their surgical group) have a financial disclosure related to the technique/ procedure/device?

HSCA

GPOs on the front lines of healthcare Amidst an ever-changing healthcare landscape, one thing has remained constant: the value that healthcare group purchasing organizations (GPOs) provide to hospitals, other healthcare providers, and the patients they serve. Hospitals, nursing homes, physician practices, and other healthcare providers are constantly being asked to do more with less. And year after year, GPOs have found new and innovative ways to help providers save money By Khatereh Calleja, J.D. while enhancing the quality of care they provide. HSCA, which represents the nation’s leading healthcare GPOs, recently released its 2019 Annual Report detailing the impact of GPOs. It confirms what hospitals, healthcare providers, suppliers, and policymakers see every day: GPOs reduce healthcare costs; increase competition; drive transparency, visibility, and predictability; propel improvements to healthcare processes and systems; and add value to suppliers. For example, GPOs developed policies and programs to help identify new innovative products and technologies and to make them available as quickly as possible, helping to increase efficiencies and improve clinical outcomes. One leading GPO helped source a new heart failure device that recently received FDA approval, helping to reduce readmission for patients with a history of congestive heart failure. GPOs have been on the front lines of the drug shortage fight, working collaboratively with hospitals, physicians, manufacturers, distributors, and government agencies to ensure that hospitals and patients have access to the life-saving

GPOs have been on the front lines of the drug shortage fight, working collaboratively with hospitals, physicians, manufacturers, distributors, and government agencies to ensure that hospitals and patients have access to the life-saving drugs they need.

drugs they need. During an injectable narcotic shortage in 2018, GPOs called on the DEA to temporarily adjust production quotas to allow other manufacturers to step in and produce medications. The DEA subsequently did lift the production quotas for certain manufacturers, an important step for mitigating potential shortages. GPOs also participated in a multistakeholder effort comprising leading healthcare provider organizations to develop policy proposals to help prevent and address drug shortages. The Drug Shortage Working Group presented initial policy recommendations at the FDA’s public hearing on drug shortages in November 2018. To address cybersecurity threats, HSCA released key considerations for healthcare providers, medical device manufacturers and service providers to help protect patient health, privacy and safety. And in March 2019, HSCA submitted comments to the FDA on the management of cybersecurity in medical devices. GPOs’ unique line of sight across the entire healthcare system means they are unparalleled in their ability to help providers anticipate and respond to rapid changes. In 2018, research conducted by supply chain experts at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania affirmed that hospitals are consistently – and overwhelmingly – satisfied with their GPOs. As we look ahead to 2019 and beyond, HSCA and its members remain committed to helping hospitals and healthcare providers deliver the most effective and affordable care possible to the patients they serve.

Khatereh Calleja, J.D., is the president and CEO of Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA).

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

By David Forbes Getting the Most from Your Most Important Supplier

Industry workgroups look for solutions to back order and shortage issues Shortages and back orders – every supply chain leader’s worst enemy – are becoming increasingly common in the healthcare supply chain. We may not be able to eliminate these issues – we can’t prevent hurricanes that cause plant closures for instance – but we can work on ways to better manage them. In my role as Director of the Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative, I manage a number of workgroups focused on supply-and-demand issues. These groups are in the very early stages of developing best practices for improving demand planning, ensuring emergency readiness, and better managing shortages. But even at this stage, some important themes are emerging – most importantly, the importance of better information-sharing between trading partners. Here are a few ideas raised by workgroup members from across the supply chain: • More automated communications are needed. Providers and suppliers are spending way too much time calling each other to find out when a product is needed or when it will arrive. Greater use of tools like EDI 856 (Advance Ship Notice) could save precious hours of staff time. • Partners need real-time rather than just point-in-time information. Supplier web portals that allow their distributors and customers to self-serve inventory and delivery information are highly valued. • Managers need information that’s as realistic as possible. Overly optimistic projections of product arrival dates lead to last-minute scrambles, but overly conservative projections can cause problems too. “If we’ve brought in a substitute product for a hospital to help them through a back order that’s projected to last 6 weeks, and the product arrives 2 weeks earlier than expected, we end up overstocked on the sub,” noted workgroup member Dana Frank, Director of Resources and Development, Concordance Healthcare Solutions.

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HIDA PRIME VENDOR

Certain organizations are already making moves to improve information-sharing with their trading partners. Michael Darling, Vice President Supply Chain with St. Luke’s Health System of Kansas City, provides daily floor-level consumption data to the system’s distributor via a modified EDI 850 (Purchase Order). The distributor, which serves as an extension of his own organization, then feeds the relevant data further upstream to key manufacturers. This daily feed has allowed St. Luke’s upstream trading partners to quickly hedge against the large impact even the smallest change in demand can have and has resulted in a dramatic fill rate improvement. Darling participates on the Supply Chain Visibility Steering Committee and hopes to help make practices like these more common across the industry. Provider participation on these industry workgroups is needed. Contact me at Forbes@hida.org if you’re interested in joining one of the groups focused on: • Supply Chain Visibility • Demand Planning • Shortages and Back Orders • Supply Chain Disruption

About the Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative The Collaborative’s mission is transforming the healthcare supply chain through best practices for processes and data. The initiative is managed by the Health Industry Distributors Association and led by volunteers from across the end-to-end supply chain. To find out how to get involved, contact me at forbes@hida.org.

HEALTHCARE INNOVATION

Healthcare Innovation News you might have missed

Drones deliver blood samples WakeMed Health & Hospitals announced that its flagship hospital and campus in Raleigh, North Carolina, became the first U.S. facility to use drones regularly to deliver medical samples, thanks to a partnership between UPS and Matternet Inc., a startup that develops drones to transport medicine and humanitarian aid. Matternet will use its M2 drone to deliver blood samples between a medical park and the main hospital for lab

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

testing at least five to six times per day, five days per week.

Mayo, Boston Scientific venture Mayo Clinic and Boston Scientific Corp. announced in July that they launched a venture to accelerate the development of medical technology and minimally invasive treatments for many health conditions that impede quality and longevity of life. The two organizations report they have collaborated for nearly a decade to develop new devices and technologies in areas such as interventional cardiology, neuromodulation and urology. Together they have filed eight patent applications and collaborated on two first-in-human clinical trials.

Online courses on infection prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first in a series of free online training courses to help healthcare organizations prevent and control infections. Developed by the American Hospital Association’s Health Research & Educational Trust, the courses cover competency-based training, hand hygiene and strategies for preventing healthcare-associated infections. Eight more courses – on topics such as environmental cleaning, building a business case for infection prevention, and engaging patients and family members – will be added over the next few months. To access the courses, which are accredited for continuing education, visit www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/training/strive.html.

Duodenoscope recommendations The FDA in August recommended that duodenoscope manufacturers and healthcare facilities transition to different types of duodenoscopes that may pose less risk to patient safety. Because of challenges with cleaning these devices for reuse and persistent high

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

levels of contamination, the agency is recommending moving away from using duodenoscopes with fixed endcaps to those with disposable components that include disposable endcaps – or to fully disposable duodenoscopes, when they become available.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it would hold a public meeting in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on Nov. 6 and 7, to discuss industrial ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization of medical devices and its role in maintaining public health. The FDA reported that the subject matter of the meeting would include potential methods and expert assessment of how to reduce EtO emissions to the environment without compromising sterility or effective processing of medical devices.

Optum to manage non-clinical work for California hospital UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division will manage several non-clinical functions, including purchasing, for John Muir Health (Walnut Creek, California) under terms of an agreement announced in July. Optum will manage purchasing, information technology, revenue cycle management, analytics and claims processing. Approximately 540 John Muir Health employees were scheduled to become Optum employees.

EtO is up for discussion The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it would hold a public meeting in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on Nov. 6 and 7, to discuss industrial ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization of medical devices and its role in maintaining public health. The FDA reported that the subject matter of the meeting would include potential methods and expert assessment of how to reduce EtO emissions to the environment without compromising sterility or effective processing of medical devices. The meeting – called by the General Hospital and Personal Use Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee – will also discuss recommendations to reduce the risk of infection from reprocessed duodenoscopes.

HEALTH NEWS

Lights out

Health News & Notes HPV vaccination recommendation expanded The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August recommended that females and males through the age of 26 who failed to get vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) by age 11 or 12 receive a “catch-up” vaccination. It’s a change: Catch-up vaccination has been recommended since 2006 for females through age 26 years, and since 2011 for males through age 21 years and certain special populations through age 26 years. (For adults aged 27 through 45 years, CDC regards the public health benefit of HPV vaccination to be minimal; shared clinical decision-making is recommended because some persons who are not adequately vaccinated might benefit.).

Sleeping with a TV or light on in the room may be a risk factor for gaining weight or developing obesity, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The research, which was published online June 10 in JAMA Internal Medicine, is the first to find an association between any exposure to artificial light at night while sleeping and weight gain in women. The results of a questionnaire submitted by 43,722 women suggest that cutting off lights at bedtime could reduce women’s chances of becoming obese. The results varied with the level of artificial light at night exposure. For example, using a small nightlight was not associated with weight gain, whereas women who slept with a light or television on were 17% more likely to have gained 5 kilograms, approximately 11 pounds, or more over the follow-up period. The association with having light coming from outside the room was more modest. Scientists cautioned that this is a basic research finding, and wondered if not getting enough rest factored into the findings.

Emergency hypoglycemia treatment OK’d The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Baqsimi nasal powder, the first glucagon (hormone) therapy approved for the emergency treatment of severe hypoglycemia that can be administered without an injection. Severe hypoglycemia occurs when a patient’s blood sugar levels fall to a point where he or she becomes confused or unconscious or suffers from other symptoms that require assistance from another person to treat. Typically,

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

severe hypoglycemia occurs in people with diabetes who are using insulin treatment. Baqsimi is approved to treat severe hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes ages four and older.

Pregnant women and group B strep Most babies born to women who test positive for group B strep (GBS) bacteria do not need treatment if their mother received antibiotics during labor. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) recommend women get tested for GBS bacteria when they are 36 through 37 weeks pregnant. To administer the test, clinicians use a sterile swab to collect a sample from the vagina and the rectum. Women who test positive for GBS are not sick. However, they are at increased risk for passing the bacteria to their babies during birth. Babies born to women with GBS who receive antibiotics have about a one-in-4,000 chance of developing GBS disease; but babies born to women who fail to get antibiotics have a one-in-200 chance of doing so.

Blood pressure control may be good for the brain Intensive blood-pressure control may slow age-related brain damage, report researchers in a National Institutes of Health study. Researchers using magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of hundreds of participants in the National Institutes of Health’s Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) found that intensively controlling a person’s blood pressure was more effective at slowing the

The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | October 2019

accumulation of white matter lesions than standard treatment of high blood pressure. The results complement a previous study published by the same research group that showed that intensive treatment of BP significantly lowered the chances that participants developed mild cognitive impairment. Several studies have suggested that people who have hypertension have a greater chance of accumulating white matter lesions and also of experiencing cognitive disorders and dementia later in life.

Pregnancy and hepatitis B screening The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in July published a final recommendation statement on screening for hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women. The Task Force recommended that all pregnant women be screened for hepatitis B infection at their first prenatal visit to prevent infection in newborns. (Hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver that can cause chronic conditions such as liver disease or liver cancer. When babies become infected with hepatitis B from their mothers, they have a 90 percent chance of developing these lifelong chronic infections.) Although babies are now routinely vaccinated for hepatitis B virus shortly after birth, rates of maternal hepatitis B virus infection have increased by more than 5 percent each year since 1998, the Task Force noted. This is why it is important to screen all pregnant people.

Sleeping with a TV or light on in the room may be a risk factor for gaining weight or developing obesity, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health. Pivot point for low-dose aspirin Medical consensus once supported daily use of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke in people at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. But in 2018, three major clinical trials cast doubt on that conventional wisdom, finding few benefits and consistent bleeding risks associated with daily aspirin use, according to Harvard Medical School. Taken together, the findings led the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology to change clinical practice guidelines earlier this year, recommending against the routine use of aspirin in people older than 70 years or people with increased bleeding risk who do not have existing cardiovascular disease. “Our findings show a tremendous need for health care practitioners to ask their patients about ongoing aspirin use and to advise them about the importance of balancing the benefits and harms, especially among older adults and those with prior peptic ulcer disease,” said lead author Colin O’Brien, Harvard Medical School clinical fellow in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess.

Send all upcoming events to Graham Garrison, managing editor, at ggarrison@sharemovingmedia.com

CALENDAR

Association for Health Care Resource

IDN Summit

& Materials Management (AHRMM)

Spring IDN Summit & Reverse Expo

AHRMM20 Conference and Exhibition July 26-29, 2020 Austin, Texas

April 27-29, 2020 Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate Orlando, Fla. Fall IDN Summit & Reverse Expo August 24 - 26, 2020

Federation of American Hospitals

JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa

2020 Public Policy Conference & Business Exposition March 1-3, 2020 Marriott Wardman Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Phoenix, Ariz. Spring IDN Summit & Reverse Expo April 12 - 14, 2021 Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate Orlando, Fla.

GHX Supply Chain Summit April 27 – 29, 2020 Gaylord National National Harbor, Md.

Intalere Elevate 2019 May 11-13, 2020 Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center Nashville, Tenn.

Health Connect Partners Hospital Supply Chain Conference March 16-18, 2020 New Orleans, La. Spring ’20 Hospital Supply Chain Conference March 16-18, 2020 New Orleans, La.

Health Industry Distributor’s Association (HIDA) Supply Chain Visibility Conference February 5-6, 2020 Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, Fla.

Premier Breakthroughs Conference June 23-26, 2020 Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center Nashville, Tenn.

Share Moving Media National Accounts Summit November 14-15, 2019 Atlanta, Ga.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

NEWS

Contracting News HealthTrust honors members for excellence and community service HealthTrust recognized five member organizations with its most esteemed honor, the Member Recognition Award, during the annual HealthTrust University Conference. HealthTrust established the Member Awards in 2009 to acknowledge outstanding contributions of organizations and individuals who demonstrate excellence in supporting providers, patients and their communities. HealthTrust president and CEO, Ed Jones, presented awards to the following HealthTrust members. Outstanding Member – Atlantic Health System, Morristown, N.J., for exceptional fiscal improvements by leveraging HealthTrust initiatives, maintaining contract compliance and adopting new contract categories. • Kevin Lenahan, SVP, chief financial and administrative officer • Stephen Albanese, director, strategic sourcing • Adisa Mesalic, manager, strategic sourcing • Dawn Petronio, MAS, BSN, RN, clinical consultant, strategic sourcing • Drew Douglas, strategic sourcing analyst Operational Excellence – OU Medical Center, Oklahoma City, Okla., for integrating physicians, nurse leaders, executives and supply chain in value analysis disciplines and other best practices to streamline operations and maximize savings. • April Imel, BSN, RN, director of value analysis • Dee Cross, MSN, RN, administrative director of value analysis • Casey Woods, MHA, COO • Michael S. Cookson, MD, MMHC, physician chairman, value analysis committee Clinical Excellence – HCA Healthcare Continental Division, Denver, Colo., for executing a laboratory stewardship

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process leading to improvements in operational efficiencies, financial performance, care outcomes and physician engagement, and expanding the program to other hospital divisions. • Heather Signorelli, DO, chief laboratory officer, Clinical Services Group, HCA Healthcare • Gary Winfield, MD, division CMO Social Stewardship – Scripps Health, San Diego, Calif., for deploying volunteer medical response teams and providing non-clinical support to thousands of residents displaced by the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif. • Debra McQuillen, RN, BSN, MAS, VP and chief operations executive, Scripps Mercy Hospital • Steve Miller, RN, MS, FACHE, senior director, clinical services, Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas • Mike Godfrey, ABC, senior director, corporate communications • Jay Larrosa, MSN, RN-BC, ACM-RN, PHN, FACDONA, project manager, system care management Pharmacy Excellence – Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn., for innovative quality and control measures in mitigating pharmacy drug spend resulting in operational efficiencies and sustained cost savings. • Jerry Reed, MS, RPh, FASCP, FASHP, VP of pharmacy • Heather Weese, PharmD, MSHI, BCPS, BCPPS, senior director, pharmacy services

Franciscan Alliance to build new hospital as part of 500-acre development Franciscan Alliance (Mishawaka, IN) announced that it is undertaking a massive 500-acre campus expansion that will include a new hospital, among other facilities and services. Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital will be at the center of the development that will bring multiple partners together to transform the city’s southeast side

NEWS

into a destination for advanced healthcare services, medical education, a commercial, retail and residential development, and a possible new home for Andrean High School, Franciscan Alliance said. The property currently includes Franciscan Health Franciscan Point and a University of St. Francis facility. The development of 120 acres will add a new regional medical center better suited for the growing south Lake County and nearby areas. The project will also double the size of the USF campus and expand Franciscan Point’s ortho ambulatory surgery center as a center of excellence in Northwest Indiana. Approximately 250 acres is reserved for residential development and Tonn and Blank Construction will be developing an additional 80 acres for commercial use. The current Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital at 1201 South Main Street will continue to provide healthcare for the community as the new site is developed. Franciscan Alliance is exploring future uses for the present facility once the new hospital opens, slated for 2022.

Census Bureau: Uninsured rate up in 2018 as 27.5 million go without insurance The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the rate and number of people without health insurance increased from 7.9%, or 25.6 million, in 2017 to 8.5%, or 27.5 million, in 2018. In 2017, the rate of Americans lacking health insurance was 7.9%, or 25.6 million people. The Census Bureau found from 2017-18, the percentage of people with public health insurance like Medicare and Medicaid fell 0.4 percentage points. The percentage of Americans with private health insurance didn’t statistically change year over year, the bureau said.

Intalere’s Steve Kiewiet chosen as AHRMM Board Chair-Elect for 2020 Intalere (St. Louis, MO) announced Chief Commercial Officer Steve Kiewiet was chosen as chair-elect of the 2020 Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) Board. AHRMM is the leading membership group for healthcare supply chain professionals. Kiewiet is a nationally-recognized leader and innovator in healthcare supply chain management, leadership development and operational efficiency, and was featured in The Journal of Healthcare Contracting as one

of the “Top 10 People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting.” Kiewiet was elected to the AHRMM Board in 2017 as a provider representative. He will serve as AHRMM Board chair in 2021.

Researchers develop AI to measure physiological health from ECG Researchers from Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) have created an AI algorithm that was able to determine a patient’s sex and an estimated age from electrocardiogram data, and thus could potentially be used to measure overall health. In the study, published Aug. 27 in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, researchers trained a convolutional neural network to use deep learning to read ECG data to determine a patient’s age and sex. When applied to patient data, the AI determined sex with 90% accuracy, but often offered an age that was off by an average of seven years. By studying other health factors of patients with the biggest age discrepancies, the researchers hypothesized that the AI-predicted age may in fact represent more of a “physiological age,” and thus a measure of overall health.

Medtronic announces planned leadership succession Medtronic plc (Dublin, Ireland) announced that Omar Ishrak, Medtronic’s chairman and CEO has announced his intention to retire as CEO on April 26, 2020, following the end of the company’s current fiscal year. The board of directors appointed Geoff Martha, currently EVP of the company’s Restorative Therapies Group (RTG), to the newly created role of Medtronic President and member of the Medtronic board of directors, effective November 1, 2019. Martha will succeed Ishrak as Medtronic CEO, effective April 27, 2020. As president, Martha will lead Medtronic’s operating groups and regions. Brett Wall, president of Medtronic’s Brain Therapies division, was appointed EVP and Group President of RTG, succeeding Martha, effective November 1, 2019. On April 27, 2020, Ishrak will assume a new position of executive chairman, which will provide counsel and guidance to Medtronic’s leadership, oversee CEO succession, and drive the ongoing successful execution of Medtronic’s long-term strategic plan.

October 2019 | The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

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