challenges brought on by the pandemic

How Providers’ Needs Have Changed

One GPO executive explains how today’s suppliers can compete with the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

By Pete Mercer

John Pritchard, Share Moving Media

Understanding and meeting the needs of the customer has never been so complex, especially for the healthcare

industry. We are continuing to see an unprecedented level of challenges at every front in healthcare: staffing, capacity, burnout, quality of care, and supply. How can today’s suppliers possibly compete with the challenges brought on by the pandemic?

Rand Ballard, chief customer officer at Vizient, Inc., recently spoke at Share Moving Media’s Healthcare Supply Chain and Distribution Summit, sharing his insights on how customer needs have changed, how to meet those needs, and what characteristics providers are looking for in suppliers.

Vizient is the nation’s leading healthcare performance improvement company, serving more than half of the healthcare organizations across the United States. Vizient partners with a variety of healthcare organizations, ranging from large integrated delivery networks and academic medical centers to community hospitals, pediatric facilities, and non-acute providers. Describing Vizient’s reach, Ballard explained, “We have 55% of all acute care hospitals, 67% of all integrated delivery networks, 98% of all Academic Medical Centers, and 98% of all standalone children’s hospitals.”

The needs of the customer

One of the most critical ways to serve your customers, especially during stressful times, is to meet them where they are with what they need. Part of that equation is understanding what they need from the beginning, but it also requires that you listen to your customers and assess where you can best serve their needs on a daily basis.

Ballard said, “We meet the customer where they are.” For example, the team at Vizient has found that large IDNs are looking to maximize their GPO throughput. “They are giving us 100% of the med/surg, pharmacy, and indirect spend that they have saved and converting those to GPO contracts.” When it comes to making a contract with Vizient, members are currently deciding what actually goes in the contract. Not only are they meeting the needs of the customer, but they are letting the customer write up the contract. It’s all about the cost and quality of the services.

It hasn’t been an easy process to meet those needs. Without the aid of solid supplier relationships, Vizient would have struggled to maintain productivity and efficiency for their members. Ballard said, “Suppliers have really stepped up with us. They’ve given us very good pricing in return for the market share, and our obligation is to drive market share for the suppliers. I don’t think our competitors necessarily want to do that, but that’s what we do.”

Vizient works to tailor solutions and technologies every year to meet the dynamic and changing needs of their members. Each year, Vizient holds an online forum where members can vote on which piece of new technology they want to integrate into their contracts. If something is new, improving costs and quality, and members believe in it, they can add it to their contracts with Vizient. Allowing an open forum for member input gives Vizient deeper insights into what their customers are looking for.

How Vizient got through the pandemic

Vizient pushed through the worst of the pandemic by implementing a sort of war room with 80 people in it, operating 24 hours a day. Because of their diligence, Vizient was able to support its clients and still service most of their needs. Ballard described the processes of obtaining supplies for Vizient’s customers as a “maverick” approach, but that they “accomplished what [they] needed to accomplish” and got everyone what they needed.

Without the help of Vizient’s suppliers, they might not have been as successful in pushing through the height of the supply chain disruption. Ballard said, “It goes back to the suppliers, working 24 hours a day to take care of us. Squeezing something else out somehow, finding solutions where there didn’t seem to be any.” This collaborative effort between Vizient and the suppliers ensured that Vizient’s members had what they needed to take care of their patients.

Not everyone had it so easy though. In the wake of the supply chain disruptions, some people saw it as an opportunity to flood the market with fraudulent PPE materials that did not meet the regulations for use in healthcare facilities. Some even sought out these counterfeit items as a way for their employees to have some measure of protection,

Suppliers that are passionate about driving their business from the moment they wake up in the morning will make a powerful partner for your organization. By choosing to focus on things like productivity, growth, efficiency, and results, these types of people will work tirelessly to find a solution for what you need.

“A two-star general came to me with about 8 hospitals that needed help. He told me that it wasn’t really the federal government’s job to help them, but he knew that they needed support. So, he gave me the names and my team reached out to see how we could help. And we were able to help those hospitals. It was not about us; it was about doing the right thing for healthcare systems that were in need.” but these items would continue to fail frontline healthcare workers.

“We had members that did not go through us and got burned,” Ballard said. “They went to the black market and stuff happened. They purchased materials and supplies that turned out to be fake. PPE did not meet the necessary standards. We were able to turn in a lot of masks, there was a lot of bad stuff out there.”

Rand Ballard, chief customer officer at Vizient, Inc.

Great characteristics of suppliers

When looking to partner with suppliers, it is important to identify characteristics of organizations that you want to work with. With partnerships, you need a mutually beneficial relationship that allows for flexibility on either side. The supplier relationship is a critical piece of the puzzle, laying a better foundational value for your business and greater efficiencies for both sides. Ballard shared some characteristics of suppliers that his team at Vizient is looking to partner with.

1. People that wake up with a passion for driving their

business “If you work for us and let us work for you, you will find that we will increase your market share.” Suppliers that are passionate about driving their business from the moment they wake up in the morning will make a powerful partner for your organization. By choosing to focus on things like productivity, growth, efficiency, and results, these types of people will work tirelessly to find a solution for what you need.

2. People that are in tune with the account management

structure “On our portal, it tells you every hospital that we have and who the account representative is. Good suppliers use that, they know how our accounts are structured.” Seek out the partnerships with suppliers who understand how your organization works and respect those processes. When your supplier partners respect how your account management structure is organized, you can trust that they are taking the initiative to follow the procedures you have established.

3. People that step up to meet the needs of their customers

“We are looking for suppliers that are stepping up, helping our members, and meeting them where they are.” Look for people that care just as much about meeting the needs of your customers as you do.

When you partner with a supplier that cares about the needs of your customers and will step up to the plate to make sure those needs are met, you can just focus on the client relationship.

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