IDN OPPORTUNITIES
Supply Chain Leader Spotlight Carlos Aguilar, vice president, Buy to Pay, Sourcing, Kaiser Permanente Editor’s note: Carlos Aguilar, vice president, Buy to Pay, Sourcing, Kaiser Permanente, was one of this year’s Ten People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting. The Journal of Healthcare Contracting, a sister publication of Repertoire, interviewed him for the August 2021 issue.
The Journal of Healthcare Contracting: What’s the most challenging or rewarding project you have worked on in the last 12 to 18 months? Carlos Aguilar: I would have to say the most challenging for us has been reconfiguring our supply chain and identifying new sources to meet our PPE needs. Everything from gowns, masks, and gloves to needles, syringes, and sanitary wipes were in shortage. It has been quite a range of categories and products that we had to identify new sources for, making sure that products and suppliers were verified and vetted. That was a big challenge, largely because there was a global shortage of all these products. But we also ran into more disruptions. Right when we solved one category, another arose. For example, once we had a handle on the PPE supplies, then it was a shortage of the ultra-low temperature freezers for the vaccines, needles and syringes. I would say the most rewarding project was when we had the supply chain stabilized and got to the point where we were setting up mass vaccination sites. This is really where the rubber meets the road. We set up large venues where we can help high volumes of our members get vaccinated, as well as the community
Carlos Aguilar
14
October 2021
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www.repertoiremag.com
