SPONSORED
THR’s journey two years post-implementation
There are many case studies about healthcare organizations published just months after a supply chain technology is deployed, but what about two years’ post go-live?
In 2014, the Journal of Healthcare Contracting published an article about Texas Health Resources and Inventory Optimization Solutions (IOS), and their success in automating supply chain processes for 250 practices in Texas. IOS has been in the market for 13 years with more than 4,500 facilities today on their cloud-based supply chain technology. IOS works primarily in the health care non-acute space and automates the inventory, purchasing and accounts payable processes with a single sign on, bar code technology and an EDI platform.
John Gaida, senior vice president of Supply Chain Management, needed a single technology Texas Health could wrap around 250 practices. This was no small task. Gaida had launched a physician program a few years prior and wanted to not only provide a valuable service to the practices, but he wanted to tie them closer to the IDN. Creating visibility across the entire enterprise was key to creating value.
“I learned fast that you have to customize whatever program you are creating to the customer,” Gaida said. “The physician office is nothing like the acute market, and that’s the first thing to get through your head.” Texas Health had a large number of practices and suppliers involved, and it was difficult to make decisions without accurate data. “We needed to own the data. We needed to be able to communicate with all vendors,” Gaida said. “And it became clear that until we had our own data, we couldn’t make decisions about standardization and cost reduction. We chose IOS technology for our supply chain needs because we were able to control the data and fully automate all vendors with a single sign on. We could also give each physician’s office control to track cost, order equipment and supplies, and manage their inventory.” In 11 weeks, 250 offices were successfully converted to IOS’s cloud based supply chain technology.
We caught up with folks at Texas Health in early 2016 to find out how IOS technology is working two years later. Nate Mickish, senior director of Non-Acute Supply Chain Services at Texas Health, responded to our request. “Much has changed since our initial implementation of ENVI in 2013,” Mickish said. “In addition to the 250-plus clinics within Texas Health Physicians Group, we’ve expanded our service to 12 ambulatory surgery centers and 17 imaging centers. We’ve been able to develop processes that ensure contract pricing is honored, product standards are followed, and fiscal policies are adhered to across nearly 300 sites of care.”
Here are a few extra post-implementation highlights:
- Standardized 25 major categories across 250 clinics
- Saved a total of $6 million in last two years (post implementation)
- Created an approval process which prevents unnecessary orders
- Use data to make decisions now that we have visibility across the entire enterprise and formed Texas Health’s first physician-led product selection committee for our physician group
- Lowered our risk in supply chain across the system’s continuum of care by proactively managing product recalls and backorders
- In our ambulatory surgery centers, we have accurate case costing data now that we have implemented the ‘Usages’ module
- Identified opportunities to improve billing processes for injections and point-of-care tests in the physician office space
“We have saved our organization significant dollars and time by driving standardization, and we continue to improve overall performance by automating those manual processes and creating visibility across the enterprise,” Mickish said. “We have built, and are continuing to improve, what we believe to be a best-in-class service model to manage the non-acute supply chain. In fact, we are now offering our support – implementation, training, database management, etc. – for the IOS/ENVI platform to organizations outside of Texas Health. Our desire to meet a growing need in the non-acute market by extending our program to other organizations was the impetus to creating a new organization within our system named Texas Health Supply Chain Services.”
From an IOS post two-year perspective: Steve Britt, managing partner and co-founder, said: “Our goal is to continuously evolve to meet the needs of our customers. We work with stand-alone surgery centers and physician offices, as much as we work with the 250 facility IDNs. We have 13 years of product development behind us and with 4,500 facilities live in the U.S, we get constant feedback on how to improve. As a supply chain leader in the healthcare non-acute space, we recognize the importance of continuously listening to our customers.”
John B Gaida: With over 35 years in healthcare supply chain management and support services, John brings unique leadership and industry experience to his current role as senior vice president, supply chain management at Texas Health Resources, a 25 hospital IDN in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His career includes work with nationally recognized healthcare systems, teaching institutions, all sizes of not-for-profit hospitals, a consulting firm, and the eCommerce world. John’s honors include lifetime fellow recognition by the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management of the American Hospital Association and the AHRMM Gossett Award for leadership, dedication, and contributions to the profession. He is past president of AHRMM as well as serving on the board of directors for two separate terms. In 2007,he was selected by Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN) magazine as one of the 30 most influential supply chain professionals in the last 30 years. Lastly, he is currently on the Board of Directors of the Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) serving as Founder and Past Chairman and is serving on the Board of Directors of the Bellwether League as Chairman. President, Supply Chain Management
Nate Mickish: Since joining Texas Health in January 2013, Nate has lead a talented team that has designed, built and deployed a high-performing and fully integrated supply chain program for all of the system’s non-acute sites (250 physician offices, 12 ASC’s, 17 diagnostics centers). This program has provided millions of dollars in cost reductions for Texas Health, driven Premier contract uptake, and created standards for products and processes. Nate is one of six individuals to be honored by the Bellwether League for the inaugural ‘Future Famer’ award in 2015. He earned his MBA from the University of Nebraska – Omaha and his BSBA-Accounting from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.