August 23, 2022 – Dan Hurry is the president of Advantus Health Partners, and Chief Supply Chain Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health. Read an excerpt from The Journal of Healthcare Contracting’s “10 People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting” below.
What project or initiative are you looking forward to working on?
I love a challenge and the purchase service arena is the next frontier. Currently, the space can be best described as “chaotic.” I mean that it’s not optimized or organized, and benchmarking is minimal in the United States. As experts, we need to look at that world differently. We cannot continue to do the same things we’ve been doing. It will take fresh thinking and likely some trial and minimal error before we see a system that works. I’m excited and energized to work with my team to finally tackle this challenge.
How do you align your organization with your vision and mission?
Before I began my career at Mercy Health, I had already been involved in mentoring administrative residents at Baptist Health. My passion for developing young talent was carried into my tenure at Bon Secours Mercy Health (BSMH). Since 2016, 13 administrative residents have gone through the BSMH supply chain program. One hundred percent have been offered and taken a role within the health system following their didactic requirement.
My mentoring philosophy is based on inclusivity. From day one, residents are invited to executive leadership meetings, given critical project work, and provided ample opportunity to present and inquire. Across the board, supply chain associates know a resident’s role and are open to help.
I’m proud to say, my very first resident still works for me since coming with me from Baptist Health and has taken three different roles at BSMH and is currently the VP of Insights, Integration and PMO for Advantus.
What is the most dangerous trait in a leader’s career?
Failure to accept failure and learn from it. If you’re doing everything perfectly the first time, you’re not taking any risks and you’re not improving. Failure is a part of curiosity and curiosity is needed to grow. I need my team to look at the data and test new ways of accomplishing goals. If I don’t allow them the flexibility to try things that might fail, we’ll never grow and discover new and more streamlined approaches to a successful supply chain.
To see the rest of our 10 People to Watch in Healthcare Contracting list, click here.