Assistant
Vice President,
Supply Chain, Northwell Health
August 2023- The Journal of Healthcare Contracting
Dawn Wells leads supply chain operations for the Ambulatory network of Northwell Health, comprised of more than 800 physician practices and outpatient facilities. She also serves as the procurement lead on the cross functional team dedicated to the seamless integration of acquired and new ambulatory facilities. In addition to these responsibilities, Wells leads and supports all supplier diversity initiatives, ensuring that there is a system wide commitment to maintaining the diversity of the health system’s suppliers, including, but not limited to, maintaining a standardized process for measuring goals, and partnering with external agencies to educate and deliver information to diverse suppliers within the communities that we serve.
Any recent stories of successful supply chain projects you can share?
In the first half of 2023 my team has been instrumental in the onboarding of over 10 practice acquisitions inclusive of both single practice physician, and multi-site, multi-specialty practices. The complexity of each acquisition can be contingent upon service line, time to go live, and size. We continue to be successful in implementing go lives on schedule; generally, with no clinical, and minor administrative interruptions. I am very proud of the teamwork displayed and the commitment to the continued growth of the health system.
What about upcoming initiatives you are excited to be working on?
The increasing shift towards outpatient care continues to inform the growth of the health system and I am very excited to be a part of the growth. The shift to true value analysis in the outpatient setting is both exciting and difficult. I am lucky to work with a wonderful team of leaders and colleagues who empower me to take on the challenge. I am also excited to continue the important work towards supplier diversity. We recently launched an internal communications plan aimed at activating increased internal support toward our goals. I am extremely grateful for the organizational support in these initiatives and excited for the continued collaborations system wide.
How do you measure the success of your team and its impact on the organization as a whole?
Supply chain touches every area of an organization, and in healthcare the impact is measured by making sure that our clinicians and patients have the right product at the right time. Additionally, I feel that we are successful in our roles when we are able to be a trusted resource, often in a consultative manner, to the clinical and administrative leadership of the organization. It is important that we not only save money, but that we understand the product mix and are able to offer the technology to make each transaction as seamless as possible to the end user.
What’s the biggest takeaway for you as a supply chain leader over the last few years of marketplace disruptions?
Never settle for what you have already accomplished, always look for new innovation, and be flexible.
What are the keys to a successful provider/supplier relationship?
Innovation, collaboration, and transparency. Recent market disruptions have highlighted the need for flexibility on both sides of the equation and both provider and supplier need to be willing to collaborate while providing the necessary transparency to understand each other’s needs.