Newswise — The University of Chicago Medicine has been named Healthcare Purchasing News’ 2023 Supply Chain Department of the Year.
The Supply Chain & Support Services team at the Hyde Park-based academic health system was cited for accountability, innovation and its commitment to teamwork, all of which helped the team exceed key performance indicators and other operational benchmarks.
“One of the characteristics of award-winning healthcare supply chain operations teams that seems to have become more evident in recent years is what I might call the process of organic performance improvement,” said Healthcare Purchasing News Senior Editor Rick Dana Barlow.
“These forward-thinking healthcare organizations seem to mirror non-healthcare industry by empowering people and elevating processes before equipping both with technology. Bottom line: They’re not just throwing technology at a problem to solve it, which is more of an inorganic, synthetic response.”
UChicago Medicine’s Supply Chain & Support Services team earned high marks from the publication for quadrupling annualized savings during a 10-year period.
Additionally, the team implemented a bin optimization continuous improvement project that minimized the impact of a distributor line fee cost increase.
The work decreased the total cost of ownership by increasing minimum order quantities to control labor requirements and increased labor efficiency by reducing the number of daily lines ordered. The team collected various data points to prove their case and phased in process changes on a system-wide level.
“The Supply Chain & Support Services team at UChicago Medicine not only understands that but embraces it as critical to their success,” Barlow said.
“To them, even the simplest of tech tools amplify and reinforce the people and processes measured through detailed metrics they have implemented, which serves as a fitting example for any organization to emulate — particularly those with limited budgets and stretched staffing needs.”
The 2023 winner of the annual designation — the 20th given by Healthcare Purchasing News — was announced Monday, July 24.
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