The future supply chain: Creating a supply chain culture

Abstract

Healthcare continues to be complex. Healthcare supply chain is one subset of the healthcare organisation that has its own complexities. Under current status quo operations, the United States healthcare system is not sustainable. To move to a sustainable future, changes within the healthcare supply chain are necessary; and the future supply chain, as a key driver in the overall operations of healthcare, must move from a department within the healthcare organisation to a strategy that engages everyone within healthcare to address supplies’ impact on cost, quality and outcomes. Banner Health supply chain set out to change the culture and engage everyone across the healthcare system to consider supplies’ impact on cost, quality and outcomes. This paper shares how Banner Health maintains a unified approach and engages everyone across the organisation to consider supply chain as a strategy. It outlines processes and tools developed to successfully implement supply savings ideas and shares lessons learnt to transform a system's culture into one where supply chain is strategy.