DC Velocity - November 2013

30 DC VELOCITY NOVEMBER 2013 www.dcvelocity.com
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assets come back here for asset recovery.

And fourth is our ancillary imaging equipment service program. We have 2,000 or so imaging devices in our system. Rather than outsource that, we started hiring our own technicians and are managing it ourselves.

They have their own call center and space for sourcing, repair, and storage here on the supply chain campus.

We are also saving a lot of money in procurement. We have the most robust purchasing card system in health care. By implementing about 5,000 “ p-cards,” we removed 250,000 transactions worth $70 million a year from our system, including travel, fleet management, and asset recovery.

QIn what other ways is Intermountain’s sup- ply chain strategy different from most in the health-care industry?

A We have implemented Low Unit of Measure (LUM) technology in our medical-surgical distribution
operations, where we bypass our own warehouses at the
hospitals and deliver standardized products in LUM totes
every night to every nursing floor and clinic. To do this, we
have installed high-end technology conveyor systems and
voice-directed picking to maximize efficiency and improve
quality.

Another key to success was standardizing products across the system’s 22 hospitals. This took extensive efforts working with nursing product committees. When you have to pay for the touch and inventory of every item, it becomes very important to you.

Often, these costs are hidden behind distributors and other supply chain partners.

QAny other changes in the works?

A If you look at all the operations that make up Intermountain, you will see that there are a lot of supply chains.

Medical and surgical supplies are only one aspect.

We also have food and nutrition, IT, clinical engineering, and others. They all have their own supply chains, and they have their own way of getting supplies and materials in and out. We’ve gotten very good at managing medical supplies, which represents the largest volume. Now, we’re looking at those other supply chains to see what value we can add by handling them. ;