New Collaborative To Tackle End-to-End Supply Chain Challenges

September 13, 2018

Alexandria, Va. – Executives from 13 leading healthcare organizations today announced the formation of the Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative to address and solve longstanding supply chain issues.

The new initiative’s mission is transforming the healthcare supply chain through best practices for processes and data. To ensure that these issues can be addressed from an end-to-end supply chain perspective, its leadership includes manufacturers, distributors, providers, and group purchasing organizations.

The Collaborative will initially focus on two primary areas:

• Contract administration and pricing: addressing areas like contract notification, chargeback management, and EDI adoption in order to reduce rework for all supply chain partners.
• Supply chain visibility: working on problems like shortages, forecasting challenges, and supply interruptions to ensure product availability.

The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) will provide staffing for the Collaborative. HIDA currently has a number of workgroups addressing supply chain contracting and visibility issues, and these workgroups will expand to support the Collaborative’s goals, said HIDA President & CEO Matthew J. Rowan. “We believe that by bringing stakeholders together from across the supply chain, we can solve issues that create inefficiency and increase the cost of care,” explained Rowan.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative will host a conference April 17-18, 2019, with sessions focusing on contract administration, e-commerce, and supply chain visibility. Industry organizations are invited to attend, and to participate with the Collaborative.

Members of its steering committee include senior executives from BD, Cardinal, Henry Schein, Johnson & Johnson, The Mayo Clinic, McKesson Medical-Surgical, Medline, Medtronic, Owens & Minor, Premier, Quidel, UAB Medicine, and Vizient. Dozens of other organizations are involved in the effort through various working groups.

For information or to support the Collaborative, contact HIDA.

About HIDA

The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) is the premier trade association representing medical products distribution. HIDA members offer services that increase the efficiency of the nation's hospitals, nursing homes, physician practices, and other healthcare providers. For more information, visit www.HIDA.org. For more information on HIDA’s Streamlining Healthcare initiative, visit www.StreamliningHealthcare.org.

About the Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative

Mission: Transforming the healthcare supply chain through best practices for processes and data.

Vision: Broad adoption of standards and best practices across the healthcare supply chain, optimizing efficiency and visibility.