AHRMM: Communication, collaboration key to supply chain success

BOSTON—To hear Michael Bohon tell it, more than a few C-level hospital leaders think they have a problem with their supply chain—and they’re wrong. “You don’t have a problem with your supply chain,” he said. “You have a problem communicating with your supply chain.”

He also said the non-communication problem often owes to supply chain leaders who wait until problems crop up before speaking up to hospital leadership.

Bohon, founding principal of HealthCare Solutions Bureau in Show Low, Ariz., offered his thoughts in a breakout session on Aug. 9 at the annual gathering of the 2011 Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management (AHRMM) annual conference.

During the talk, Bohon noted that communication is already improving. As evidence, he cited his presentation of a similar talk to the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) at its annual congress last spring. Some 400 attendees showed up for the session, he said.

“They came to listen to us because they wanted to know the secrets of the supply chain. Apparently their supply chain staff weren’t telling them,” Bohon said. He also pointed out that the presentation went over so well that the ACHE has asked him and his co-presenter to conduct a webinar for its members “so more executives can listen. Maybe we’re starting to make some improvement. Maybe we’re starting to open the door just a bit."

Bohon’s co-presenter was Michael Rudomin, principal of HealthCare Solutions Bureau in Bolton, Mass. Among the “secrets” the two disclosed: Supply-chain people can work with surgeons without upsetting them, supply-chain leaders can assist with construction and expansion planning, and most supply chains miss out on the benefits of strategically partnering with other hospital departments.

After the session, Healthcare Technology Management asked Bohon how clinical engineers can help supply chain leaders in their efforts to improve patient care while reducing costs.

“The key to the relationship between clinical engineering and the supply chain is contained in a simple word: collaboration,” said Bohon. “We need to work together not just on a couple of cases but consistently, on all purchases. So many problems can be avoided by these two groups working together with the clinicians. So much money can be saved and so many bad expenditures can be avoided.”

What particular expertise does Bohon look to clinical engineering for? “Standardization,” he replied. “It’s such a key point in all products, but especially in equipment. We have to work with the clinical engineers because, if we start buying different kinds of equipment, they’re going to have to stock more parts, get more manuals, get more training and so on. For all these reasons, and others, we need to work very closely together.