SMI Releases Executive Briefing:  New Integrated Delivery Models, ACOs, and the Healthcare Supply Chain

Scituate, MA (March 26, 2012): The Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) today released their second SMI Executive Briefing entitled “New Integrated Delivery Models, ACOs, and the Healthcare Supply Chain.” This Executive Briefing was created to assist healthcare supply chain leaders in understanding and preparing for the impact of new care models and accountable care organizations (ACOs).

“New Integrated Delivery Models, ACOs, and the Healthcare Supply Chain” is the work of a team comprised of SMI executive members from healthcare providers, manufacturers, distributors, technology companies, and collaborators who embarked on a mission to provide the industry with an on-going understanding, education, and assessment of new integrated care delivery models and the impact on the healthcare supply chain.

As healthcare reform legislation has propelled the nation’s healthcare providers to envision and implement new models of patient care that reward wellness, lower costs, and achieve quality outcomes, new integrated care models, such as ACOs, are being developed. SMI’s Executive Director Tom Hughes said, “ACOs are quickly emerging as the new direction in healthcare. SMI members are at the forefront of identifying the areas of critical impact on the supply chain and to determine new strategies and capabilities to meet the challenges associated with integrated care delivery models.”

SMI Team Co-Leader and Vice President of Supply Chain Services at Geisinger Health System Deborah Templeton said, “In whatever form the new models of healthcare eventually take, the members of SMI believe that supply chain can deliver strategic contributions in the form of enabling increases in quality and value and overall decreases in cost of care delivery.”   SMI Team Co-Leader Robert Haralson, MD of DeRoyal, added “This briefing offers keen insights about engaging physicians, since physicians are the main drivers of healthcare costs and physician integration will be an important component of successful supply chain programs under these new models of care.”

This Executive Briefing is available for download, at no cost on the SMI website at: http://www.smisupplychain.com. SMI’s Executive Briefings are a new free tool for healthcare industry supply chain executives, offering thought-leader insights on emerging areas of impact and strategies for success.