Spring 2019 Forum Initiatives You Should Attend

I am very much looking forward to seeing those of you who are making the trip to Charlotte next week for our 2019 Spring Forum. Both agenda and attendance look really strong, so I hope you are looking forward to a couple of days of learning and networking with your friends, peers, and colleagues.

We wanted to use this last blog before the Forum to highlight the Initiative Teams meeting on May 7th from 1-4PM. One of these teams is wrapping up, another is midway on its journey, and the last one is just at the beginning. ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND!

SMI Inclusive Leadership Initiative

During this session, the Inclusive Leadership Team will review in detail the final deliverable that the group has been working towards for the past 18 months. This will be followed by an overview of the communication plan that the team will use to evangelize the work to the broader industry. Lastly, the group will discuss recent studies on the benefits of diversity and inclusion to organizational success.

As we’ve said before, healthcare is an industry that can and should lead in this domain. This group has been hard at work ensuring this happens.

Innovative, Value Based Collaboration Initiative

Under the leadership of John Strong, Tom Lubotsky, and Les Friend, this initiative is at the midpoint on its journey with a final deliverable expected by the Fall 2019 Forum.

This should prove to be an insightful session for the team as we will continue the trend of looking to other industry experiences in the context of trading partner collaboration. To that end, Caitlin Pappas of J&J will discuss her experiences partnering with J&J Consumer’s retail partners, which will be followed by questions and discussion.

Additionally, Ed Hardin of Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin will discuss five or six accomplishments and lessons learned including some practical applications of how to drive better collaboration, along with some key ingredients for success. This will be followed by questions and discussion.

Lastly, there will be a facilitated discussion on potential output deliverables as well as the idea of developing a blueprint for a SMI Center of Excellence for trading partner collaboration.

Business and Supply Continuity Initiative

The newest initiative is kicking off on the 7th and is focused on the immediate issues surrounding shortages for medical supplies. Across the value chain, SMI members are dealing with ongoing and persistent backorders and stock outs for basic medical commodities.

We’ve assembled a tremendous team of leaders for this initiative, including Kreg Koford, CSCO of Memorial Sloan Kettering, Lisa Hohman, President and CEO of Concordance, and Steve Gundersen, VP and General Manager of BD. Joining this group as facilitation lead is John Lebowitz, faculty in residence at UTENN, and former VP of Stryker’s supply chain.

The session will open with a discussion on the shortage experiences of providers, suppliers, and distributors. Kreg, Lisa, and Steve will provide data and specific examples of shortage experiences to help the group determine any root causes of the issue as well as steps to alleviate the problem.

Next, Linda O’Neill, Vice President Government Affairs and Elizabeth Hilla, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of HIDA will share observations, and lessons learned including how HIDA’s education and policy programming supports managing product shortage during times of crisis, which will be a key element to this initiative.

Lastly, the group will identify key opportunities for managing shortages for high impact products and discuss how SMI can help support alignment across supply chains leading to improved product delivery during a time of supply interruption.

Remember, the initiatives are open to anyone attending the Forum, so let’s be sure to fill up the rooms for each one of these. It’s the ideal venue with the ideal set of leaders to make progress in these important areas.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions.