Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Mike Hopkins, Vice President of Supply Chain at Northwestern Medicine

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Mike Hopkins, Vice President of Supply Chain at Northwestern Medicine · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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• 1:01
  - Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Ella
• 1:04
  - Jeffries, reporter with Becker's Healthcare.
• 1:06
  - Today, I'm joined by Mike Hopkins, vice president
• 1:09
  - of supply chain at Northwestern Medicine.
• 1:11
  - In this episode, we'll discuss how health system
• 1:13
  - supply chain leaders are navigating cost pressures, operational
• 1:17
  - volatility,
• 1:17
  - workforce challenges, and the growing role of technology
• 1:20
  - across health care operations.
• 1:23
  - Mike, thank you so much for joining me
• 1:24
  - today. It's a pleasure to have you. I'd
• 1:26
  - love if you could introduce yourself and share
• 1:27
  - a bit about your role at Northwestern Medicine
• 1:30
  - and how the supply chain organization is structured
• 1:32
  - across enterprise.
• 1:33
  - Yeah. Thanks.
• 1:35
  - Happy to. Thanks for having me today.
• 1:37
  - So, again, my name is Mike Hopkins, and,
• 1:40
  - I oversee,
• 1:42
  - you know, a a big chunk of our
• 1:43
  - supply chain at Northwestern,
• 1:45
  - all of our organizations' supply chain operations,
• 1:48
  - a lot of our pharmacy distribution,
• 1:53
  - biomedical engineering,
• 1:54
  - all of our process improvement within our supply
• 1:56
  - chain,
• 1:58
  - our
• 1:59
  - nonclinical
• 2:00
  - spend, all sorts of stuff.
• 2:02
  - It's
• 2:03
  - a very interesting organization.
• 2:06
  - It's
• 2:08
  - been growing at a a huge pace since
• 2:09
  - I've been there. I've been there for ten
• 2:11
  - years. We started when I started, it just
• 2:12
  - become a four hospital
• 2:14
  - health system. We're now 12. We have literally
• 2:17
  - hundreds and hundreds of clinics throughout Illinois and
• 2:20
  - some in Florida
• 2:21
  - as well.
• 2:23
  - You know, we've we've done a lot within,
• 2:26
  - Northwestern to ensure that our supply chain is
• 2:29
  - very
• 2:30
  - structured and standardized.
• 2:32
  - So
• 2:33
  - regardless of what hospital
• 2:35
  - or clinic that you're at,
• 2:37
  - you know, the processes
• 2:39
  - and the structure for how supply chain,
• 2:42
  - operates within our organization is,
• 2:44
  - is the same. So,
• 2:47
  - it's been a really interesting journey to say
• 2:50
  - the least.
• 2:52
  - Definitely. Thank you so much for that context.
• 2:55
  - I'd love to start with, you know, health
• 2:56
  - care supply chain leaders. You guys are navigating
• 2:59
  - a particularly
• 3:00
  - volatile environment right now. I'm curious what trends
• 3:03
  - or pressures are you watching most closely, you
• 3:06
  - know, right now and throughout the rest of
• 3:08
  - 2026 do you anticipate?
• 3:10
  - Yes. I would say there's probably three things
• 3:12
  - that are are the biggest,
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  - pressure trends that are that are going on
• 3:15
  - right now. Right?
• 3:17
  - First is,
• 3:18
  - just cost, and cost is always around.
• 3:21
  - But with there's a lot of volatility within
• 3:23
  - in that.
• 3:25
  - There has been over the last few years
• 3:26
  - of tariffs.
• 3:27
  - Right now, the oil prices are all over
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  - the place.
• 3:30
  - So pricing in itself is is a very
• 3:34
  - volatile,
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  - environment right now. So trying to, you know,
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  - ensure that our
• 3:39
  - suppliers are, you know, holding to their contracts
• 3:42
  - to ensure that if there is some sort
• 3:44
  - of, you know, issue they're having, that we're
• 3:46
  - being, you know, a good partner and and,
• 3:49
  - you know, listening to how we can,
• 3:52
  - both help navigate that pricing environment right now.
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  - Second is just the
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  - supply disruptions.
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  - Ever since I mean, supply disruptions in health
• 4:03
  - care have always been bad.
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  - They were especially bad in 2020, obviously, with
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  - COVID.
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  - I would say they're as bad as they've
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  - ever been right now.
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  - So just in the day to day supply
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  - chain and ensuring that we have the right
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  - products in the right place at the right
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  - time is exceptionally challenging right now,
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  - because there are so many current disruptions within
• 4:24
  - the supply chain world. So
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  - navigating that,
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  - ensuring that our clinicians
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  - understand what is going on, why it's going
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  - on, and what options they have is the,
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  - imperative right now. And then,
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  - you know,
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  - lastly,
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  - volatility around the environment is within technology. Right?
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  - So AI is is starting to disrupt
• 4:47
  - the health care supply chain, and
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  - and you don't wanna be
• 4:52
  - on the back end of the disruption. You
• 4:54
  - wanna be on the front end of it.
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  - So you we're very much,
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  - you know,
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  - doing a lot of learning and researching and
• 5:01
  - looking into how,
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  - our supply chain can be, you know, AI
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  - enabled and supported
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  - and that we're doing as much as we
• 5:09
  - can to stay on the forefront
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  - of, you know, being,
• 5:14
  - a top end supply chain, within the country.
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  - Definitely. Thank you for sharing. And you just
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  - mentioned AI. I'd love to dig deeper with
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  - that. You know, AI and automation are becoming
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  - bigger topics across health care operations, but I
• 5:27
  - also do think specifically picking up in the
• 5:29
  - supply chain realm. Where do you see the
• 5:31
  - greatest opportunity for tech within supply chain management
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  - today? You know, whether that is to help,
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  - you know, with management or other areas in
• 5:39
  - supply in general. Yeah. I think the biggest
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  - advantage it's going to give supply chain for
• 5:44
  - a while is it's going to do us
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  - it's going to allow us to do
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  - more with what we have today.
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  - So what I see and even at Northwestern
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  - where we have a pretty broad,
• 5:55
  - control span and supply chain, there's still a
• 5:58
  - lot of things that we could
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  - we could continue to do if we had
• 6:02
  - more resources or or better ways to make
• 6:04
  - faster decisions, and AI is gonna help us
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  - with with those things. It's not necessarily gonna
• 6:08
  - give us more resources. Right? But it's going
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  - to
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  - allow us
• 6:13
  - to free up time within people,
• 6:16
  - that they're spending doing, you know, research or
• 6:19
  - mundane,
• 6:20
  - tasks that, you know, can be
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  - automated,
• 6:24
  - being able to provide,
• 6:26
  - at least decisions to people to review that
• 6:29
  - they can make them faster, quicker, and smarter.
• 6:32
  - That's gonna allow,
• 6:33
  - our health care supply chain teams to take
• 6:36
  - on more within the organization, and the more
• 6:38
  - we take on, the more more value we
• 6:40
  - provide. So I I think it's just opening
• 6:42
  - huge doors to,
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  - you know,
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  - having having more of the organization be able
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  - to
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  - reap the benefits of of supply chain being
• 6:51
  - in part of it. I I I know
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  - there's a lot of supply chains,
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  - that they're not in the labs. They're not
• 6:57
  - in the pharmacies. They're not in a lot
• 7:00
  - of these ancillary areas because they just don't
• 7:02
  - have the bandwidth and the and the manpower
• 7:04
  - to do it, the FTE
• 7:08
  - realm.
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  - So, really, what it's gonna be able to
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  - do is gonna allow us to be able
• 7:12
  - to do more with the same amount of
• 7:14
  - people that we have, and that more is
• 7:16
  - gonna provide a a tremendous amount of value
• 7:18
  - to our organizations.
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  - Definitely. And I think that'll only help you
• 7:23
  - guys stay more resilient in the face of
• 7:25
  - those pressures that you were talking about earlier.
• 7:27
  - And continuing on this idea of resilience, how
• 7:30
  - has Northwestern Medicine's approach
• 7:32
  - to supply chain resilience evolved over the last
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  - few years, particularly after the disruptions that many
• 7:38
  - health systems experienced during and after the pandemic,
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  - and then now from, you know, geopolitical events
• 7:43
  - such as the Iran conflict?
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  - Yeah. So there's been, I think, a huge
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  - shift in,
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  - you know, how supply chains view
• 7:54
  - being resilient.
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  - Some have looked at it like, I'm gonna
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  - be resilient
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  - by building a warehouse and stocking up a
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  - lot of product, and and that not saying
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  - that's necessarily wrong. But I I think the
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  - Northwestern approach to it has been more around
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  - how do we become smarter
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  - at making faster decisions. And,
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  - you know, we're we don't have AI enabled
• 8:17
  - into this piece of it yet, but we
• 8:19
  - will at some point in the not super
• 8:21
  - distant future. And I really believe that
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  - the visibility and transparency
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  - to allow us to make smarter, faster decisions
• 8:29
  - around resiliency is going to be sort of
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  - the secret sauce on how you become
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  - a a resilient supply chain that can,
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  - you know,
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  - find ways to to mitigate
• 8:41
  - disruptions and and be good partners in the
• 8:43
  - organization. You know, what what I've seen in
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  - the past is
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  - you'll find out at the last second that
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  - there is going to be a a disruption
• 8:51
  - within your supply chain, and then you've gotta
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  - do a bunch of research to find out,
• 8:55
  - you know, what,
• 8:57
  - how long the disruption's gonna last and and
• 8:59
  - what other options you may have. And then
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  - you've gotta go reach out and find the
• 9:04
  - right clinical partners to help make decisions on
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  - what, you know, they're willing
• 9:09
  - to to use and what, you know, training
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  - may need to go with that, you know,
• 9:13
  - new product, etcetera. And then you've gotta go
• 9:14
  - out in the market and figure out, you
• 9:17
  - know, how you can find some of these
• 9:18
  - products. And
• 9:20
  - and it's it's a lot of work, and
• 9:22
  - it takes a lot of time. And and
• 9:23
  - the supply chains that get really fast and
• 9:26
  - really good at those pieces are gonna be
• 9:28
  - the ones that are gonna be able to
• 9:29
  - keep themselves
• 9:30
  - sort of sheltered from some of these disruptions
• 9:33
  - because they're gonna be able to make fast,
• 9:35
  - smart decisions and be able to go out
• 9:37
  - and acquire inventory
• 9:39
  - to help them,
• 9:41
  - mitigate some of these problems. Yeah. You know,
• 9:43
  - if you have a warehouse, you may be
• 9:44
  - able to, you know, push off fifteen, twenty
• 9:46
  - days of having to make that decision. But
• 9:49
  - in that pushing off the fifteen or twenty
• 9:51
  - days, I think you're also putting yourself in
• 9:52
  - a place where you may not be able
• 9:55
  - to get access to some of the,
• 9:58
  - substitute products because, other organizations
• 10:01
  - that have made, faster decisions around that have
• 10:04
  - been able to acquire product and and, been
• 10:07
  - able to,
• 10:09
  - you know, get that,
• 10:12
  - distributed throughout their organization.
• 10:15
  - You know, another big piece that is is
• 10:18
  - taken hold within the organ within not just
• 10:20
  - our organization, but supply chain as a whole
• 10:22
  - in health care is
• 10:24
  - we're we're partnering together better than we used
• 10:26
  - to. So,
• 10:28
  - we
• 10:29
  - we were part of the, you know, initial,
• 10:31
  - probably five health systems that started up, HERC,
• 10:35
  - the health care industry,
• 10:37
  - resilience collaborative,
• 10:39
  - and we've been working to really well together
• 10:42
  - as a as a, you know, supply chains
• 10:44
  - across the country and our distribution
• 10:48
  - or in manufacturing partners to just create more
• 10:51
  - transparency,
• 10:52
  - you know, have the our manufacturers
• 10:55
  - and distributors understand, like, hey. This is what
• 10:57
  - we're trying to accomplish.
• 10:59
  - You know, manufacturers and distributors, they they worry
• 11:02
  - when something is gonna go,
• 11:04
  - on disruption that the first thing that's gonna
• 11:06
  - happen is people are gonna buy up a
• 11:08
  - you know, a few people are gonna buy
• 11:10
  - up a ton, and,
• 11:12
  - it's gonna be really hard for other people
• 11:13
  - to get to any of the products. So
• 11:16
  - what we're trying to do is help them
• 11:17
  - see, you know, the transparency upfront
• 11:20
  - actually helps us not do that. And the
• 11:23
  - more we know about it,
• 11:25
  - the less
• 11:26
  - the,
• 11:28
  - the panic hoarding happens. So,
• 11:31
  - it's been a great it's really been a
• 11:32
  - great collaborative initiative between,
• 11:34
  - you know, the industry and our industry partners,
• 11:37
  - and I've been really happy that, it was
• 11:39
  - part of the beginning of it and that
• 11:41
  - our our, you know, current Northwestern,
• 11:44
  - resilience team is is
• 11:46
  - continuing to be part of that,
• 11:48
  - organization.
• 11:50
  - Yeah. Definitely. That that sounds like a great
• 11:52
  - initiative. And like I said, it's it's really
• 11:54
  - gonna help you guys all stay resilient,
• 11:58
  - in the face of these tensions. So that's
• 12:00
  - great to hear. I'm curious, you know, what
• 12:02
  - would you say are the biggest barriers to,
• 12:04
  - you know, achieving that transparency or achieving this
• 12:07
  - resilience that you were talking about?
• 12:11
  - Honestly, I I think there's still a lot
• 12:13
  - of
• 12:14
  - fear within
• 12:16
  - health systems
• 12:17
  - and
• 12:19
  - manufacturers and distributors to share information.
• 12:22
  - I I think they're you know, we all
• 12:24
  - look at it like it's proprietary to us,
• 12:28
  - and there are some some things that, you
• 12:30
  - know, could happen that would not be
• 12:32
  - necessarily beneficial if it was,
• 12:35
  - you know, escaped out to the general general
• 12:38
  - not general public, but if everybody had access
• 12:40
  - to it within the health care supply chain
• 12:41
  - and and trying to, you know, find the
• 12:44
  - right way that we can share the information
• 12:46
  - we all need without putting anybody's,
• 12:50
  - anybody at risk,
• 12:51
  - with things that they feel are proprietary
• 12:54
  - to themselves, I think is the next sort
• 12:56
  - of,
• 12:57
  - you know, big barrier that we need to
• 12:58
  - figure out how to cross.
• 13:02
  - Gotcha. Thank you for sharing that.
• 13:05
  - And I think another thing too that's becoming
• 13:07
  - increasingly
• 13:08
  - important to supply chain leaders is being asked
• 13:10
  - to contribute beyond just cost savings
• 13:13
  - alone. How would you say that the role
• 13:14
  - of supply chain evolves strategically
• 13:17
  - inside the health system?
• 13:19
  - So here's the way I look at it
• 13:21
  - and maybe, you know, Northwestern is probably a
• 13:23
  - little different than most, and I probably have
• 13:25
  - a different viewpoint of this than most. But
• 13:27
  - the pea people in supply chain are very
• 13:29
  - process focused, at least a lot are.
• 13:32
  - We we do look at, like, how we
• 13:34
  - make things simpler, easier, faster, remove waste out
• 13:38
  - of
• 13:39
  - out of, processes,
• 13:41
  - and cost. And
• 13:44
  - that skill set is super underrated
• 13:47
  - outside of supply chain.
• 13:49
  - And where I think supply chain leaders should
• 13:53
  - continue to look past cost savings is how
• 13:55
  - they can make their their entire organization more
• 13:58
  - efficient.
• 13:59
  - Simple simple example to me is is the,
• 14:03
  - you know, procedure
• 14:04
  - slash preference cards within an OR or
• 14:08
  - the
• 14:09
  - procedure space. And there is a ton of
• 14:12
  - waste that occurs within that. And the waste
• 14:14
  - is yeah. We we open things. We don't
• 14:17
  - use them. It's a there's financial waste,
• 14:19
  - but there's a whole lot of
• 14:22
  - supply, tray, equipment,
• 14:24
  - and drug movement that happens that
• 14:27
  - it it happens unnecessarily.
• 14:29
  - So at the end of a case,
• 14:32
  - there are multiple supplies and equipment and trays
• 14:35
  - and pharmaceuticals
• 14:37
  - that don't get
• 14:38
  - used. They need to be accounted for. They
• 14:41
  - need to be returned appropriately,
• 14:43
  - and
• 14:44
  - all that stuff takes
• 14:46
  - human labor and time.
• 14:48
  - And
• 14:50
  - the more that supply chain and this way
• 14:53
  - that supply chain people think
• 14:55
  - as a in terms of removing waste out
• 14:57
  - of processes,
• 15:00
  - that really starts to help look at, you
• 15:03
  - know, how can we make our environment,
• 15:07
  - you know,
• 15:08
  - more efficient.
• 15:10
  - And that helps with cost because the more
• 15:12
  - efficient you are, the more you can you
• 15:14
  - can do in a day. So if all
• 15:15
  - those things add up to you can do
• 15:17
  - another case or two every day, that's a
• 15:19
  - huge
• 15:19
  - a huge benefit.
• 15:21
  - It's hugely beneficial for
• 15:24
  - our clinical team's,
• 15:27
  - employee,
• 15:29
  - engagement. So, you know, they're spending a lot
• 15:31
  - of time right now,
• 15:33
  - doing a lot of just cleanup tasks at
• 15:35
  - the end of a case. I gotta put
• 15:37
  - all this stuff away. I didn't use these
• 15:38
  - things. I picked it all. The more that
• 15:40
  - we can help them be, you know, more
• 15:42
  - accurate with what they're doing and,
• 15:44
  - you know, their skill set then is more
• 15:46
  - focused on being a clinical person as opposed
• 15:49
  - to sometimes being a supply chain person or
• 15:52
  - a CSP person,
• 15:54
  - you know, the better off that they're going
• 15:56
  - to be as far as their job satisfaction.
• 15:58
  - And then on top of it, you know,
• 15:59
  - from a cost perspective, it's always it's always
• 16:02
  - going to to help in in that regards
• 16:05
  - as well.
• 16:07
  - I'd also think that, you know, supply chain
• 16:11
  - helps with the, you know, strategic management within
• 16:14
  - an organization as far as, like, when you're
• 16:16
  - growing,
• 16:18
  - bringing in a new hospital or growing your
• 16:20
  - ambulatory
• 16:21
  - clinics,
• 16:22
  - the same sort of vision where it's, you
• 16:24
  - know, very streamlined and structured, and we can
• 16:26
  - help,
• 16:28
  - get a lot of these things done,
• 16:30
  - in a more efficient and cost effective,
• 16:33
  - manner. It helps,
• 16:35
  - helps our organization,
• 16:37
  - when it comes to, you know, strategic growth
• 16:39
  - within,
• 16:40
  - our facilities.
• 16:42
  - Definitely. And I think too the the AI
• 16:45
  - portion of it that we were talking about
• 16:46
  - earlier will only help health systems, you know,
• 16:48
  - achieve A 100%. Effective measures. Yeah. Yeah. Because
• 16:52
  - right now, the whole the whole piece with
• 16:54
  - even the even the when I was talking
• 16:56
  - about preference cards, I mean, that's a lot
• 16:58
  - of manual,
• 17:00
  - you know, manipulation of information and data that
• 17:03
  - needs to occur, and it's why it really
• 17:04
  - doesn't happen very well.
• 17:06
  - And if we can get to the point
• 17:08
  - where we can start using AI to, like,
• 17:10
  - start bringing forward recommendations, like, hey. This is
• 17:12
  - what this preference card should look like as
• 17:15
  - opposed to somebody having to go through and
• 17:17
  - make that determination.
• 17:19
  - Yeah. You know, you're gonna have supply chain,
• 17:21
  - clinicians, physicians review it and sign off, yes,
• 17:25
  - no, to these changes. But at the end
• 17:27
  - of the day, the faster you can make
• 17:28
  - the recommendations, the faster you're gonna make the
• 17:30
  - changes you need to.
• 17:32
  - Definitely.
• 17:34
  - And, you know, aside from, you know, the
• 17:36
  - AI and automation increasing, you know, looking ahead,
• 17:39
  - what do you think will most fund fundamentally
• 17:41
  - change health care supply chain operations over the
• 17:44
  - next, say, three to five, ten years?
• 17:47
  - So to me, it's a couple things. I
• 17:49
  - mean, I think it's gonna be, like,
• 17:51
  - AI works really well when you have really
• 17:53
  - good data.
• 17:56
  - I think, fundamentally, we have to get better
• 17:58
  - with
• 17:59
  - data management within supply chain. I we do
• 18:01
  - a really good job at Northwestern, so this
• 18:03
  - is this is,
• 18:05
  - not anything we're not doing, you know, properly.
• 18:07
  - But I do, you know, being out in
• 18:09
  - the industry and conferences and peers, I think
• 18:12
  - there's
• 18:13
  - a big opportunity
• 18:14
  - that's that lies in there within data management,
• 18:17
  - ensuring that that part is
• 18:19
  - as clean as it can be. And, you
• 18:21
  - know, at some point, obviously, you know, AI
• 18:23
  - is gonna help us take all that information
• 18:25
  - and data and put it together and start
• 18:27
  - giving us, you know, transparency and visibility that,
• 18:30
  - you know, we don't we don't have or
• 18:33
  - right now, or it takes us a lot
• 18:34
  - of work to get to.
• 18:37
  - But what I think, you know, most fundamentally
• 18:39
  - is going to change,
• 18:41
  - is really around, like, the skill sets and
• 18:43
  - the and the people within supply chain.
• 18:47
  - You know, there's always gonna be sort of
• 18:48
  - that frontline need for supply chain where we've
• 18:51
  - got, you know, some people on the receiving
• 18:52
  - dock, and we've got people that are, you
• 18:54
  - know, filling supply rooms, etcetera. You know? Yeah.
• 18:57
  - But at some point, you know, some of
• 18:58
  - that will get a little more automated, but
• 19:00
  - that's always gonna be there. But the skill
• 19:01
  - set,
• 19:03
  - in health care supply chain operations,
• 19:05
  - is going to dramatically
• 19:07
  - need to change as time goes on, and
• 19:10
  - and we get more data driven and more
• 19:12
  - AI driven. And I think the organizations
• 19:14
  - that really focus on
• 19:16
  - teaching, training, and growth within their own organizations
• 19:19
  - are gonna be the ones that are gonna
• 19:21
  - be successful.
• 19:22
  - I think if you're,
• 19:25
  - an organization that's just looking out into the
• 19:28
  - industry to hire new people to continually bring
• 19:31
  - them in to con to grow your supply
• 19:33
  - chain, I think you're gonna get really discombobulated
• 19:36
  - really fast. I think,
• 19:38
  - the organizations
• 19:39
  - that have really embedded themselves,
• 19:42
  - with,
• 19:43
  - you know,
• 19:45
  - a program that grows their own employees internally.
• 19:49
  - I think that is going to be sort
• 19:50
  - of the secret sauce in the next three
• 19:52
  - to five years that's going to,
• 19:55
  - help
• 19:57
  - create supply chains of the future as opposed
• 19:59
  - to people that are just trying to, like,
• 20:02
  - catch up from the the back end of
• 20:04
  - it by bringing people in who have learned
• 20:06
  - those skill sets at other organizations.
• 20:10
  - Definitely. I think that was I think you
• 20:11
  - couldn't have said any better great insights.
• 20:14
  - Well, Mike, thank you so much. This has
• 20:15
  - been such a great conversation.
• 20:17
  - Today is all the time we have today.
• 20:19
  - But I wanna thank you again for joining
• 20:21
  - me on today's episode of the Becker's Healthcare
• 20:23
  - podcast.
• 20:24
  - Thanks everybody for listening, and we will see
• 20:26
  - you next time.