Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Ada Demir, Vice President of Supply Chain at Dartmouth Health

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Ada Demir, Vice President of Supply Chain at Dartmouth Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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Hello, everyone. This is Jacob Emerson with the
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Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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Thrilled today to be joined by Ada Demir,
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who's the vice president of enterprise support services
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and supply chain at Dartmouth Health. Ada, thank
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you so much for taking the time to
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be with me on the podcast today.
1:01
Thank you, Jacob. It's my pleasure.
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Likewise, Ada. We're glad to have you with
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us. And before we dive into everything we
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wanna talk with you about, can you first
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tell us a little bit more about yourself,
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your background in health care, and what it
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is that you do today at Dartmouth Health?
1:17
Absolutely.
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So I joined Dartmouth Health, September
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2025.
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I am very excited to jump on this
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transformation,
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and transition to transformation,
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of supply chain.
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Dartmouth Health is a nationally recognized,
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academic medical center
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operating
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in rural health care.
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They are recognized for clinical excellence
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in research,
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training the next generation of health care leaders,
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and delivering science driven patient centered care.
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So,
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they have been around for more than two
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hundred years,
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yet have been always committed,
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and I'm really glad to be a part
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of that journey.
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Wonderful. Well, I appreciate the quick overview there,
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Ada. And like I said, we're glad to
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have you with us today to talk about
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a really important topic in health care,
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clearly very, very relevant right now given everything
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going on policy wise, and that's supply chain,
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which, of course, is your focus at the
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health system.
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And, you know, you mentioned you you started,
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at Dartmouth,
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last year, and and you've described it as
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a very exciting time to be in the
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supply chain publicly.
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So so talk to us about that. What
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does being in hospital supply chain look like
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right now? How would you frame,
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the the context of your role and and
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where things stand,
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for you as as an industry right now?
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Absolutely.
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Like you very well mentioned,
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almost all hospitals, and I believe we have
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around 6,200
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hospitals in the nation.
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Looking ahead,
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almost all hospitals
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face substantial headwinds.
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It's
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around reduced funding and reimbursements,
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slower revenue growth,
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but most importantly,
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increasing
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labor and supply expenses.
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To manage it within budget has been much
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more challenging,
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than even COVID times.
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So we need to implement
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a seriously
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revised
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and thorough strategy
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to understand and manage the drivers of these
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expenses.
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Considering
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almost every health system is operating
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with single digit margins.
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And if we consider
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most of the health care systems
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are even operating at breakeven,
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every dollar you bring, every dollar you save
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is equal to every revenue you generate.
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So that brings a bigger and clearer lens,
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like,
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what we should do, how we should strategize
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to manage
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our third party spend, non labor.
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Absolutely. So it's it's getting tougher,
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for for health systems, of course, overall from
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a margin perspective, ADA. Supply chain, of course,
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a major piece of that. So I wonder
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for for the other hospital leaders listening in,
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for the CEOs, for the CFOs of these
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systems all over the country,
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what what what would you say to them
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in terms of,
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how they need to be elevating their supply
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chain leaders,
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to a strategic seat at the table. Why
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is that so important? And and what's the
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value that the supply chain team brings that
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that that upper c suite might not currently
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see?
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Absolutely.
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I believe they do see. It's just about
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competing priorities.
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It's just about
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giving,
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the importance and attention to supply chain.
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Why I believe they see?
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Typically,
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40 to 45%
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of each hospital's
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revenue or total spending,
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is related to third party.
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It is supply chain spending, non labor.
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That's a large volume.
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Again,
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you typically deal with
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hundreds of different vendors or manufacturers
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that expire anywhere from,
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thirty to hundred and eighty days in a
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pipeline ahead of you, that you need to
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actively proactively
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negotiate. If you are a system,
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consolidate across hospitals,
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make sure there is standardization
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to be able to get the best from
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your contracts,
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and ensure price parity,
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which brings in your EMR and ERP consistency.
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So there are a lot of levers to
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pull. But, again,
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supply chain is only one of the key
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focuses for
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c suite
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along with revenue excellence,
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along with workforce productivity,
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provider productivity,
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or maybe some other metrics like managing
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length of stay.
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I trust that all
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hospital c suite
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is aware what supply chain is able to
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bring to the table.
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It's all about
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the focus and prioritization
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because they also have a lot to do.
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Key focus is supply chain, revenue excellence. We
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discussed that.
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But they also have other,
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levers to pull, like growing into attractive segments
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outside sometimes their core business,
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develop new care models,
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build digital capabilities,
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which will be a key driver,
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in the next decade,
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bringing,
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some AI use cases, cloud transition,
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while reducing traditional operating costs. But supply chain
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is definitely going to be,
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the key,
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again, player in managing that cost base and
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making sure we support our,
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leaders
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to meet the budgetary expectations
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and growth targets.
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Understood.
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Key cost lever, that needs to be controlled.
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And I know a big focus for you,
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Ada, since since coming, to Dartmouth is building
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up the supply chain departments,
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at the health system.
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And I wonder what you would say,
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to the executives listening in in terms of
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others who might be looking to restructure or
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strengthen their own supply chain functions.
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What's your framework for assessing assessing the best
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talent, identifying gaps that exist, ultimately, really building
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that team that can execute on a on
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a system wide transformation, especially at a at
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a facility like Dartmouth, which has,
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many facilities across your region.
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Very good.
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You are right, Jacob. It is
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it is easier said than done. And here,
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I would like to refer
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to the Oscars, 98
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Oscars happening this year.
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And strange enough, Oscars introduced
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a totally new category,
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best achievement in casting.
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So for decades,
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casting directors
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have really shaped the success of films
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from behind the scenes,
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balancing budgets,
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evaluating
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talent,
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managing trade offs, and building long term relationships,
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which make future production stronger.
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This work
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has always been essential,
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but largely
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invisible.
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That sounds very familiar. Right?
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Very much like supply chain and how we
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operate.
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The reason I brought the Oscars analogy, it's
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not always science. It's a little bit art.
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And
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in supply chain, we also plan meticulously.
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We work within constraints.
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We run RFPs,
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evaluate partners.
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But
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even we stay close to those vendors who
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are not selected,
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because resilience is really built over time.
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When it's done right,
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no one really notices.
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When it's missing,
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everyone stops.
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So to your question, I think what I
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am committed to do
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is
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similar to casting,
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which is finally getting its moment of recognition
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this year.
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I am committed. Supply chain is getting constantly
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getting that recognition in Dartmouth Health
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because not the industry
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is changing or
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not only it's going through transition.
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The work has always been perhaps the same
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way. It's been difficult. It's been challenging.
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Maybe we will not stand at the Dolby
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Theatre this year with fellow nominees,
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but our hearts will be fast
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for them to support.
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I am maybe like Francine Messier, who is
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the casting director for Sinners.
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Congratulations
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for the nominee.
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Nina Gold, like Hamnet, or Cassandra Kulukindez,
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one battle another, one battle after another,
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or Jennifer Banditti,
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who directed cast directed
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Marty Supreme.
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We have we share, I think, a history.
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We share the same background with all these
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guest directors as supply chain leaders.
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Now I know Dartmouth Health leadership
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appreciates its supply chain and the enterprise support
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services team,
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and they really support our transformation journey
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because they know behind every successful product or
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service, which are delivered on time
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at the right price,
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and precisely
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when or where it's needed.
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It's the Dartmouth Health supply chain team doing
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the hard
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and glamorous work
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that makes everything else possible
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as we continue to care for our patients.
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We embrace our communities.
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We explore and as we excel.
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I I love that parallel, Ada, that there
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there is no successful movie without a good
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casting director. There is no successful health system
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without
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supply chain leaders like yourself.
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So
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no longer essential but invisible coming into the
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spotlight, especially, of course, as you know, post
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pandemic and every all the lessons that that
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showed the health care industry in The US
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and now, of course, with all the tariff
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ongoing tariff policies.
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The the critical importance of you and your
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team,
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cannot be overstated. And and I know you've
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you've made the point that strong supply chain
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leaders,
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they maintain relationships even with vendors who who
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you might not select
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immediately, that that resilience is built over time.
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So
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how are you thinking about continuity planning, vendor
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diversification
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for Dartmouth,
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given this this ongoing disruption we're seeing in
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in global supply chains?
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It is constant communication,
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and it's collaboration
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with our clinicians and administrative leaders.
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Data
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is very important.
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Data is not the information.
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Data which is actionable.
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To be able to do that, there's a,
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an investment
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that goes along
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with, the people,
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with the processes, and technology, all hand in
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hand.
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We need to establish
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repeatable and reputable processes.
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It's key. Because without those processes, we will
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not be even ready to move forward in
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our digitalization
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journey. We will not be even ready to
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take advantage of AI as it comes generative
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AI.
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We are looking for,
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RPA, a lot of robotic process automation.
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Even to be able to do that, the
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processes should be robust,
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end to end documented,
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and clearly tested.
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People
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people side, I don't believe it's ever gonna
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go away.
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You need to have
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well trained,
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well committed
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team members to be able to make sure
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those processes work
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so that you exploit and take advantage of
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the technology.
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Last but not the least, it's a collaborative
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effort
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across all service lines, all clinicians and departments
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to stay
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committed to the standardized
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efforts.
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We need to focus on the continuum of
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care, the care variation,
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yet take advantage
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of our
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pricing,
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price parity across hospitals, across our members,
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and deliver the best
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back to our organization
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financially and operationally.
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It's fantastic advice. And in that vein, Ada,
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I would I would ask you, is there
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any final thoughts or or other bits of
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advice, summarizing advice you'd offer all the other
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health care leaders, supply chain leaders listening in
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from all over the country right now?
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From the bottom of my heart, I'd like
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to thank everyone who's
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contributing to health care,
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who is supporting communities
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and vulnerable
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patient populations.
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It is a heroic event. Almost every day,
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we wake up. We do our best
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to get that care to everyone
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who needs
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at the place, or at least to the
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closest proximity
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they need.
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I think we are all
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casting directors
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in health care who have worked relentlessly
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for years.
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Sometimes we get
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the attention or the light
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we need, sometimes not, but it doesn't matter.
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We do a heroic job for every day,
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so we should congratulate each other.
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I am truly proud
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to be a part of health care delivery,
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health care providers, enterprise support services, and supply
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chain. Thank you, Jacob.