Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Derrick Billups, MSHA, CMRP, FACHE, Vice President of Supply Chain and Support Services at UC Health – Cincinnati

Transcript

Derrick Billups, MSHA, CMRP, FACHE, Vice President of Supply Chain and Support Services at UC Health – Cincinnati · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
• 0:14
  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where do they go
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  - to pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Derek Phillips, vice president of supply chain and
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  - support services at UCHealth in Cincinnati. Derek, it's
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  - a pleasure to have you on the podcast
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  - today.
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  - Thank you for having me.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for this conversation. I
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  - know we're gonna dig deeper into,
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  - the supply chain and and some of the
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  - things that, have been evolving over the last
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  - few years as well as the great projects
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  - and initiatives that you've been working on and
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  - how you're thinking about the future. But before
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  - we dive in, can you tell us a
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  - little bit more about yourself and UCHealth?
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  - Yeah. I'd be glad to. Thanks again for
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  - the opportunity. Look forward to the discussion. So
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  - UCHealth in Cincinnati, we,
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  - are a,
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  - level one trauma academic medical center. We're the
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  - only,
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  - academic,
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  - health system in the greater Cincinnati region
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  - as well as the region's only level one
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  - trauma center.
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  - UCHealth serves a highly complex patient population, provides
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  - advanced specialty care across
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  - areas like trauma, transplant,
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  - neuroscience,
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  - cancer,
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  - heart and vascular services, as well as emergency
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  - medicine.
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  - As an academic health system, we're also balancing
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  - our three very important missions every day, and
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  - that's delivering
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  - exceptional patient care,
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  - education to the next generation of health care
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  - professionals,
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  - and advancing innovation through research.
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  - I love that. I think especially for the
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  - academic centers, being able to have influence on
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  - so many different levels, whether it's the care
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  - being provided, the,
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  - innovation, the school training the next,
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  - level of leaders, and then the research too
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  - is really, really exciting. So,
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  - given all of the things that, go on
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  - within the system, can you tell us about
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  - how supply chain has evolved in your role
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  - as well in the last few two years?
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  - I can imagine it's much different than it
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  - was even five, ten years ago.
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  - It is. And I've spent probably two thirds
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  - of my career in
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  - health care supply chain. I actually have a
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  - clinical background, but I spent two thirds of
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  - my career in health care supply chain, and
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  - it certainly has evolved over the last twenty
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  - plus years.
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  - I think the biggest change has been the
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  - evolution of supply chain from what
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  - was traditionally viewed as a support function into
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  - a
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  - more strategic enterprise function.
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  - As noted a few years ago, many people
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  - associated
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  - supply chain primarily with purchasing,
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  - contracting, and inventory
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  - management.
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  - While those things are still important,
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  - today's supply chain plays a much broader role
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  - in helping organizations
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  - navigate the financial pressures,
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  - supply
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  - disruptions, workforce challenges,
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  - and clinical transformation efforts.
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  - You
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  - know, a number of years ago, I think
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  - the pandemic really highlighted what many of us
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  - already knew, that supply chain is directly connected
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  - to patient care. If critical products aren't available,
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  - clinical teams can't provide the care,
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  - the way the patients need and deserve.
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  - I think because of this, my role really
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  - kind of as supply chain has evolved.
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  - Again, my role, my even my team's role
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  - now require much closer collaboration with physicians,
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  - nursing leaders, finance partners, and executive leaderships across
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  - the organization.
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  - We're using a lot of data and analytics
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  - to drive value,
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  - assess supply risk,
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  - strengthen our resilience,
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  - strategies,
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  - evaluate new technologies and products to ensure we're
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  - making smart investments
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  - that really ensure that we're improving care,
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  - while managing cost responsibly.
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  - I would go on to say the expectation
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  - now is that supply chain can,
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  - contribute not only to the operational performance,
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  - but also to quality outcomes and organizational resilience
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  - and financial sustainability.
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  - And that's a much broader and more strategic
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  - role than we've traditionally played.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. You know?
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  - Is I can imagine in many ways exciting,
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  - to have that more of a strategic role
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  - in Lens as you're looking to the influence
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  - you have across the system and in way
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  - that you impact,
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  - the the broader performance as well as ability
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  - to provide quality care. So,
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  - from that lens, what are some of the
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  - big pressures that you're seeing on the supply
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  - chain right now, and how do you prioritize
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  - them when, you know, there there's so much
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  - happening at once?
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  - Yeah. There and there is a lot going
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  - on in today's environment. I would I would
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  - group today's challenges probably into three areas or
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  - three buckets, and that'd be, one being financial
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  - sustainability,
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  - second being resilience, third, clinical alignment.
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  - Think
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  - first for health care organizations
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  - across the country as we continue to face
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  - significant financial pressures.
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  - It's so critical,
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  - that each dollar that we spend delivers a
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  - good and strong value while supporting our patient
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  - care. We we know cost and expenses are
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  - going up and
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  - reimbursements
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  - are, in a lot of cases, staying flat
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  - or in some cases, clients, so it's critically
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  - important.
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  - Second, with supply disruptions,
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  - they continue to remain reality. We saw this
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  - firsthand,
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  - back in 2024,
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  - with the IV fluid shortages following hurricane Helene
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  - and,
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  - obviously, everything that we experienced during the pandemic,
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  - while we you know, the conditions have improved
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  - since this point since the height of the
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  - pandemic,
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  - we've learned that resilience isn't something you achieve
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  - once and just move on from it. It's
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  - it's an ongoing capability that must be continuously
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  - developed.
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  - We're focused on supply continuity, supplier
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  - diversification,
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  - inventory visibility, and really that preparedness of planning
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  - to minimize risk and maintain uninterrupted
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  - patient care.
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  - And I would say lastly, the there's always
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  - a challenge in managing clinical variation, especially for
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  - us in an academic medical center. I would
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  - say for most academic medical centers,
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  - you know, those are environments that encourage innovation
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  - and highly specialized care, which naturally creates a
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  - variation of products and practice patterns. So,
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  - you know, our approach is still to make
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  - sure decisions are guided
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  - by evidence and collaboration with our clinical partners,
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  - and through, you know, strong value analysis processes.
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  - We have physician engagement,
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  - data driven insights. We're working to balance innovation,
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  - patient safety,
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  - operational effectiveness, and financial stewardship.
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  - Really, at the end of the day, our
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  - goal was straightforward and hasn't changed. That's to
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  - improve,
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  - patient care while ensuring resources
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  - are used responsibly and effectively as possible.
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  - Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of
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  - sense. And, you know, it can really be,
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  - a huge, huge
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  - challenge for the organization's supply chain leaders. I
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  - know in in typically,
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  - you know, when you're trying to think through
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  - how the care delivery process has changed and,
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  - financial realities of today,
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  - you know, finding that way to continue to
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  - meet
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  - the bigger goals and broader mission of the
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  - health system is more critical than ever. So
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  - I can imagine, you know, there are lots
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  - of different ways that you're approaching this, and
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  - making sure that you've got what you need
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  - in order to deliver that care. Could you
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  - tell us about, a project or initiative from
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  - last year or an example that you can
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  - share,
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  - that
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  - has been helpful or produced some great results?
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  - Sure.
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  - I think one of the most impactful initiatives
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  - that we've led or been a part over
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  - the past year was transforming how we make
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  - supply chain decisions by combining supply resilience,
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  - the clinical collaboration that I spoke about earlier,
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  - and really using the data to drive analytics
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  - into a single strategy. So,
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  - by comp combining
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  - all those,
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  - we our objective was simple.
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  - That was ensure clinicians have the right product
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  - at the right time at the right place
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  - while also strengthening our ability to respond to
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  - the market disruptions and ongoing financial pressures.
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  - And and to do that, in
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  - combination, we partner very closely with our physicians,
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  - nursing leaders, and operational stakeholders
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  - to better understand the utilization practices and patterns,
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  - of supplies,
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  - verify standardization opportunities where appropriate,
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  - and ensure product decisions were grounded in clinical
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  - evidence and patient needs.
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  - And at the same time, we enhanced our
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  - resiliency efforts by increasing
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  - visibility
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  - into supply risk, really strengthen our supplier relationships,
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  - having the discussions with them and where there
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  - might be pain points or
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  - or opportunities to work with our suppliers in
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  - this in this environment,
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  - evaluating critical inventory strategies and leveraging market intelligence
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  - proactively identify potential issues before they impact patient
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  - care.
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  - And part of this the conduit to all
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  - this was really the the data was really
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  - the foundation of the entire initiative.
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  - By combining the utilization analytics,
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  - benchmarking tools,
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  - various market intelligence,
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  - data that we were able to access
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  - and use even today, we're able to to
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  - make more informed decisions, focus on high value
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  - opportunities,
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  - increase stronger alignment between supply chain and and
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  - clinical leadership.
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  - We have pretty significant results,
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  - in a short amount of time within twelve
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  - to fifteen months of this initiative.
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  - We actually,
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  - achieved a 10 reduction in our business price
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  - competitive index, which is really kind of a
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  - general score of how your pricing compares to
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  - other, like, or peer hospitals,
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  - your size and scope.
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  - And we actually became best in class in
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  - that,
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  - throughout the course of that year.
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  - We generated approximately $23,000,000
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  - in annualized savings.
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  - We improved our purchasing competitors
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  - and really strengthened our preparedness for future supply
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  - disruptions.
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  - And I think what I would say with
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  - all that is what I'm most proud of
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  - though is that
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  - is how we achieve those results.
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  - This wasn't about just
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  - cutting cost. It was about collaboration,
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  - alliance
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  - supply chain, physicians, and clinical leaders around a
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  - common goal,
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  - which we which created the value and improved
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  - resilience and ultimately strengthened our ability to support
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  - our patients and our patient care.
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  - That's awesome to hear. You know, and really
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  - impressive, obviously,
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  - generating, you know, that $23,000,000 in savings is
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  - huge on improving that competitiveness and then,
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  - really aligning around what's gonna be most impactful
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  - for the whole organization overall, you know, best
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  - case scenario.
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  - But I know easier said than done in
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  - many, many ways,
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  - but, really impressive to hear. From the leadership
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  - perspective, is there anything that you feel like,
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  - you did differently to approach this in order
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  - to get the results, or,
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  - was it more or less just being able
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  - to, you know, be very communicative with the
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  - team and all run-in the same direction?
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  - Yeah. I think, you know, again, what we
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  - learned a number of things throughout this exercise
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  - is that, again, ensuring that we have the
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  - right products at the right time
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  - sourcing, but also
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  - be able to have those predictive,
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  - insights as to where there's gonna be disruption
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  - and make sure that when if and when
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  - those disruptions occur in the supply chain market
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  - that that that we aren't that we're not
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  - reacted to it, we're more proactive to it.
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  - And, again,
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  - through collaborative efforts with our physician partners and
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  - clinical partners,
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  - we have a much better
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  - plan and,
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  - a strategy in place today than what we
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  - probably did, you know, four or five years
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  - ago even going into the pandemic period. So
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  - I think we've really gained a lot of
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  - lessons learned from
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  - this this initial that we that we embarked
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  - upon, and it's
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  - sustained today. And,
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  - you know, supply chain is definitely one of
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  - the,
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  - entities that's at the table with the,
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  - physician providers and our clinical partners.
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  - That's great to hear. Now before we wrap
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  - up, I wanted to look into the future
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  - a bit as well. How do you anticipate
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  - the supply chain will continue to change, evolve,
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  - and grow in the next three to five
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  - years or so?
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  - Yeah. It's a great question. And I think,
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  - you know, a lot of,
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  - of other leaders like like myself in the
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  - supply chain space are asking that same question.
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  - I think I think health care supply chain
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  - is already moving towards becoming,
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  - a lot of what we talked about is,
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  - you know, being more predictive, more integrated,
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  - and much more connected to clinical care.
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  - We talk a lot about AI and artificial
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  - intelligence.
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  - You know, it's the the the latest
• 13:37
  - technologies and buzzwords in this space, but
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  - that and advanced analytics will give us better
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  - tool to forecast demand,
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  - identify the the fraction risk that we've that
• 13:47
  - we've spoken about, really optimize our inventory to
• 13:50
  - uncover opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
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  - We'll continue shifting from reacting,
• 13:56
  - to problems or disruptions as they occur to
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  - identifying risk earlier
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  - and enacting them before they impact operations of
• 14:03
  - patient care.
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  - I also expect there to be a continued
• 14:07
  - much deeper integration between supply chain and clinical
• 14:10
  - operations.
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  - As health systems continue to focus on value
• 14:15
  - based care and patient outcomes,
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  - supply chain will play,
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  - continue to play a large role in helping
• 14:20
  - evaluate new products and technologies,
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  - support evidence based product decisions, and reduce unnecessary
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  - variation.
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  - And we've talked a lot about it already
• 14:30
  - here this afternoon, but, you know, another major
• 14:33
  - focus would be continuing to be the resilience,
• 14:36
  - of our of our supply chain,
• 14:39
  - pipeline and supply chain operations.
• 14:42
  - I think the lessons we've learned over the
• 14:43
  - last four years have to be,
• 14:46
  - have permanently changed how health care organizations
• 14:48
  - think about risk.
• 14:50
  - Cost will always matter, but reliability
• 14:53
  - and continuity and preparedness will increasingly influence
• 14:57
  - our decision making and and,
• 15:00
  - overall
• 15:01
  - operations.
• 15:02
  - And finally, innovation will continue to accelerate.
• 15:06
  - The organizations that are most successful will be
• 15:08
  - those that can elevate
• 15:10
  - and evaluate,
• 15:12
  - innovation in a disciplined way,
• 15:15
  - embracing technologies, improve patient outcomes while maintaining,
• 15:20
  - financial sustainability.
• 15:23
  - I love that. I think to your point,
• 15:25
  - I mean, it's so critical to have that,
• 15:28
  - type of understanding of some of the risks,
• 15:30
  - where the supply chain is, how you can
• 15:32
  - continue to plan and strategize
• 15:34
  - in a way that, you know, you're able
• 15:36
  - to meet the needs of of, the community
• 15:39
  - and the care you're trying to serve without,
• 15:41
  - maxing out resources
• 15:43
  - in in really,
• 15:44
  - you know, especially in environment where there's a
• 15:46
  - lot of financial challenges already. It that seems
• 15:49
  - to make a lot of sense. Derek, thank
• 15:51
  - you so much for joining us on the
• 15:52
  - podcast today. This has been such a a
• 15:55
  - fascinating conversation.
• 15:56
  - I truly appreciate your time and look forward
• 15:58
  - to connecting with you again soon.
• 16:00
  - Thank you, Laura. Appreciate the opportunity. It's been
• 16:02
  - great, great talking with you. Thank you.