The Resilient Supply Chain 2.0

Adapting to an unpredictable world

Q&A with HealthTrust VP Eric Swaim

In an increasingly unpredictable world, supply chain resiliency has become a top priority for healthcare leaders. Eric Swaim, VP of Strategic Sourcing at HealthTrust, shares practical insights on how providers can strengthen their supply chains. HealthTrust’s approach emphasizes the need for strategic supplier partnerships, proactive planning and rapid response to ensure supply chain resiliency.

What does it mean to have a resilient supply chain?

Swaim: At HealthTrust, a resilient supply chain means proactive monitoring combined with scalable solutions to help our members anticipate and adapt to disruptions, ensuring consistent access to essential supplies and having strategies to deploy end-to-end within the product lifecycle. This involves prioritizing transparency with suppliers, using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict risks and creating robust partnerships. A resilient supply chain can mitigate known risk and set up the supply chain to proactively respond to challenges, keeping patient care uninterrupted, even during unforeseen crises. It also means helping members find opportunities to change operational habits around stocking positions, go direct or through distribution, and understand their critical and noncritical items.

How have recent crises & unprecedented public health events changed the way providers should manage their supply chains?

Swaim: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains operated with fairly minimal disruptions within just-in-time models with members. However, the pandemic caused backorder rates to soar, forcing us to rethink traditional supply chain strategies. This trend has continued as the pandemic has slowed and other crises have occurred. Today, the focus is on building resilience throughout the supply chain and across processes. We’ve shifted away from simply managing costs to ensuring operational transparency, flexibility and assurance for handling future disruptions. For example, during Hurricanes Helene and Milton, HealthTrust engaged over 20 manufacturers and sub-tier manufacturers in the storm’s path before the storm to understand disaster recovery plans. Then post-storm, we monitored backorders and fill rate drops across the supplier community for unanticipated disruption. To address disruptions, HealthTrust identified substitutions and resolution timelines, coordinated with suppliers and ensured product availability for our members ahead of any foreseeable impacts.

What role does transparency play in building a resilient supply chain?

Swaim: Transparency is crucial for maintaining a resilient supply chain. Healthcare providers need visibility into their suppliers’ inventory levels, performance and preparedness. The challenge is balancing the transparency to not create panic buying in the market. At HealthTrust, we focus on transparency by using standardized metrics to measure supplier performance and share disruption insights from these metrics with our members and suppliers. This enables hospitals to make informed decisions and resolve issues quickly. Transparency also fosters stronger partnerships with suppliers, as it builds trust and ensures everyone is aligned on expectations. Ultimately, having this level of openness helps providers deliver better patient care.

How does HealthTrust use AI to predict & mitigate supply chain disruptions?

Swaim: HealthTrust has continued to make significant advancements in using AI to anticipate supply chain risks. We partner with companies like Everstream Analytics to monitor thousands of suppliers globally that may be threatened during various crises, allowing us to see commonalities among our supplier organizations and which ones might be at risk of supply chain disruptions. This technology enables us to monitor sub-tier locations and predict potential disruptions in advance, whether that be from geopolitical instability or production delays, and post these impacts on the disruption portal for member visibility. This foresight allows our teams to help members prepare alternative sourcing strategies before issues escalate. We ensure our members can maintain access to critical supplies, even in times of uncertainty.

In an era of ongoing supply chain challenges, building a resilient supply chain is more essential than ever. HealthTrust is leading the way by using advanced technology, transparency and alignment to ensure healthcare providers are prepared for whatever comes next.