Becker's Hospital Review

18 How health systems can thrive in the nonacute care continuum: 4 Qs with McKesson Medical-Surgical president Drafted in partnership with McKesson A s more and more patients seek care in lower-cost outpatient settings, health systems are working to meet the demands of this migration by expanding nonacute offerings. is expansion requires the acquisition or development of new care locations, which will transform the health system's continuum of care and organizational structure. ese changes oen require a comprehensive restructuring of the supply chain. Providers can't afford to mismanage this effort. Hospitals in the U.S. collectively spend $25.4 i billion more than necessary each year on supply chain expenses, according to a 2018 Navigant study. As health systems attempt to scale and reach more patients, optimizing the supply chain has become a top priority for many healthcare leaders. Becker's Hospital Review recently spoke with Stanton McComb, president of McKesson Medical-Surgical, about emerging challenges and opportunities in the nonacute space. Mr. McComb frequently meets with health system leaders about the nonacute ecosystem, especially CFOs, vice presidents of supply chain, directors of pharmacy and presidents of medical groups. Here he answers four questions that touch on nonacute supply chain trends for health systems. Editor's note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Question: When you talk with health system leaders, what common themes or topics come up? What's on their minds? Stanton McComb: ere's usually a lot on their minds. ey're tasked with quite a bit and they've oen got a lot of different sites of care to manage, whether those are physician offices, labs or skilled nursing facilities. Each of those sites has various product categories and operational requirements that differ from other locations. Health system leaders want to find a way to manage this effectively and lower costs. at's almost always their primary focus. e discussions also vary based upon an organization's size. A lot of the larger health systems we work with are in the process of merging with other organizations. So not only are these leaders worried about complexities in their current health systems, but they're also worried about the other standards, policies and vendors related to the organization they're consolidating with. In addition, each brings a different culture and process for how they make decisions. It can be daunting. We help a lot of these health system leaders get a better understanding of their nonacute spend and the spending variability that exists in their system, either in terms of the products they're buying or the frequency of their purchases. We help them reduce costs and achieve standardization in a way that supports better clinical outcomes at a pace that works for them. Q: What are some changes in supply chain trends you've seen in the last six months or so? SM: As health systems continue expanding to incorporate more fragmented and heterogeneous sites, it is more challenging to manage all that from a supply chain perspective. A lot of hospitals rely on a central lab or pharmacy, so leaders have to figure out how to get supplies to new sites of care, which are oen in the nonacute space. With expanding geographic footprints, health systems are growing outside of their typical service area. We're having a lot more conversations with procurement leaders about how to best manage the supply chain to support these changes. Q: What are the factors driving changes in new care delivery models? SM: Risk sharing has been a big one the last few years, but more recently consumerism has been the big driver of change. More and more patients want their healthcare experience to resemble their experience as retail consumers. Another big trend I've seen across all providers, whether it's a health system or an independent physician, is a growing commitment to patient engagement. To help meet this need, we've got a new solution to keep providers connected with patients through their smartphones, which is an accessible means of communication for most people. We're excited about this tool and its potential to help improve care because it allows patients to ask questions and directly engage with their providers from the comfort of their home. Q: How else is McKesson adapting to these changes? SM: Somebody recently asked me if I was concerned by tech and retail giants' entries into healthcare. is person wanted to know if McKesson was sufficiently consumer oriented. I suppose it's a fair question, because mostly when people think of McKesson, they think of a B2B, sort of old-school distributor that serves healthcare organizations. I would say that's pretty far from what we are today. We've been delivering products directly to patients for decades now. Almost half of our lines ordered are going directly to a patient's home on behalf of the provider. We've honed our expertise to help providers deliver critical supplies and technologies to patients' homes. Many of our recent distribution network technology investments are aimed at increasing our capabilities to more effectively deliver these low unit of measure orders to patients. As a result of that, I think we have been, and will continue to be, very consumer oriented. n Health systems and its supply chain teams are changing to meet the needs of today's patients. e non-acute continuum is complex and fragmented. Yet, full of opportunity as care moves out of the acute setting and into non-acute settings. Make the most of your non-acute opportunity and deliver better operational, financial, and clinical outcomes for your health systems. Visit http://www.mckesson.com/takecontrol to learn more. i Navigant. (2018, October 18). Navigant Supply Chain Analysis. In Guidehouse. Retrieved from https://guidehouse.com/insights/healthcare/2018/ supply-chain-analysis?utm_source=pr&utm_campaign=sc18

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