Becker's Hospital Review

24 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 1 A s geopolitical, economic and cybersecurity issues continue to pose risks to health system supply chains, leaders at top organizations weighed in on a shared priority – making supply chains more resilient and sustainable. At the forefront of these efforts is the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), a premier academic health center dedicated to continuous improvement and innovation. Leaders at MUSC Health, the statewide clinical enterprise of MUSC, echoed the importance of reinforcing the resilience and sustainability of its supply chains in today's world. This includes strategic measures, such as the integration of accounts payable (AP) into its supply chain operations to help improve resource utilization, automate invoicing and streamline AP processes. Under the leadership of Brandon Droz, associate vice president of supply chain, MUSC Health and GHX worked toward achieving these objectives, underscoring both organizations' commitment to implementing cutting-edge automation solutions that help enhance efficiency and mitigate risks in supply chain processes. To learn more about this innovative initiative, Becker's Healthcare recently spoke with Droz as well as GHX leaders Jamie Frame, senior director of business development and Aaron Hager, director of business development. Integrating AP and supply chain generates internal and external value Historically, many organizations have separated AP and supply chain functions. Currently, there is a trend toward integrating them. "When we look at some of our most progressive customers, they are disrupting the independence between AP and supply chain," Ms. Frame said. "The focus becomes driving collaboration and understanding the big picture." By moving AP into the supply chain, MUSC Health can improve the organization's alignment between its procurement decisions and financial obligations. There is much tighter integration between procurement and payment processes. "We now have end-to-end visibility," Mr. Droz said. "That's driving greater efficiency and control over the procure-to-pay process. Internal alignment allows us to break down silos between different functions in the supply chain and to develop shared goals and incentives." Since MUSC Health's AP department now better understands the goals of sourcing and contracting more fully, the team processes and pays invoices in an even more timely way. This further increases MUSC Health's credibility with the supplier community. "We are in a better position to go back to suppliers to negotiate not only better pricing, but also tighter terms and conditions when it comes to supply availability," Mr. Droz said. GHX has found that the value generated by integrating AP and supply chain can extend beyond healthcare organizations to the broader healthcare ecosystem. "As organizations like MUSC use process automation to tighten the supply chain cycle through payment, it delivers value back to the supplier community," Mr. Hager said. "What's good for one is good for all." Technology partners with industry expertise are essential for automating and transforming AP work In addition to moving AP into the supply chain, MUSC Health decided to leverage technology to help streamline and automate key AP processes. "When discussing invoice processing, payment reconciliation and reporting, a clear benefit of investing in modern AP automation solutions is marked improvement in accuracy, efficiency and compliance in addition to a reduction in manual errors and processing time," Mr. Droz said. "That is critical for systems such as ours." A key to MUSC Health's success was finding the right provider for modern technology solutions that aligned with the organization's strategic goals. "GHX has been fantastic to work with," Mr. Droz said. "They understood our needs and mission and explained what we would achieve by working with them. It's been a wonderful association. They've provided us with the expertise, resources and support needed to navigate some of the complex integration initiatives." Another contributing factor in MUSC Health's success was the team's focus on electronic invoicing as a way to reduce the cost of paper invoices. "As a new leader in the organization, Brandon drove toward the overall goal of providing a best-in-class digital supply chain to MUSC," Ms. Frame said. "That included getting to 90% of electronic invoicing that delivers a paperless and automated process." Unifying AP and supply chain delivers savings and other organizational benefits By bringing AP under the supply chain umbrella, MUSC Health continues to improve its on-time payments dramatically. Unifying the supply chain and accounts payable: How MUSC Health is revolutionizing revenue streams

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