Case Study : UW Health
Reassessing Medical Supply Storage Plans During the Pandemic
Challenge
Outfitting a warehouse to serve all points of care for the UW Health system during the pandemic and beyond .
Action
Medline and UW Health identified a building as a suitable location for their CSC and made a formal 3PL agreement for additional storage . this resiliency through customized space planning solutions , such as consolidated service centers ( CSCs ). CSCs are being adopted by IDNs ( integrated delivery networks ) and hospital systems to address supply chain vulnerabilities and improve resilience .
What is Driving Systems to Consider Establishing Consolidated Service Centers ? Peter Saviola , vice president of supply chain optimization at Medline , outlines four key reasons why hospital systems are making the move toward incorporating CSCs into their overall supply chain operational investment :
Resiliency . Clearly , coming out of the pandemic , hospitals and IDNs are looking for the ability to add resiliency to the supply chain — resiliency that they can control . This means that they have their own pile of inventory and their own space to operate , creating self-directed and self-controlled resiliency .
Result
An efficient warehouse and standardized formulary that helped improve patient care .
UW Health aimed to quickly equip their new consolidated service center pre-pandemic , but COVID- 19 caused numerous setbacks . Amidst the ongoing supply chain disruptions , a distribution center that minimized future supply shortages and interruptions in patient care was crucial . To find a suitable space that met their needs , UW Health sought a reliable partner . Together , Medline and UW Health identified a building previously used for COVID testing as a suitable location for their consolidated service center , now known as the John
Efficiency . Everyone wants to reduce the reliance on labor , minimizing touch points and complexity at the point of care . Labor within healthcare is stressed , with most systems and care centers struggling to get
Walls Support Services Center ( JWSSC ). As the warehouse completion neared , the partners began exploring opportunities to enhance supply chain and distribution efficiency .
In addition , UW Health made a 3PL agreement with Medline , allowing them to store additional supplies , ensuring a smoother supply chain . The JWSSC has been
“ If we had done all of this on our own , [ the CSC ] would not have been optimized for supply chain efficiencies .”
physicians and clinicians the things they need for patient care . The support components — materials management , EVS , clinical services , lab services , information technology staff and processes — all involve labor running efficiently since January 2023 , serving the entire continuum with a focus on efficiency . The organization has utilized every available inch of storage space for medical supplies . Furthermore , the 3PL agreement with Medline enables UW Health to plan for potential supply chain challenges in the future through bulk purchasing and stockpiling .
— Steve Mumm , project manager for planning , design and construction , JWSSC , UW Health
and space costs . A service center is a spot to land those services and aggregate those costs .
Simplicity . Increasingly , there is a focus on making the supply chain at the end user sites sim-
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