Angela Newman, Senior Director of Clinical Services Supplier data is vital to understanding and accelerating clinical, operational and financial goals. Usage and SKU data can uncover trends that are related to practice and patient outcomes. And dashboards can highlight discrepancies across units and facilities, revealing opportunities to reduce care variation. For example, tracking the utilization of procedure kits and the single sterile items within them helps identify variation in clinical practice. If some clinicians consis-

tently open complete kits while others pull only select single-use items, this can lead to inconsistent supply usage, increased waste and potential deviations from standard procedure and practice. Patient outcomes data also can be analyzed to determine if the patient census and acuity correlate with supply utilization data. For example, patient census and practice protocols can be tracked along with product utilization to determine if key interventions are compliant, such as repositioning and offloading devices.

Robert Brandt, Vice President of Prime Vendor Sales Support Leveraging data exchanges with our customers is a force multiplier with significant impact on patient care and supply chain performance. Receiving inbound customer data enables us to proactively take action on inventory positions and procure-to-pay activity. Insights gained through data create collaboration opportunities for improved supply chain efficiency. In turn, we can provide our customers with decision-ready information more quickly with greater relevance. Overall, it allows Medline to deliver better metrics with less effort by the customer team( and ours). Mpower™ Foundations and Mpower™ elevate our ability to integrate data from multiple customer systems— and ultimately from manufacturers— to provide more comprehensive data faster, enhancing resiliency efforts. When customers incorporate Medline’ s ability to translate information into action through predictive ordering, logistical programs and procedure-specific supply management, they will experience a true“ integrated supply chain” driven by data, process and people.

Josh Wolfe, Senior Vice President of Inventory Management Collaborative supply chain planning between healthcare partners can lead to improvements in labor efficiency and prevent product shortages. By sharing information such as demand forecasts, production schedules and inventory levels, partners can better anticipate changes in demand, reduce uncertainty and respond more quickly to market disruptions. Proactive notifications from suppliers on potential shortages can allow providers more time to develop mitigation plans. In many situations, suppliers can make data-driven recommendations on solutions that will yield the best results. Sharing of demand data in both directions also enables much faster response time to fluctuations, which reduces the likelihood of stockouts or excess inventory. All this data sharing must be done efficiently to maximize the potential value. That’ s why automation in the form of data extracts, dashboard reporting and workflow management platforms are becoming a necessity as the healthcare supply chain continues to become more complex.

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