Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN) named Lebanon, NH-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health as the recipient of its 17th Annual Supply Chain Department of the Year Award.
HPN selected this multi-hospital system’s Supply Chain division for punching through the traditional stereotype of simply moving boxes of stuff by pursuing and embracing deeper and more meaningful roles such as strategic planner, sourcing enabler, margin-enhancement deliverer, demand-planning innovator, communication facilitator and administrative ace-in-the-hole for the C-suite. They have remodeled and reconstructed their infrastructure around a quartet of performance improvement pillars of operation: People, technology, trade and innovation.
For several years the Supply Chain division, led by Curtis Lancaster, Vice President, has operated as a beacon of reliable, resilient service to a multitude of healthcare facilities spanning two states. The coronavirus pandemic certainly tested their framework and resolve to the point that the division outran the mad-dash scramble for depleting supplies brought on by panicked buying from a desperate and frightened public.
“[COVID-19] confirmed we had what it took. In many industries you drill and practice so that you will be prepared for a future event,” Lancaster told HPN. “Firefighters drill and prepare for when the fires come they will be ready. Sports teams practice and prepare for the big game. As Mike Tyson explained in preparation for a boxing match, ‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’ The pandemic punched us in the mouth … repeatedly. We learned that the mindfulness and resiliency we worked on, the communication and trust in each other kicked in like muscle memory. We trusted each other. We worked well together. The strategy directed us toward our goal even in crisis: helping the hands that heal. Our ops director was in Incident Command and helped harmonize all our efforts.”
Because Supply Chain had been operating in consistent performance improvement mode for several years, the emergence of the coronavirus and its escalation into a global pandemic that slammed national, regional, state and local supply chains didn’t ignite a crisis for Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Supply Chain team. They were fortified strategically and ready to act.
“Consistency and dependability matter to our customers,” Lancaster continued. “Things don’t change overnight; however, working with leadership and front line staff to best support them shows through action that our team cares, that we listen. By doing this we gain buy-in for our initiatives or enhance understanding when errors are made.”
As part of its Supply Chain Department of the Year judging panel HPN historically includes supply chain executives from past title-holding organizations that have earned HPN’’s top designation. This year’s panel gave the organization high marks for demand planning and crisis preparation.
“Where success in real estate involves location, location, location and timing, success in business involves that and the foresight to anticipate needs, plan for demand and then deliver,” said HPN Senior Editor Rick Dana Barlow. “Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health’s Supply Chain Division recognized such a philosophy not in reaction to the current pandemic, but in advance of any such crisis. They implemented relevant strategies and tactics ahead of time that they then put into active practice earlier this year. Looking forward, top-tier supply chain operations will be ready to react because they’ve planned for a growing number of contingencies. Dartmouth-Hitchcock encapsulates and epitomizes such behavior that should be emulated as standard operating procedure.”
