Saluting the resilience of COVID-19 Changemakers

Even before the Defense Production Act recruited corporations in other industries to switch their production methods to make a variety of out-of-stock items, a fresh option emerged that apparently hadn’t resonated on anyone’s radar. A growing number of colleges and high schools, awards/trophy retail outlets and others, armed with 3-D printers, started crafting such products as face shields and respirator masks. Others have been sewing and stitching cloth masks. Even breweries and distilleries leapt into action by producing hand santizer, sometimes in clever packaging like cans and kegs. Despite the pressure and tension, Supply Chain remains a resilient bunch.

A growing number of supply chain teams creatively have pushed forward through these challenges with innovative ideas and partnerships that have helped clinicians to deliver the care needed for patients to heal, whether it involves evaluating, ordering, storing, distributing, reprocessing or otherwise contributing to the identification, selection, acquisition and efficient usage of products.

Such ideas and partnerships include working with local organizations to make PPE or joining online exchanges to trade for supplies in real-time. Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN) sought to collect as many of these innovative ideas and partnerships to highlight as examples of ingenuity in action in real time. HPN reached out to more than 50 provider and supplier organizations, which added another 25 provider organizations, to share anecdotes, examples or stories in their own words about providers or suppliers finding success and defying defeat. Here are their triumphs highlighted in four ways: Challenge(s) faced; Solution(s) derived; Influential, instrumental leaders; and Prepped for tomorrow.

Ramping up supply tech to amp up clinical delivery

Organization: BD
Nominator: Thomas Utech, Vice President Integrated Solutions and Global Marketing, BD

Many hospitals have been forced to expand rapidly to care for COVID-19 patients, and BD has been there to help. Never has the BD mission to advance the world of health been so critical, as many of our associates are on the front lines helping hospitals and health systems deliver care to the patients and communities they serve.

BD teams are going the extra mile to bring critical products to frontline providers. This is not business as usual, and BD associates are answering the call, standing up new facilities in days rather than weeks or months.

Challenge(s) faced, solution(s) delivered:

• After New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked hospitals to increase capacity by 50 percent, BD helped one of Brooklyn’s largest medical centers and others install instruments for their expanded ICUs.
• In Chicago, BD supplied BD Pyxis MedStation systems to McCormick Place, the nation’s largest convention center, which the Army Corps of Engineers and Illinois National Guard transformed into an alternate hospital.
• In Perth, Australia, BD helped a state government hospital set up, test and train staff on BD Pyxis MedStation systems and BD Pyxis Anesthesia Stations. BD is also relocating BD Pyxis towers, fridge monitors and auxiliary units to the new clinics.
• In the UK, BD supported an urgent installation of BD Pyxis MedStation systems for new wards in Birmingham to accommodate the influx of new COVID-19 patients. This work was critical to prepare for the safety of the patients who were expected to become sick.
• These team efforts have produced incredible results. For the McCormick Place COVID-19 field hospital, contracts were negotiated, and BD Pyxis MedStation systems manufactured, shipped and installed in a week.
• In Los Angeles, BD provided necessary equipment to support a surge hospital at the recently closed St. Vincent Medical Center.
• That time was matched for a 250-bed field hospital in Novi, MI, ensuring the facility would have all BD Pyxis MedStation systems ready on April 24 for their first patients.

Influential, instrumental leaders

Many BD associates have worked days, nights, and weekends to complete these projects. They have been helping customers make face shields at home to protect frontline, distribution center and manufacturing site associates from the virus, and performing countless other tasks—large and small—to get these urgently needed facilities up and running.

Regardless of the city or region where these pop-up ICUs and hospital expansions are launching, BD teams have succeeded with determination, innovative thinking and positive attitudes.

BD associates have collaborated closely to provide an unbroken chain of support. Sales and global customer service teams are identifying customer needs and scheduling installations. Product assembly lines are ramping up production to meet demand. Contract teams are developing new processes to reduce complexity, expedite approvals and accelerate shipping.

From there, transportation and logistics teams are pulling all-nighters to plan, pack and transport BD products around the nation. Many trucks are being staffed with multiple drivers to keep them on the road and get these critical supplies to their destinations as quickly as possible.

At the end of the chain, clinical care groups are developing product set-up protocols, and integration engineering and field service teams are overseeing testing, troubleshooting and installation.

Prepped for tomorrow

“Our teams are rapidly implementing new projects – without complaint – with just a few hours’ notice. Despite these challenges, they have maintained the highest standards, ensuring all BD technologies are working when patients need them most,” said Mike Garrison, BD Worldwide President, Medication Management Solutions. “Regardless of where these pop-up hospitals are located, cross-team efforts ensured their timely launch. Their can-do attitude – inspired by the frontline healthcare workers they are supporting – is helping ramp up the COVID-19 response across the nation.”

Demand swell drives manufacturing, production surge

Organization: Clorox Professional Products Co.
Nominator: Chris Tucker, Vice President and General Manager, Clorox

Challenge(s) faced

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced an unprecedented surge in demand for our essential disinfecting products. In fact, almost overnight, demand surged to 500 percent for some of our disinfecting products.

Solution(s) derived

• Running our cleaning and disinfecting product plants 24/7
• Re-focusing our plants on manufacturing disinfecting products that can be supplied most quickly
• Accessing additional third-party supply

In addition to these efforts, we prioritized increasing our hospital-grade bleach supply by four times for healthcare facilities in order to serve the critical need among the healthcare community as well as created a new 55-gallon bleach-drum that we delivered to some of the largest healthcare facilities in the U.S. Each 55-gallon drum cleans up to 14,000 hospital rooms.

As a result of these efforts, we have increased our supply of disinfectants by 40 million units, an increase of more than 40 percent versus the same period last year. We are also continuing to identify efforts such as partnering with retailers and making considerable investments to increase capacity for a future surge in demand.

Influential, instrumental leaders

We could not have done this without our global workforce of 8,800 people who make and ship [and support] our essential disinfecting products. We could not be more grateful for their dedication.

Prepped for tomorrow

As a company, we are focused on doing everything feasible to maximize the supply of disinfecting products to serve consumers, healthcare workers and our communities in the face of demand like we have never before seen. We are applying what we’ve learned from this crisis to be prepared for a surge in demand in the future including considerable investments to increase capacity for the mid-term and beyond.

Deploying 3-D Printing to make essential PPE

Organization: Geisinger
Nominator: Kate Polczynski, Interim Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain, Geisinger; Joel Lincoln, Senior Regional Director, Premier

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Led by Dr. Aalpen Patel, Geisinger’s system director of radiology, internal staff such as Sarah A. Flora, RT (R)(MR)(ARRT), Program Director, 3D Lab, as well Bucknell University and Bloomsburg University, collaborated to procure raw materials, design solutions, and test developed products with input from Infection Control and the Safety & Industrial Hygiene team.

Prepped for tomorrow

Geisinger has already invested in 3D printing, and our capabilities have only grown during this crisis. The creative solutions this technology can present are endless, and this is a program expected to continue.

Developing a central intake process for community donations received

Organization: Geisinger
Nominator: Kate Polczynski, Interim Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain, Geisinger; Joel Lincoln, Senior Regional Director, Premier

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Geisinger deployed the skillsets of the existing Medical Equipment and Recovery program, led by Joe Goyne, Senior Director, Logistics, and Karen Oncay, to develop a centralized intake and distribution process for these donations to ensure each was accounted for, and ultimately able to make a difference for our staff and the community.

Prepped for tomorrow

The use of a centralized distribution center for supplies is a strategy Geisinger has adopted and plans to continue. This allows the Logistics teams to more efficiently leverage economies of scale to meet the supply demands of our system that spans dozens of counties across Pennsylvania.

Redeploying internal staff to support scrub marking, distribution efforts

Organization: Geisinger
Nominator: Kate Polczynski, Interim Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain, Geisinger; Joel Lincoln, Senior Regional Director, Premier

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Prepped for tomorrow

Geisinger consistently maintains a Caring attitude, which means helping any department that may need it. This practice of workload balancing during the pandemic allowed Geisinger to complete critical tasks, but also allowed workers whose work volume may have decreased to continue to contribute to the mission of the organization.

Shifting into supply chain high gear

Organization: Center for Dialysis Care
Nominator: Jeffery Marusic, Vice President, Supply Chain and Facility Management, Center for Dialysis Care; Jim Cogan, Regional Director, Premier

Challenge(s) faced:

• Many companies are not currently adding new customers.
• Increased use of surgical masks, hand sanitizer, bleach, disinfection wipes and products.
• Understanding China was a major supplier of PPE and that supply could be cut off as the pandemic developed worldwide.
• Suppliers instituted allocations at a time when we are using more PPE. The allocation is based on “normal usage patterns;” however in a pandemic, normal is not sufficient to meet demand levels.

Solution(s) derived

• Understanding the world supply chain and how a break in that link could affect our vendors’ inventory levels as the pandemic spread throughout the world. China is a major link in the PPE supply chain, so we quickly developed a strategic plan to increase supply levels prior to the pandemic spreading rapidly in the U.S.
• Leadership delegated decision making to purchasing, in order to expedite sourcing of PPE from vendors that met the required organizational specifications for PPE.
• Grouped COVID-positive patients to consolidate usage of certain PPE, such as N95 masks.
• Used federal and local government agencies as guidelines for reusing N95 mask including use of the government’s strategic stockpile.
• The Purchasing department worked with clinical leaders to emphasize appropriate use of PPE and cleaning agents, to control inventory usage. Developed alternatives for using surgical masks to be used by patients in order to control usage.
• All other sources for supplies were exhausted in order to stay ahead of demand. Working with our partners like Premier and others helped us identify and procure necessary items from trusted suppliers.

Influential, instrumental leaders:

• Vice President of Supply Chain and Facilities Management, Vice President of Clinical Services, Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Strategic Planning, Chief Operating Officer and President/CEO.
  CDC Purchasing team, including our logistics coordinators, delivery and warehouse personnel.

Prepped for tomorrow

• Further diversification of suppliers is essential.
• Better understanding of the world supply chain and how it affects our suppliers’ inventory levels when interruptions occur.
• Partnering with our GPO and others provides another layer of support that will continue to be utilized going forward.

Unique partnerships infuse product development, including hand sanitizer in kegs

Organization: Banner Health
Nominator: Mike Halmrast, Executive Director, Supply Chain Contracts, Banner Health; Nancy Neff, Regional Program Director, Public Relations & Marketing, Banner Health; Premier

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Supply Chain and our clinical teams were involved in this work as is typical with our process. We had a unique partnership as well with the Banner Innovation Group, which assisted in finding alternative products and sources during these challenging times.

Prepped for tomorrow

The solutions give us various alternatives to have in place for future pandemic situations. We have also been able to establish some new supplier relationships that can be utilized in the future.

Ingenuity drives internal mass production in 3D

Organization: St. Luke’s University Healthcare Network
Nominator: Kevin Hines, Vice President, Network Materials Management, St. Luke’s University Healthcare Network; Joel Lincoln, Senior Regional Director, Premier

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

So we embraced innovation with 3D printing. Our team began printing N95 masks, PAPR hoods, stethoscopes and other products. We increased our supply by partnering with local universities and other local companies that used 3D technology to be able to produce an additional volume of much needed supplies.

But we still needed a way to extend the life of our N95 masks. The “Bug Zapper” was a team effort between physicians, biomed techs, and sterile processing along with a Lehigh University professor to design and fabricate the first of its kind machine to disinfect N95 masks using UV-C light. To date the unit has disinfected 12,000 masks for the network as well as local EMTs, police, nursing homes and other health partners.

The local community support was fantastic as individuals and companies stepped up with donations of gloves, cleaning supplies and gowns. Our PPE team even organized local seamstresses to sew fabric masks to give additional protection to the staff as surgical masks were getting harder to find. This dedicated group of women and men worked tirelessly to provide hand-sewn masks not only to St. Luke’s, but also to other hospitals and facilities in Lehigh Valley. They provided more than 18,000 fabric masks to St Luke’s. In addition to helping us with product, this initiative gave the local community a sense of purpose by contributing to the fight against COVID-19.

The teamwork in coming together to protect our patients and front-line nurses, doctors, and other clinicians was seamless. It is not unusual for the St Luke’s family to join hands together to solve problems and generate creative solutions all with a generous spirit of camaraderie and purpose.

Influential, instrumental leaders

The list is endless. Purchasing, Distribution, Couriers, SPD, Simulation Lab, IT, Security, Bio-Med and many more.

Prepped for tomorrow

We have learned many lessons during this pandemic. It has given us a new perspective on how we can use 3D printing going forward to help reduce supply costs. It has shown us the value of partnering with local universities and other community leaders to create new and different solutions for the supply chain. And using technology such as Microsoft Teams to quickly come together and make critical decisions in real time.

Foresight motivates IDN to “C” results

Organization: Hartford HealthCare
Nominator: Milrose Mercado, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, Hartford HealthCare; Premier

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

The partnership with clinical teams was also critical. Together, we worked collaboratively to drive a robust conservation strategy including reporting on mask utilization down to the unit level, which helped to prevent spikes in use. The culmination of this work allowed Hartford HealthCare to be the first in the state of Connecticut to provide masks to all employees.

Prepped for tomorrow

If this crisis has taught us anything it is that we can execute faster than we think. What we believe will take months can actually be done in weeks and sometimes days if we push ourselves to think differently. This thinking is what will help drive our strategy, process development and thinking beyond the pandemic.

Producing healthcare-grade disinfectant on-site

Organization: CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System
Nominator: Liz Shelton, Administrative Director, Hospital Operations, CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System; R-Water

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

It was a team effort between Nursing, Infection Prevention, Supply Chain, Environmental Services and Administration. It just made sense, and we have been extremely pleased with our decision.

Prepped for tomorrow

We use TK60 throughout our facilities. TK60 eliminates our two-step disinfection process for C-diff rooms. It has replaced our previous daily disinfectant and C-diff products, and it has significantly reduced the use of expensive Purple Top Wipes. The decrease of products used for disinfection, along with TK60’s one-minute contact time has significantly decreased patient room and operation room turn times. During a time when reliability and capacity are so important, and supply and distribution networks are closely monitored, it has been comforting to know we can perform crucial tasks quickly and safely without the possibility of a back-ordered product.

Breaking out of the pandemic box

Organization: M Health Fairview
Nominator: LeAnn Born, Vice President, Supply Chain, M Health Fairview; Premier

M Health Fairview is a 10-hospital, 60-clinic healthcare system in Minnesota that includes University of Minnesota Medical Center and University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. M Health Fairview is optimizing the value we can access as a result of being a health system partnered with a university. Unique needs have popped up due to COVID-19. These needs have been shared with different colleges within the University of Minnesota and resulted in design and production of needed products either by the University or through partnerships with local manufacturers. [Editor’s Note: M Health Fairview earned HPN’s 2017 Supply Chain Department of the Year Award and 2020 SPD Department of the Year Award. See August 2017 and May 2020 editions, respectively.]

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

• N95 masks: Huy Nguyen, one of our infection preventionists, now Nurse Manager in the NICU, went to extraordinary lengths to reach out to Clorox and 3M, and then partnered with the College of Science and Engineering to set up and validate our UV decontamination process for N95s [https://www.mhealth.org/blog/2020/april-2020/m-health-fairview-rolls-out-new-uv-decontamination-process-for-n95-masks]. To help conserve our respirator supply further, we implemented a five-day mask rotation process for N95 masks. This process means each healthcare worker receives five masks over the course of a 10-day rotation period, with each mask being worn twice.
• Isolation Gowns: Currently, disposable isolation gowns are our greatest PPE need. Our system typically employs both disposable and reusable gowns, and right now our care providers are using approximately 15,000 disposable isolation gowns a day. We are exploring a complete transition to reusable gowns that can be laundered, but to meet our current needs, we continue to track traditional and non-traditional sources of manufacturing for disposable gowns. That’s why efforts like the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering’s “Gown for U” project are so important. In two weeks, the biomedical engineering students and local manufacturers involved in the project created a new, local source for disposable isolation gowns. Hearing about the nationwide need for disposable isolation gowns, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering engaged his students to design, plan and secure local manufacturers to produce a supply that will allow us to bridge the gap we expected for disposable gowns while we are converting to reusable gowns. This resulted in new business for two manufacturers in our local community. Our Chief Quality Officer, Dr. Abe Jacob, personally visited a local manufacturer to try on a plastic disposable gown on their factory floor to see if this would meet our specifications for gowns. We have also partnered with Minneapolis-based business Love Your Melon, which has committed to producing 250,000 additional gowns for our system.
• Testing Booths: The College of Science and Engineering invented a negative air pressure box (https://www.mhealth.org/blog/2020/may-2020/testing-booth-increases-covid-19-testing-capacity-while-conserving-ppe) that caregivers can stand in to collect specimens from patients being tested for COVID-19. This has dramatically reduced the burn rate for PPE.
• Intubation Box: An Intensivist resident invented a box [https://cse.umn.edu/me/news/new-protective-device-healthcare-professionals] that could be used to protect healthcare workers from aerosols generated during intubation. She partnered with a professor in the College of Science and Engineering who is an expert on aerosols.
• Face Shields: One of our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit physicians led efforts to make face shields and ear protection for air purifying respirators.

Influential, instrumental leaders

Prepped for tomorrow

Delivering groceries to senior citizens

Organization: Northwestern Medicine
Nominator: Adam Biernacki, Senior General Manager Illinois, MedSpeed

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Prepped for tomorrow

Partnering to produce face shields

Organization: Mayo Clinic
Nominator: Erik Frich, Senior General Manager Minnesota, MedSpeed

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Maintaining temporary PPE warehouse

Organization: Advocate Aurora Health
Nominator: Jared Simon, Senior General Manager Wisconsin, MedSpeed

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Prepped for tomorrow

Creative thinking fulfilled a supply need

Organization: MultiCare Health System
Nominator: Libby Gaspar, Senior General Manager Northwest, MedSpeed

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

MultiCare and MedSpeed

Prepped for tomorrow

By thinking creatively, MultiCare’s team will be able to quickly respond during future crises.

Ramping up infection prevention, disinfection

Organization: Nanosonics
Nominator: Ken Shaw, President of Americas, Nanosonics

Challenge(s) faced:

1. Infection prevention within hospitals is more important than ever, and the proper reprocessing of reusable medical devices helps prevent the risk of cross-contamination.  This includes ultrasound probes. Ultrasound is being relied upon heavily in the management and monitoring of COVID-19 patients, as well as being used in almost every healthcare department. Many hospitals have experienced the extra challenge of having dedicated equipment being used in isolation wards, requiring extra resources. Hospitals also have limited capital budgets to purchase all of the equipment needed to address the pandemic on top of everyday care.
2. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-services, product training and education had been conducted on site, providing hands-on instruction. With hospital access restrictions in place, alternative training solutions needed to be provided so that hospital staff can be properly trained on medical equipment and best reprocessing practices.

Solution(s) derived

1. Nanosonics provided hospitals the ability to quickly ramp their high-level disinfection efforts with a trophon2 loaner program. This program enabled front line and SPD departments to obtain trophons without incurring any capital budget expense. trophons were provided for three months at no cost, after which they could decide to rent, buy or return them. The only costs for healthcare providers were the related consumables and accessories they used. This program enabled facilities across the globe to help mitigate the risk of ultrasound probe cross-contamination.
• Examples Include:
• A major hospital system in Alberta, Canada, utilized the loaner program to install trophon2 in their clinics and MDRD (Medical Device Reprocessing Department) to address the additional needs presented by COVID-19.
• The largest teaching hospital on the Northside of Dublin City, Ireland, installed trophon2 to prepare for patients admitted with complications of COVID-19 infections. Currently, it is caring for the highest number of patients infected with COVID-19 in Ireland.
• A women’s healthcare provider in France stepped up their infection prevention efforts by utilizing the loaner program. By adding trophon2 to automatically HLD all ultrasound probes, they not only streamlined their workflow, but the added infection prevention measure is reassuring to their patients and staff.
2. At Nanosonics we believe in education and training. Proper reprocessing of ultrasound probes per federal guidelines helps protect patients from the risk of cross-contamination. Consequently, ensuring that healthcare providers are properly trained on using trophon and how high-level disinfection can help with infection prevention efforts is a core business goal. Since we were unable to conduct on-site training and education, we moved virtual, hosting more than 80 virtual training sessions to educate more than 700 trophon users and industry professionals in the last couple of months and the count continues to grow.

Challenge(s) faced

We continue to work diligently with our partners to help manage this global emergency through preventive measures and to facilitate the demands of our industry during this challenging time.

Solution(s) derived

The database will be available to subscribers and non-subscribers for the foreseeable future and is only one of the five databases oneSource offers. The other databases for surgical instruments and equipment, Biomedical, Tissue & Implants, Dental and Facilities Maintenance are available through subscriptions. This free e-library is constantly updated and supports those on the frontlines to get the information they need to manage any potential growth of the virus from equipment and protective gear as quickly as possible.

We recognized the severity and struggle our world was facing early on and felt it was our responsibility to arm those on the frontlines of this medical crisis with ways to effectively execute their duties in the safest way possible. As we continue to use our platform’s key benefits to address the concerns and needs of our industry, building a database that provides biomedical and sterile processing professionals with the materials necessary to do so was a top priority to our team.

Influential, instrumental leaders

The specifics of involvement included the oneSource Engineering Team, led by Ian Fisher, Director of Engineering; Heather Thomas, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President; and Lindsay Frkovich-Nelson, Director of Sales & Marketing, along with their marketing agency Hill Aevium. The database features had to be thought through first and then a sweep of all IFU and service manuals related to COVID-19 equipment and reusable gowns was performed and loaded into the new database. Getting the word out was as important as building the database. A marketing plan was developed and deployed that included public relations, direct and e-mail marketing, advertising, direct sales, social networking and website announcements.

Prepped for tomorrow

This database will live on our site ongoing in order to help those practitioners that continue to fight this pandemic on a daily basis and to keep the virus at bay. This database and entire experience has also helped lay the groundwork for other databases that we need to build out and how to prepare for any other pandemics, epidemics or disasters.

As providers begin to reopen for elective surgeries, oneSource realizes COVID-19 will be part of the duality that facilities will be facing for the foreseeable future. The pre-planning and preparedness will be ongoing and the safety of our healthcare workers and patients will continue to be paramount.

Lastly, oneSource also launched their Speakers Bureau (https://www.onesourcedocs.com/speakers-bureau/) during the pandemic as we saw that sterile processing departments wanted to keep themselves sharp during the pandemic, be reminded of best practices and, as a bonus, earn CE credits. Pioneered in collaboration with David Jagrosse, oneSource quickly moved from arranging speakers in person to virtual educational opportunities running weekly webinars on a variety of topics that included a .5 IAHCSMM CE credit. Experts involved with the Speakers Bureau include Damien Berg, Sharon Greene-Golden, David Jagrosse and many others from the industry. Complete bios and an overview of the speaker’s bureau can be found online, and the entire six-week webinar series is available online (https://www.onesourcedocs.com/knowledge-center/) through 2020. Webinars can be viewed and, once completed, CE credits are available by filling out the designated form.

Feeding the front-line virus fighters

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

A “Meals for Heroes” campaign raised $76,000 and served 16,000 meals to front-line healthcare workers fighting coronavirus.

Launching a web-based crisis inventory management program

Organization: UPMC
Nominator: Jessica Daley, PharmD, Vice President, HC Pharmacy & Supply Chain Commercial Services; Katie St. Onge, Executive Director, Premier

Challenge(s) faced

• Monitory daily inventory health of both drugs and personal protective equipment
• Model longitudinal supply trending
• Respond quickly and accurately to a detailed, NDC-level inventory request from the state of Pennsylvania

Solution(s) derived

• Single-sign-on capabilities for enhanced security
• Mobile-enabled user interface for use in hospitals and inventory storage rooms without having to use a computer browser.
• Configurable reminder notifications, drug and PPE lists
• Integrated NDCs and drug database information
• Business Insights powered data modeling, trending, and visualizations
• Exportable data and reporting for sharing with government agencies
• Influential, instrumental leaders

Distributing ideas, information to fortify virus offensive

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Vizient member executive leaders were utilized to provide guidance weekly as to the evolving needs. Cross-functional teams throughout Vizient worked together to provide answers to questions and provide solutions to meet the critical needs of members during the pandemic. The current work plan was postponed, and all resources shifted to support COVID-19 and how Vizient could support the members’ clinical and supply needs. In addition to documenting emerging practices, we hosted weekly member webinars to share their experience and to poll members on current patient volume and their supply utilization and clinical practices. This has, like no other time before, been an “all hands-on deck” approach.

Prepped for tomorrow

Moving forward the 2020 plan includes topics like reviving the revenue engine, ramping up elective surgery and supply resilience to help members to re-open services and prepare for the expectation of another surge later in the year. Utilizing what everyone has learned and will continue to learn will allow Vizient the opportunity to help members on topics that are critical to the environment in which we find ourselves today.

Adding agility to sourcing acrobatics

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

While Vizient initially responded to this crisis by standing up a “war room” concept and a disaster response mailbox, we quickly realized the need for cross-functional work across multiple business units. While the medical/surgical team was the first impacted, we quickly determined that lab, pharmacy and capital would all play critical sourcing roles. Additionally, we sought support from other teams to assist with daily engagements ranging from internal and external communication to building databases and input repositories for communication such as emails and product shortage reports. Within a couple of weeks, the War Room team had grown to over 60 people working across 14 different teams to aid and assist our members and field teammates. In addition, when secondary market suppliers began to petition our member hospitals with products of questionable provenance, Vizient’s quality assurance/regulatory affairs team assembled to vet the manufacturers. To date, this team has handled more than 1,500 submissions.

Prepped for tomorrow

This nationwide pandemic has challenged our providers and suppliers like no other time. It’s challenged us all to think differently and boldly to serve our members. Whether it be new conservation efforts, unique supply partners, or non-traditional logistical models — all of these concepts will be evaluated as we prepare for an unknown recovery timeline and future related events. Vizient is uniquely situated in a triad with the provider and supplier. We will build on this unique relationship to help all of our partners in this journey. Going forward, a resilient, transparent and diverse supply chain is necessary to everyone’s joint success.

Keeping track of essential medications

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

The Vizient COVID-19 pharmacy task force and our supplier partners who manufacturer these essential 200 medications collaborated in this process.

Prepped for tomorrow

This solution gives us increased transparency that allows us to understand and react better to potential supply chain disruptions. Additionally, the database of information will be useful as additional interruptions occur whether that be a COVID-19 resurgence or another disaster that impacts countries (including the U.S.) that manufacturer pharmaceuticals.

Unclogging the PPE pipeline

Organization: INTEGRIS Health
Nominator: Micah Parker, Vice President, Supply Chain, INTEGRIS Health

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Other PPE items were scarce. Hospitals required face shields, face masks and N95 covers. We quickly realized that these were either not available or had huge lead times. Healthcare organization volunteers offered to help make these items if we could supply the materials, so we sought the services of a large craft store that had been shut down. The agreement allowed the company to keep some employees working. They provided vinyl, foam, contact tape, fabric and elastic to produce the required protective gear. We also acquired surgical wrap from ORs among other sources. Efforts have expanded into making bouffant hair covers and continue as of late May, allowing every caregiver in the organization to receive a face shield. Volunteers have made 19,920 face shields to date.

Isolation gowns were another product in short supply. We found a local business that makes boat covers and boat seat covers and was on the verge of shutting down. Instead, after contracting with Vizient, they turned their manufacturing line around to provide over 20,000 isolation gowns keeping their staff employed.

Supplying enough disposable face masks so that every patient and visitor could wear one, along with non-clinical caregivers, proved to be another challenge, so we looked at washable options. This led us to a company that typically manufactures sewing lines for backpacks, shirts, etc., and after a handful of prototype reviews, the company started manufacturing washable cloth masks for the organization, providing around 20,000 masks a week. This effort has made a very significant impact in protecting the caregivers, patients and visitors.

The obvious big challenge has been the N95 mask. Once regulatory authorities allowed the use of non-medical grade masks, INTEGRIS went to the community to set up donation sites at every facility and the community responded with vigor. The number of donated masks was overwhelming and essential in the success of keeping caregivers safe.

Influential, instrumental leaders

From the onset of the crisis, the entire supply chain team worked around the clock, every day of the week to find creative ways to find and deliver PPE. Interdepartmental relationships strengthened through it all as we relied on each other while working in ways we never imagined. The community was instrumental. This included the volunteers, businesses struggling to stay afloat and even booming businesses looking to expand or simply lend a hand. Hands down, the community coming together is the saving grace here; they were instrumental in flattening this hospital’s curve and keeping our caregivers safe.

Prepped for tomorrow

A resilient supply chain requires the ability to pivot quickly to nontraditional sources to ensure seamless delivery of life-saving equipment. The pandemic has challenged us to think outside the box and serves as a warning never to get too comfortable. A few broken links in the supply chain make a tremendous impact. The crisis has taught us the importance of human and supply resiliency, a key to future success. Vizient continues to call for transparency along the entire length of the chain, so we can know how to adjust ahead of time when the next crisis comes. How we adjust will be key. We now know how important community and non-health care businesses are to help us stay nimble and to respond to supply chain disruption.

Statewide partnerships link provider, supplier efforts

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

We worked with the State of Vermont, the Vermont National Guard and companies like Medique USA, Trans-Border Global Freight Systems, STERIS, Medline and others to re-establish supply lines and secure the supplies needed by our frontline workers.

Prepped for tomorrow

Our experience responding to UVM Health Network’s supply chain needs during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of leveraging our internal resources and the skills of all of our staff. Additionally, by partnering with others, we were able to divide and conquer the ever-growing list of tasks. These partnerships we established will continue as we move beyond the pandemic.

Shields raised to combat COVID-19

Organization: Summit Medical
Nominator: Kevin McIntosh, President, Summit Medical

Challenge(s) faced

Solution(s) derived

Influential, instrumental leaders

Kyal Rector, RN, Senior Strategic Sourcing Agent – Value Analysis;  Katherine Dorsey, RN, NEA-BC, Nursing Director; and Sara Hubbard, LSSBB, SHRM-SCP, CPT, Senior Consultant, Operational Performance Improvement; developed and led the project. Rick Tresmond, Vice President, Supply Chain, Baptist Health, was the executive champion.

Prepped for tomorrow

“During an ongoing crisis like the one we are facing now, our health system is applying innovative ideas that are shown to be effective,” said David Rice, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, Baptist Health. “The use of Xenex robots to disinfect our masks is just one of the ways we are rethinking how we do things so that we can benefit our patients and team members alike.”

Lending a needed hand to PPE production

Organization: hand2mind
Nominators: Rick Woldenberg, Chairman and CEO, hand2mind; Amazon Business
 
Challenge(s) faced

At hand2mind, we have been leaders in hands-on learning materials since 1965. When the COVID-19 crisis erupted, we wanted to be part of the solution. We realized we had the skills and resources to make a difference, and quickly pivoted to manufacture crucial PPE for hospitals and other first responders. While we were responding to events as they happened, our business was changing by the minute. Shelter-in-place orders caused many of our customers to close and orders to slow markedly. Creating a new product range on the fly was very challenging, especially given we were suddenly all working from home. We had to build an effective new supply chain despite being located half a globe away and dealing with the impairment of the Chinese manufacturing base from COVID-19.

Solution(s) derived

 We acted quickly and formed a small team to focus on making urgently needed PPE. We also worked hard to find hospitals that needed help, establish trusted relationships and rapidly build products to meet their most critical, unmet needs. We found ways around obstacles and were able to start shipping product immediately. It was a pandemic; there was no time to lose.

Influential, instrumental leaders

 It takes a huge team effort to completely disrupt your operations and turn new products around in days or weeks. We pulled from all parts of the company to make this effort work: Supply chain management, sales, finance, product development, quality control. We were excited to partner with Amazon Business to bring our newly manufactured PPE to a much wider audience through COVID-19 Supplies. Through our long working relationship with Amazon Business on school products, the company knows us well and was ready to expand into new categories with us during this critical time. 

Prepped for tomorrow

 We’re a mission-driven education company, and we work hard to make the world a better place as our business strategy. We are proud to have built strong relationships with hospitals that were facing a crisis and required support. We are still working to be helpful as the COVID challenge morphs and evolves. We have much left to accomplish and intend to find new ways to add value to Amazon Business and its customers as demand for product range broadens.

Helping healthcare workers breathe easier

Organization: Lincoln Electric
Nominators: Chase Rutti, Product Manager, Personal Protective Equipment, Lincoln Electric; Amazon Business

Challenge(s) faced

The outbreak of COVID-19 brought about a rapid increase in the demand for Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) in healthcare. As a leading global manufacturer of NIOSH-approved PAPRs, Lincoln Electric had to work quickly but effectively to meet that urgent demand. We encountered two challenges along the way, the main one being a shortage of certain components needed to build our Viking 3250D FGS Powered Air Purifying Respirator, which we assemble at our global headquarters in Cleveland. The second challenge we faced was the need to increase our daily production capacity by over 100 percent.

 Solution(s) derived

 We first focused on our component shortages as we worked with our international manufacturing locations to reduce component manufacturing lead time by 75 percent. Then we worked with Amazon to solve our transportation challenge. Amazon Global Logistics offered space for 42 pallets of components on one of their aircrafts free of charge and coordinated the arrival airport to be as geographically close to Cleveland as possible to save valuable time. Concurrently, our manufacturing team increased the size of the PAPR production site, trained additional employees on the manufacturing and assembly processes and scheduled three daily shifts to meet the increased demand.

 Influential, instrumental leaders

 This was an excellent example of cross-functional coordination and execution between various stakeholders at Amazon Business and Lincoln Electric – from logistics, to product management, to manufacturing. 

Prepped for tomorrow

 In the short term this partnership allowed us to bridge the initial component shortage and increase daily production to manufacture and deliver essential personal protective equipment to those in need. Now, four months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we have worked to increase our component manufacturing and inventory levels to meet daily demand.

Moving PPE to the proper places

Organization: PlastCare USA
Nominators: Jason Javaherian, Owner, PlastCare USA; Amazon Business

 Challenge(s) faced

 As a strong, trusted medical products brand based out of Los Angeles, PlastCare USA was approached by customers from around the world to meet their PPE needs during COVID-19. The question was, were they vetted customers? I knew with Amazon Business that they would be, with many of them on the frontlines, versus brokers that popped up to take advantage of the PPE shortages sparked by the pandemic. Amazon Business serving as my distributor gave me a sense of confidence in the transactions we were conducting and a level of trust that I do not have with other distributors.

Influential, instrumental leaders

 The Amazon Business team was instrumental in this process of delivering PPE. My contact was with me every step of the way to help bring the right buyers in need of my products. The constant dialogue and communication was essential in making these large transactions happen online in a world that prohibited in-person transactions for safety reasons.

Prepped for tomorrow

Amazon Business put the health of its customers and associates first, just like we at PlastCare USA do. Their COVID-19 Supplies store was the first of its kind by giving businesses like mine access to vetted PPE buyers from hospitals, universities, and companies around the world. The added benefit is that Amazon Business did not charge us any seller fees in this time of need and allowed transactions to occur at scale with 100 percent confidence. I love Amazon as a consumer, and even more as a business owner. I could not have asked for a better partner.