Five Things We Learned at AHRMM24

Ideas and best practices were in the air at this year's Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) Annual Conference (AHRMM24), with discussions focusing on how to leverage advanced technology solutions to increase efficiency, reduce cost, uncover strategic insights, and overcome ongoing challenges in supply chain process optimization. Below are five key takeaways we learned from AHRMM24.

Cloud Solutions Support System Integration, but Roadblocks Remain

Healthcare supply chain processes in the cloud are no longer a vision, they have become a reality for many organizations.

The transition from on-premise to cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has enabled health systems and hospitals to seamlessly integrate their ERP and electronic health record (EHR) systems with advanced supply chain solutions for procurement, inventory management, and point of use (POU) item data capture. While many organizations shared cloud success stories during the conference, others voiced frustration with poor data quality and system limitations.

Increased Interest in AI, with Promise of Real Benefit

AHRMM24 featured multiple sessions on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize healthcare supply chain processes and decisions.

While generative AI (GenAI) has been hyped as a groundbreaking innovation over the past 18 months, AI usage in general is not new in the healthcare supply chain. Many supply chain solutions today feature intelligence and algorithms that process tremendous volumes of data to support process automation and the surfacing of actionable insights. Presenters and attendees shared ways they leverage AI today across various use cases, from automating orders and inventory replenishment to generating predictive analytics.

For supply chain teams wanting to pursue GenAI applications, experts recommend starting small and solving for something that will address a real problem and deliver tangible benefits. By building on these small successes, teams can strategically expand GenAI usage to gain the greatest value.

Data Standards Are Not Dead, and UDI Must Move Forward

It has been over a decade since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published its final rule to establish a system to adequately identify devices through distribution and use - commonly known as the FDA unique device identification (UDI) system rule.¹

While most stakeholders to the healthcare supply chain - manufacturers, distributors, providers - understand the value of standardizing medical device identification to facilitate recalls, document adverse events, and prevent potentially dangerous devices from being used in patient care, aligning all parties from a system and data perspective has proved to be a huge feat.

Collaboration is Critical, in All Aspects of the Healthcare Supply Chain

Many different organizations and individuals engage with the healthcare supply chain and their actions impact one another. Therefore, the message at AHRMM24 was clear - collaboration is critical to moving the field forward.

In many sessions, representatives from healthcare providers and supplier organizations, distributors, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), and technology solutions providers came together to discuss opportunities for advancement and the challenges holding them back.

Again, system interoperability and digital data sharing were central themes to collaborative efforts, whether automating manual processes or standardizing UDI. Supply chain professionals from health systems, hospitals, and medical/surgical supply and device companies voiced how they needed help. They need their technology partners to provide enabling solutions to allow for progress.

Change Management is Challenging but Necessary

It has often been said that healthcare is slow to change but given the progress reported at AHRMM24, this is not necessarily the case in all aspects of healthcare.

Healthcare supply chain stakeholders continue their efforts to reduce individuals from performing manual, error-prone, non-value-added tasks, and shift from tactical to strategic operations. Deployment of enabling technology continues to grow as well, but frustrations remain.

O&M Vice President of Logistics and Network Optimization Bryan Kilby shared the story of a health system transitioning to consolidation under the Owens & Minor model from a disparate approach to distribution, involving a third-party logistics (3PL) provider and two distributors.

While the success was evident, with mutual cost savings and gainsharing achieved, it was not a flip of a switch that happened overnight.

"We discussed implementation for six or more months prior to go-live," said Kilby. "Our mutual focus was always about continuity of care - ensuring there were no service disruptions throughout that process."

A significant aspect of change management was shifting management of the health system's dedicated integrated service center from the 3PL provider to Owens & Minor. Through ongoing communication with the service center's employees ahead of the transition, throughout the process, and beyond go-live, the health system and Owens & Minor teams achieved their goal of retaining as much of the existing warehouse workforce as possible - 94% of employees.