Managing Change – IDN Summit 2016
November 1, 2016 By: Senior Management | Topics: Change Management, Healthcare
A need for industry-wide change management competencies to counter the ever-shifting demands in healthcare was a key focal point at the Fall IDN Summit held September 19-21 in Phoenix. This semi-annual event brings together over 200 suppliers, the major Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), and 80+ Healthcare Organizations (HCOs) to discuss emerging trends in the healthcare supply chain, showcase new and emerging technologies and product offerings, and offer opportunities for networking and relationship building.
Each event features several educational tracks that are pertinent to supply chain and leadership/change management, vendor showcases (for new products or services), a reverse expo and an array of speakers. This fall’s educational tracks included:
- Clinical Integration Track
- Collaboration Track
- Executive Development Track
- Pharmacy Track
- Purchased Services Track
- Supplier Strategies Track
- Idea Exchange
The first day of the event is always devoted to the educational tracks, which allows HCO members to receive insights and knowledge from their peers via several hour-long presentations. Although the presentations are ostensibly for HCO members only, suppliers also participate, resulting in a cooperative learning experience.
The need to develop proactive change management capabilities to respond to a rapidly evolving industry was a primary concern. After decades of a single, understandable delivery system in which leaders and managers generally “stuck to their own knitting” in the disciplines for which they were responsible, the Affordable Care Act and other impacts have placed extreme stress on the industry, requiring new and different skillsets from its leadership, as well as a collaborative approach to problem-solving. Nick Gaich, former supply chain leader at Stanford, led a session in which he identified ways entrepreneurial leaders can leverage opportunities in the emerging marketplace to survive and prosper.
In a similar vein, Ed Hisscock of Trinity Health moderated a session on forging provider-supplier relationships for the future of healthcare. Presenters included representatives from Ochsner, and the Advisory Board.
Day 1 sessions pointed to the fact that with an industry now moving through stages of change more rapidly than ever, there needs to be a shift from the transactional to the strategic in healthcare supply chain management.
Day 2 featured keynote speakers and a “reverse expo”—a venue in which the HCO attendees occupy the booths and make themselves available to suppliers. Speakers at the fall event included Mark King, CEO of Adidas Group North America (and a Sedlak client), Gary Langer, an ABC news pollster who spoke on both evolving healthcare issues and the 2016 election, and Kevin Sorbo, TV’s Hercules and a multiple stroke survivor.
Unlike the Association of Healthcare Resource and Materials Management (AHRMM), which draws membership from virtually every healthcare organization in the country and meets once a year at a mega-meeting, the IDN Summit is a group comprised of a small coterie of Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs)—the same core group for every meeting. This gives the event a feeling of intimacy and integration and allows those suppliers who attend to develop relationships with a core group of influential supply chain leaders across the country.
If there is any way we can support your healthcare supply chain or distribution optimization, please feel free to contact us by filling out the form below.
