UHC Honors Top Academic Medical Centers With 2014 Supply Chain Awards

CHICAGO, Oct. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- UHC announced the winners of the 2014 UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award, UHC Supplier Diversity Leadership Award, and UHC Sustainability Award at the UHC Annual Conference 2014 in Las Vegas.

2014 UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award

Honored for excellence in supply chain management, the UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award winners are:

• University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
• Denver Health (#1 Public Safety Net Hospital)
• The University of Vermont Medical Center (formerly Fletcher Allen Health Care)
• Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak
• University of Utah Health Care
• University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

"In our industry, the challenge of increasing quality while lowering costs grows more complex every day," said Jake Groenewold, UHC's senior vice president, Supply Chain. "As Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award recipients, these organizations consistently exhibit best practices for achieving those aims. Aligning clinical and supply chain staff, employing evidence-based evaluations, and improving distribution and utilization processes are all factors that contributed to their high performance, providing good examples of how other academic medical centers can elevate their supply chain performance."

To identify the top performers in supply chain management, UHC analyzed participating members' supply chain and operational data from the UHC Operational Data Base. Supply utilization overall; supply utilization in cardiology, surgical services, and inpatient medications; and operating margin were used to evaluate performance. The award winners excelled in five areas: physician alignment and stewardship, evidence-based evaluations, innovative supply chain approaches, focus on distribution and utilization processes, and long-term commitment to continuous improvement.

2014 UHC Supplier Diversity Leadership Award

University of Maryland Medical System received the 2014 UHC Supplier Diversity Leadership Award for the development and implementation of an outstanding supplier diversity program. The award is based on several criteria, including structure and strength of the organization's supplier diversity program; new programs or techniques that facilitated the growth of diverse businesses in 2013; utilization of diversity contracts from Novation, UHC's supply contracting company; community involvement and outreach to minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses; and senior leaders' involvement in supplier diversity development.

2014 UHC Sustainability Award

UHC recognized HealthPartners with the 2014 UHC Sustainability Award. The award honors a UHC member's commitment to sustainability as measured by the following criteria: a demonstrated, continuous commitment to a sustainability strategy; a quantifiable means of measuring and reporting progress toward and achievement of sustainability goals; and a demonstrated commitment to increasing awareness of and communicating about the sustainability program, both among staff/internal stakeholders and throughout the community.

About UHC

UHC is an alliance of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers, which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. Formed in 1984 and based in Chicago, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 117 academic medical center and 310 affiliated hospital members through its renowned programs and services in the areas of comparative data and analytics, performance improvement, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. For more information, visit uhc.edu.

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SOURCE UHC

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