The Capstone Health Alliance held Capstone Forum 2022 Oct. 18-20, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For Caresfield, it was an opportunity to talk to Capstone members and get a feel for what is happening in the industry. We learned a lot during keynote presentations and received the Supplier Award during the closing event.
Backorders and Allocations Top-of-Mind
The supplier showcase had an epic theme: Supply Chain Superheroes. We spoke with many of these everyday heroes in our booth. While heroes prized our superhero badge holders and penguin plushies, we talked about how our disposable tourniquets, labels, ID bands and specimen collection products could help deliver better clinical outcomes.
During an interview with our blog shortly before the show, Capstone Chief Contracting Officer Robin Lincoln shared how cost and reliability affect members after the pandemic. “Cost remains a factor,” Lincoln said. “But we continue to hear from our members that a great cost doesn’t help them unless there is reliability for the product in hand.”
During Capstone Forum 2022 we learned backorders and allocations are still one of the biggest issues for the supply chain. Some feedback included:
- “The biggest challenge for me right now is backorders and allocations. It started off with PPE but now across the board it’s hit or miss.” – Lekela Collins, Woman’s Hospital
- “The disruptions are so hard now. At first it was all PPE, but now it’s something different every week. We did make some utilization changes because of supply shortages in Lab and Radiology and I’m hoping we can maintain those as our new standard so we can continue to be more efficient and save money” – Deborah Schmidt, Carle Health
- “Right now, we are managing our conversion into AscenDrive, so we need to be 90 percent compliant by December. Meeting our vendor partners here is the most important thing, getting familiar with the faces, getting the info to reinforce what we were thinking and evaluate some of the products.” – Lobel Lurie DNP, RN, NPD-BC, Cone Health
In a March 2022 interview, Capstone President and CEO Tim Bugg said change is a huge opportunity for the industry. “Healthcare’s always been several years behind manufacturing’s supply chains,” Bugg said. “We’re providing patient care, not building refrigerators, so it’s a little bit different. I think there are lessons we can learn around redundancy and resiliency, and I think you’ll see some of that come through.”
As a family-owned company, Caresfield is well-positioned to supply a reliable stock of consumable products. For Capstone members, this means we keep an adequate safety stock of disposable tourniquets in many colors, textures and packaging options. This helps meet clinician preferences with the perfect fit for different types of patients.
Caresfield Recognized with Supplier Award
The Forum concluded with dinner, awards and music at the Capstone Goes Country closing event. During the themed event Capstone presented several awards. Caresfield received the Supplier Award for the first time.
As a trusted vendor who works with several national GPOs, Caresfield provides a reliable supply of healthcare consumables. Our products include labels, patient identification bands, exam gloves and specimen collection products. Visit our website to learn more!
