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Northside is one of the most respected and fastest-growing health care organizations in the Southeast and is committed to balancing clinical excellence with compassionate care . The health system leads the US in newborn deliveries and is among the state ’ s top providers of cancer care , sports medicine , cardiovascular and surgical services .

“ Supply chains in most industries have faced varying degrees of disruption because of raw material and labor shortages , inflation , cyber threats , and geopolitical unrest among others ,” says Carl Waller , Northside Hospital ’ s System Vice President , Supply Chain Management . “ The pandemic both magnified and exacerbated those factors . In many cases , stock outs of critical products , delayed shipments , and substantial increases in the cost of supplies and capital have become the rule and not the exception . These pain points highlight the fragility of the supply chain and a recognition that there are operational blind spots that prevent optimal performance . This is especially true for healthcare given the direct impact of the pandemic on supply availability and cost of goods . Although Northside weathered the storm well , the pandemic experience was the catalyst for several initiatives geared towards minimizing the impact of disruption and improving performance . In other words , disrupting the disruption .

Closing the gap

“ Prior to the pandemic , Northside measured adjusted fill rates from its distributors against a KPI target . The adjusted fill rate ignores the impact of manufacturer back orders and reflects only the distributor ’ s fill rate performance , while raw fill rate is unadjusted .

Historically the difference between raw and adjusted fill rates was negligible . During the pandemic , however , back orders increased dramatically due primarily to raw material and labor shortages . As a result , the gap between adjusted and raw fill rate grew , which created a blind spot that limited Northside ’ s ability to react quickly to back order surprises . To close the gap , Northside partnered with its acute distribution partner to develop a robust process to reduce back orders by proactively identifying at risk products well ahead of projected stock-outs and developing a catalog of substitutes for those items . This meant performing deep dives into product specifications to find first , second , and sometimes a third substitute for at risk products since there was no guarantee

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