UHC Honors Top Academic Medical Centers With 2012 Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award, Supplier Diversity Leadership Award, and Sustainability Award

CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- For the fifth consecutive year, UHC recognized academic medical center members for demonstrating excellence in supply chain management. Fletcher Allen Health Care, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, University of Colorado Hospital, Oregon Health & Science University, and Wake Forest Baptist Health were identified as the top performers. Denver Health was the top performer among participating public hospitals. The winners were presented with the 2012 Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award on September 13 at the UHC Annual Conference 2012 in Orlando, Fla. The UHC conference integrates the areas of quality, safety, cost reduction, and efficiency.

In determining the top-performing organizations for this award, UHC analyzed participating members' supply chain and operational data through 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 top performers excel in 5 areas:

• Physician alignment and stewardship
• Evidence-based evaluations
• Innovative supply chain approaches
• Focus on distribution and utilization processes 
• Long-term commitment to continuous improvement

"The award winners exemplify best practices in supply chain management, which is essential to meeting the current challenges of health care reform: cutting costs while delivering high-quality patient care," said Jake Groenewold, UHC's senior vice president, Supply Chain. "I'm pleased to honor these organizations and their significant accomplishments and to provide opportunities for our members to learn from each other and gain new insights for supply chain performance improvement."

The UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Collaborative began in 2007 to help UHC Supply Chain participants better understand and define supply chain performance and to provide them with actionable information for making measurable, sustainable improvements.

Supplier Diversity Leadership Award
UHC also recognized a member organization, the University of Chicago Medicine, with the 2012 Supplier Diversity Leadership Award for the development and implementation of an outstanding supplier diversity program.

The award is based on several criteria:

• Structure and strength of the organization's supplier diversity program
• New programs or techniques that facilitated the growth of diverse businesses in 2011
• Utilization of diversity contracts, especially from Novation, UHC's supply contracting company
• Use of Novation's supplier diversity suite of solutions
• Community involvement and outreach to minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses
• Senior leaders' involvement in supplier diversity development

Sustainability Award
UHC recognized University of Virginia Medical Center with the 2012 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
• Quantifiable means of measuring and reporting progress toward and achievement of sustainability goals
• A demonstrated commitment to increasing awareness of and communicating about the sustainability program to staff and 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. Based in Chicago, Ill, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 116 academic medical center and 276 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. Formed in 1984, UHC's membership includes a majority of the nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States. For more information, visit uhc.edu.

SOURCE UHC