UHC Honors Top Academic Medical Centers With 2013 Supply Chain Awards

CHICAGO, Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- UHC announced the winners of 2013 UHC Supply Chain Performance Excellence Awards, UHC Supplier Diversity Leadership Award, and UHC Sustainability Award at the UHC Annual Conference 2013 in Atlanta, Ga.  

2013 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
• Fletcher Allen Health Care
• Denver Health
• University of Mississippi Medical Center
• University of Utah Health Care
• Wishard-Eskenazi Health (#1 Public Safety Net Hospital)

"As Supply Chain Performance Excellence Award recipients, these organizations have demonstrated exceptional supply chain management," said Jake Groenewold, UHC's senior vice president, Supply Chain. "These outstanding academic medical centers have established and executed successful supply chain performance improvement programs, and we are pleased to honor these organizations for their accomplishments that provide new insights for all UHC members."

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 5 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.

2013 UHC Supplier Diversity Leadership Award
Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, Tex, received the 2013 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 2012; 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; and senior leaders' involvement in supplier diversity development.

2013 UHC Sustainability Award
UHC recognized UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, Calif, with the 2013 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 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. Formed in 1984 and based in Chicago, Ill, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 118 academic medical center and 299 affiliated hospital members through its renowned solutions in the areas of performance improvement, comparative data and analytics, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. UHC's membership includes the leading nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States. For more information, visit uhc.edu.

SOURCE UHC