Tecsys Inc., an industry-leading supply chain management software company, is pleased to announce that University of Miami Health System (UHealth), South Florida’s only academic-based medical system, is implementing Tecsys’ Elite™ Healthcare platform to power its consolidated supply chain operations, the University Distribution Center (UDC). The newly launched UDC leverages Tecsys software to centralize logistics operations and enable data-driven analytics that support continuous improvement across the supply chain practice by the UHealth Supply Chain Services team.
UHealth Supply Chain Services was formed in 2019 as a dedicated supply chain department to support the health system’s broader objective to be a state-of-the-art academic medical center and improve care quality while reducing costs. This specialized team supports supply chain operations across UHealth Tower, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Desai Sethi Urology Institute, and more than 30-plus outpatient sites. In support of its mandate to build resiliency and efficiency into the health system’s supply chain, UHealth Supply Chain Services launched a distribution center that consolidates supply chain activities for the health system.
“As UHealth continues to expand and mature its strategic supply chain practice, we recognized the massive opportunity in streamlining supply chain operations through centralization,” says Keith Murphy, chief supply chain officer, UHealth and Miller School of Medicine. “We are now equipped to remain proactive and respond nimbly to supply and demand anomalies, confident that we know what we have on our shelves, and how we need to adjust to avoid supply disruptions to patient-facing clinical teams. Supply chain execution software that links up with our ERP gives us the tools to build a powerful roadmap for agility and resiliency, which is especially critical given recent global events.”
Like many healthcare organizations prior to the pandemic, UHealth had been operating a 100% low unit of measure (LUM)/just in time (JIT) supply chain operation. By limiting on-hand inventory, the widely adopted model delivers efficiency and cost savings while reducing waste. Recent global supply chain disruptions, however, have prompted a reconsideration of where and when that model is applied.
As a healthcare organization located in South Florida, UHealth has consistently monitored the need to have emergency stock on hand during hurricane season when storms can disrupt the flow of supplies from the distributor to the health system. The self-distribution center model empowers supply chain organizations to improve service levels, reduce operating costs and optimize the distribution of supplies across the network. Instead of replacing the LUM/JIT model, the UHealth team augmented it with self-distribution for a select group of critical items. To support self-distribution, centralization and standardization of supply chain processes, UHealth has constructed a 20,000 square foot warehouse to store these items.
“In alignment with the opening of the UDC, UHealth is implementing Tecsys’ Elite™ Healthcare platform, which will provide a holistic view into medical/surgical supply assets throughout the health system from initial receipt to use at the point of care. Through integration with the health system’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) and electronic health record (EHR) systems, the team will have access to real-time analytics for informed decision-making,” Murphy adds.
Designed to accommodate the specific requirements of the healthcare supply chain, Tecsys’ Elite™ Healthcare platform brings together inventory processes, tools, and technologies to enable standardization and waste control, operational excellence, and business intelligence. Its platform scales and adapts to organizational demand, better equipping users for volatility and disruption.
“The UHealth team is enhancing its visibility and access to data and strengthening its predictive analytics capabilities through the implementation of its UDC,” continues Murphy. “The team will be better equipped to remain proactive and respond nimbly to supply and demand anomalies, confident that they know what they have on our shelves, and how they need to adjust to avoid supply disruptions to patient-facing clinical teams.”
