April 22, 2026 – In healthcare, each division performs a crucial position, however few contact the entrance strains of affected person care as immediately as the provision chain. For Katie Sauber, a seasoned provide chain chief at MultiCare, the important thing to success is straightforward: collaboration and a service-oriented mindset.

“Collaboration is certainly one of our core values,” says Sauber. “We make sure that we can be found to physicians and stakeholders: we meet often, maintain conferences the place they’ll ask questions and reply after they contact us. Our objectives should be aligned with theirs, as a result of we’re a service division. The whole lot we do should help the supply of care.”

Sauber emphasizes that her workforce’s work isn’t just about contracts and prices, however about having a significant affect on affected person care. Negotiating decrease charges, bettering the standard of service, or bettering contract particulars all affect the care sufferers obtain. “What motivates me is seeing sufferers’ tales and realizing that our methods are immediately supporting them,” she explains.

Being half of a big, community-oriented group like MultiCare provides one other layer of goal. “We’re an vital employer and patient-oriented group,” Sauber notes. “Each choice we make may also help folks entry care extra cheaply and successfully, which makes our work extremely significant.”

For provide chain leaders, the lesson is evident: sustaining an perspective of collaboration and repair orientation is important. When departments work collectively, affected person care advantages – and the whole healthcare system. For Sauber, this philosophy isn’t just a technique; it is the explanation she stays enthusiastic about her work day-after-day.

Learn extra within the newest concern of JHC.