How Cleveland Clinic is utilizing provide chain information of conventional med/surg buying to rethink its foodservice operations.

November 2024 – The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Cleveland Clinic has skilled speedy progress over the previous twenty years. From 2020 so far, its dimension has practically doubled by acquisitions, particularly in Florida, says Laura Johns, Senior Director – Enterprise Meals & Retail.

A restructuring was so as. Cleveland Clinic's government crew launched into a multi-year journey to restructure the group into three foremost pillars: the institutes, that are medical service traces; the markets through which every of the person hospitals operates and the place the revenue and loss account is positioned; and the shared providers, that are chargeable for that degree of supply throughout all markets and establishments, whether or not that's IT, finance or one thing like meals providers.

“As usually as we introduced hospitals in, we didn't change a lot of what was there, so there have been no clear homeowners of a shared service,” Johns mentioned. “Everybody tried to make it work collectively, however we didn't have a choice maker and didn't know who the ultimate choice maker was on sure factors. The restructuring was actually concerning the capability to speed up decision-making, the flexibility to create accountability buildings and proceed to attain our targets, with readability on roles and duties throughout the group.”

Since July 2023, Johns has led the foodservice division of the provision chain and assist providers crew. It’s normally an outsourced mannequin. Cleveland Clinic has 4 vendor companions (three within the US and one within the UK) supporting the enterprise. “I’m chargeable for cooperation throughout the whole vary of actions,” says Johns. This consists of affected person care actions, know-how, and the acquisition or upkeep of capital and property throughout the enterprise (equivalent to investments in kitchen and retail providers).

Earlier than the restructuring, a blended mannequin existed the place suppliers might work immediately with any native hospital or by the shared service when it got here to meals providers contracts. Now the method is far more standardized. “We don't let individuals add or subtract locations,” Johns mentioned. “All of us come collectively. All of us agree on the monetary targets, all of us agree on the standard targets, the security targets, after which my function is to have the ability to maintain each events accountable.”

Johns' crew leverages the provision chain administration workplace for greatest practices and construction. The workplace additionally helps with some decentralized vendor companions. “They don't simply serve meals, though meals is an enormous a part of how we work with these suppliers,” Johns mentioned. “They’re additionally concerned in a number of different aspects, whether or not that's on the medical facet or direct and different shared providers. We use the provision chain provider administration workplace to get an entire image of what that provider portfolio is in order that we are able to maintain these suppliers accountable and use that in strategic conversations.”

Johns joined from the operations facet of the provision chain crew and in her new function did quite a lot of rounding and hands-on actions to higher perceive the nuances, actions, jargon and medical facet of foodservice. “Though it’s completely different, I used to be amazed at how a lot got here out of the provision chain, permitting me to rapidly perceive and decide up on sure facets of meals or simply see alternatives,” she mentioned. “On the finish of the day, it truly is a provide chain. There's a manufacturing piece within the center, and that's actually what we do. We herald merchandise, put together them and ship them to the affected person. So it’s all a comparable product stream.”

Johns and her crew have been exploring methods to borrow from the normal provide chain mannequin in how they deal with stock administration within the foodservice sector, equivalent to utilizing two bin know-how. “We're asking, 'How can meals providers use a few of those self same rules to assist handle stock or assist handle merchandising machines that tie into our cafe areas?'” she mentioned. “We’re re-evaluating these fashions to make them as cost-effective and structured as potential.”

Market forces

Whereas each sector of the U.S. healthcare system has felt the ache of workforce shortages, the meals sector has been hit tougher than most different sectors. “The labor scarcity may be very actual,” she says. “Most hospitals have issue getting the correct quantity of employees. And within the hospital atmosphere, there are authorized necessities for working which are very completely different than in case you go right into a McDonald's down the road or another entity.

Certainly, personnel are extraordinarily aggressive and tough to acquire. “In such a labor-intensive endeavor, it actually makes us take into consideration the right way to put the affected person facet first,” Johns mentioned. “If we're doing huge operations on the affected person and retail facet, how can we optimize and use the know-how to assist overcome staffing points? Some choices we’re exploring are cashierless checkouts, fee kiosks and robotics.”

The price of meals continues to rise, placing stress on the way in which suppliers handle the standard of their meals purchases. “By way of our vendor companions, we rely fairly closely on them and their GPOs to create the suitable type that may permit us to get the most effective costs. How will we be certain that we obtain this, as a result of prices have to be stored inside limits.”

The way forward for meals providers

Trying forward, Johns mentioned she and her crew are experimenting with the right way to use provide chain rules in ground stock (i.e. meals areas or meals saved in affected person areas). “These days we make quite a lot of bento bins or merchandise that may expire rapidly, so we’re taking a look at serving these kinds of merchandise straight from the kitchen,” she mentioned. “Can we put meals on an analogous management system as we already do with provides, and will materials administration assist us with that?”

Cleveland Clinic plans to check this idea at various outpatient areas that don’t use meals service administration corporations. “We're fairly excited concerning the alternatives there, the efficiencies and the upper degree of service we might present.”

In November, Cleveland Clinic will roll out a affected person ordering app. “It's an enormous alternative for sufferers to have the ability to instantly see what they’ll get from therapeutic diets,” Johns mentioned. “A lot of what’s on our common menu might not be obtainable to sufferers on therapeutic diets. Particularly in case you're on a number of therapeutic diets, that restriction can considerably influence what you’ll be able to order whenever you name to position your order or work with a menu specialist who involves your bedside. It's quite a lot of trial and error. We can give them direct entry to the meals decisions they need, and likewise permit relations or caregivers to order on their behalf whereas they’re in hospital.”

The availability chain crew can be exploring AI improvements in the way in which their information is analyzed, and robotics in numerous retail environments. “There are such a lot of robotics within the foodservice world, so we're beginning to play with the place that might slot in and provides us some profit, whether or not it's in retail meals supply or waste bin assortment and even on the manufacturing facet,” Johns mentioned.