HIRC’s New Resiliency Badge is Adopted by Healthcare Suppliers

The Healthcare Industry Resilience Collaborative (HIRC) announced a rise in support among healthcare providers in adopting the HIRC Resiliency Badge. This new initiative is now available for healthcare suppliers looking to ease their concerns related to supply chain disruptions and foster trust with new customers. 
 
AdventHealth, BJC HealthCare, Corewell Health, Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit, Mayo Clinic, Northwestern Medicine, Stanford Health Care, Vizient, and others—have signed on as members of HIRC. These companies have pledged to prioritize HIRC’s standard for resiliency in their RFP processes and sourcing material as well as transparency.
 
The Resiliency Badge offers providers added efficiency by not having to investigate and independently gather resiliency data. 
 
Mayo Clinic CSCO, Jim Francis said, “We believe the resiliency badge will foster meaningful discussion for joint improvement in the end-to-end supply chain. The resiliency badge will play an important and ongoing role in our strategic sourcing criteria for critical products. We will also continue to incorporate the resiliency badge’s expectations and standards in business reviews and performance expectations.” 
 
“Prior to this initiative, the healthcare industry has lacked a transparent and credible way to identify high-reliability suppliers, which has meant no commercial consideration is given to resilience today,” said Bill Selles, SVP of Supply Chain at Corewell Health. “Every day healthcare providers are forced to use substitute products on little notice, each time increasing the risk of adverse events. We need to reward highly reliable suppliers with greater market share.”
 
With the Resiliency Badge, HIRC aims to make resiliency a winning strategy for suppliers in healthcare. Suppliers that achieve the badge will establish themselves as reliable and valued partners, enabling efficiency by reducing one-off data requests.  

A robust scoring rubric is used to evaluate and enhance supply chain resiliency. HIRC analyses key performance indicators, policies, and procedures, and conducts interviews, and survey responses. The badge program aims to unify the industry with a common and trusted definition of resiliency. 
 
“We are firm believers that the commitment to resiliency goes beyond just planning for the next pandemic,” said Geoff Gates, Senior Director, Procurement and Technology at Cleveland Clinic. “Suppliers that have shown commitment to the resiliency badge are the type of partner we want to have a relationship with. The badge elevates resiliency in sourcing decisions.” 
 
“The badging program helps suppliers and providers alike by proving resiliency in an efficient way for both sides,” said Katie Dean, Chair of HIRC and Business Operations and Transformation Leader at Stanford Health Care. “As a provider, it helps me understand that a supplier has a resilient product line, as assessed by a third-party assessor. This allows me to make informed business decisions. Suppliers will have the ability to prove they are resilient and only have to answer one set of questions.”
 
“The HIRC Resiliency Badge represents tremendous progress, with providers and suppliers coming together and defining the core criteria that translate to a resilient supply channel,” said Eric Morrison, System VP of Supply Chain at CommonSpirit Health. “The intent of this program is to reward and celebrate those suppliers that meet these core criteria. Without this program, it’s likely that standards would continue to be disconnected, and providers would approach contract negotiations as we have in the past. This is a critical step forward for our industry.”
 
“As a leading healthcare manufacturer and distributor, Medline has always prioritized building a resilient supply chain. When HIRC was formed, we saw the opportunity to collaborate with industry partners and join forces in addressing the need to create more supply chain transparency and resiliency for all of healthcare,” said Medline Vice President of Supply Chain Optimization, Peter Saviola. “Today, we are proud to be part of the HIRC Resiliency Badge Program and remain committed to investing in distribution, manufacturing, and technology to further strengthen the healthcare supply chain.”
 
BJC HealthCare’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, Tom Harvieux plans to operationalize the badge by incorporating the standard into contractual language, performance expectations, and business review. The company also plans to include the badge in internal stakeholder engagement and supplier decision-making.