Taking The Supply Chain Pulse

St. Onge
  • 4.7 (10)
  • Management

St. Onge’s Healthcare Hall of Famer and industry icon, Fred Crans, chats with leaders from all areas of healthcare to discuss the issues of today's- threats, challenges and emerging trends and technologies in a lighthearted and engaging manner.ENGINEERING A BETTER HEALTHCARE SYSTEM We provide comprehensive planning and design services to develop world-class facilities and highly effective support services operations. Our capabilities in hospital supply chain consulting include applied industrial engineering, lean methodologies, systems thinking, and operations research to enable improved patient care and staff satisfaction. We are proud to have worked with over 100 hospitals, including 18 of the top 22 in the US, utilizing diverse design strategies, post-construction implementation, and change management.

  1. 6d ago

    What If Logistics Is The Real Healthcare Breakthrough

    We step away from the daily hospital storeroom grind and zoom out to the bigger idea of supply chain design with Taylor Wilkerson from Design for Life. We talk about using design thinking to rebuild public health supply chains so more people get the medicines and care they need, even as budgets shrink. • Taylor’s career path from engineering to public sector supply chain work • Why public sector supply chains measure success in impact, not profit • How professional groups build real relationships and career options • Practical alternatives to shallow “networking” and why friendships matter • What design thinking and systems thinking mean in supply chain design • Common structural problems in national healthcare supply chains • Warehouse count, inventory flow, and procurement choices that cut waste • The patient impact of stockouts and the trust cost of failure • Partnerships Design for Life is seeking: funding, technology, volunteers Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you'll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones we might have missed. Got a topic you're fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? Fred would love to hear from you. Just reach out at fcrans@stonge.com. Send us Fan Mail

  2. Jul 1

    Healthcare Capital Spend Simplified

    We talk with HonorHealth Strategic Sourcing Program Director Matthew Mitchell about why healthcare capital is uniquely hard to manage and why demand for care creates real pricing pressure. We dig into practical ways to plan, fund, and measure major equipment purchases so capital dollars go further and technology actually gets used.  • Matthew’s path from government and healthcare to hospitality and back, and what it taught him about cost control  • Inelastic demand in healthcare, explained with simple examples  • Why capital management looks different across IDNs and why standards are still rare  • Moving from reactive buying to proactive capital planning after acquisitions and infrastructure strain  • The growing role of IT and cybersecurity in capital prioritization  • Mapping capital to a five to ten year strategic plan while vendors refresh models faster than depreciation  • Managing internal customers across finance, clinicians, biomed, IT, construction, and purchasing  • How we decide between buying, leasing, and placement deals for fast-changing technology  • Using dashboards and utilization lookbacks to validate ROI and adjust operations  • Why capital “savings” is often cost avoidance that funds more priorities  And don't forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you'll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones you might have missed.  Got a topic you're fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? Fred would love to hear from you. Just reach out at fcrans@stonge.com Send us Fan Mail

  3. Jun 18

    AI For Healthcare Supply Chain

    We talk with Eric O’Daffer about why healthcare supply chains need to invest more aggressively in AI platforms, indirect spend governance, and capital equipment planning. We share what’s working now, what still feels early, and what leadership teams must do to turn supply chain into a true enterprise value driver.  • Eric’s post-Gartner focus on advancing healthcare supply chain as his true north  • Doubling investment in supply chain technology, AI, and analytics to connect data and reduce labor  • Platform strategy vs best-in-class point solutions, aligning roadmaps to the health system AI strategy  • Where measurable ROI shows up now, including pricing accuracy, preference cards, and transaction discipline  • Indirect spend and purchased services as a major under-resourced opportunity, requiring governance and executive air cover  • Capital equipment as a 7% to 10% spend category, needing standardization, lifecycle planning, utilization management, and cybersecurity oversight  • Leadership and resourcing as the common requirement across AI, indirect spend, and capital ownership  And don't forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you'll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones you might have missed. Got a topic you're fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? Fred would love to hear from you. Just reach out at fcrans@stonge.com Send us Fan Mail

  4. Jun 4

    Kim Jones on Sterile Processing Improvements That Drive OR Efficiency

    Encore Episode: We talk with sterile processing expert Kim Jones about why central sterile is the hidden driver of operating room performance and patient safety. This conversation is still highly relevant as health systems continue to face OR efficiency and staffing challenges. how Kim transitioned from HR into sterile processing leadership and educationhow certification and education directly impact performance and team pridewhy small breakdowns in SPD drive major OR delays and disrupt surgical scheduleswhere OR, sterile processing, and supply chain fall out of sync and how communication gaps create ripple effectshow to build trust with surgeons through stronger partnerships and visible OR leadership supportwhat audits at leading health systems reveal, including outdated assumptions about SPD performancewhy Lean efforts break down when point-of-use cleaning and tray completeness are inconsistenthow traditional staffing models miss complexity and why volume alone is misleadingwhere robotics and automation can improve safety, reduce injuries, and increase throughputhow traveler pay gaps and post-pandemic dynamics are fueling ongoing retention challengeshow to confidently make the case to the C-suite using both data and real operational constraints Subscribe: Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you'll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones we might have missed. Got a topic you're fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? I would love to hear from you. Just reach out atfcrans@stonge.com.  Send us Fan Mail

  5. May 21

    Why “I’m Never Leaving” Means They’re Gone

    We sit down with Scott Becker of Becker’s Healthcare to talk about what his daily view of the industry reveals about closures, staffing gaps, and the real-world squeeze on access to care. We also dig into why great events and clear writing still matter, then hear how Scott approaches building businesses through momentum, setbacks, and scaling.  • rural and community hospital closures and the downstream impact on access  • how Becker’s Healthcare curates short-form healthcare business news for busy leaders  • why conferences work when they prioritize peers, learning, and networking  • the growing shortage of specialists across the country and what it means for patients  • healthcare costs, healthcare inflation, and the rise of tiered care including concierge medicine  • prevention as a priority but not a substitute for doctors and nurses  • Scott’s new book Building Great Businesses and the craft of writing in your own voice  Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you’ll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones you might have missed.  Got a topic you’re fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? Fred would love to hear from you. Just reach out at fcrans@stonge.com. Send us Fan Mail

  6. May 7

    How Non-Clinical Procurement Boosts Hospital Margins

    We talk with David Kirshner about why healthcare CFOs are facing extreme margin pressure and why supply chain has become a strategic tool for survival. We map out how to find savings beyond clinical supplies by using better data, tighter contracting, and real cross-department partnerships.  • health systems moving from thriving to barely surviving as margins compress  • why CFO sponsorship matters when expanding supply chain influence  • defining non-clinical and indirect procurement across IT, facilities, energy, marketing, corporate services, and legal  • using accounts payable and spend analytics to uncover vendor sprawl and contract gaps  • the “$1 saved equals $20 revenue” logic and why expense work wins fast  • raising expectations with vendors through competitive sourcing and respectful collaboration  • using a supply chain maturity model to move from good to great  • mentoring the next generation of data-driven supply chain leaders  Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you'll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones you might have missed.  Got a topic you're fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? Fred would love to hear from you. Just reach out at fcrans@stonge.com Send us Fan Mail

  7. Apr 23

    A Clinician’s Business Mindset Can Transform Hospital Supply Chains

    A lot of supply chain leaders can talk strategy. Far fewer can trace it back to what happens when a patient is on the table and a team cannot afford a single shortcut. That’s why this conversation with Joseph Carr, Vice President and Supply Chain Leader at Akron Children’s Hospital, lands differently. Joseph started his healthcare career as a registered nurse in the operating room, then carried that clinical urgency into healthcare supply chain, strategic sourcing, and hospital operations leadership. We walk through the career moves that shaped his toolkit: an MBA and finance background, early work helping build a clinically integrated supply chain model at Mayo Clinic, exposure to Lean and DMAIC problem-solving, and the reality of performance-managed systems where metrics drive accountability. Along the way, we get concrete lessons on change management using ADKAR, why data access changes everything, and how missteps like a poorly handled glove conversion reveal the real cost of ignoring clinician voice. Then we bring it home to pediatric healthcare. Joseph explains what makes children’s hospitals unique, from pediatric-specific procedures to the full patient and family experience, and why children’s hospitals can get squeezed on pricing due to GPO tier structures and smaller spend buckets. At Akron Children’s, he shares how a supportive culture and clinical collaboration helped launch the Commit for Kids sourcing strategy, expand category reviews at scale, invest in technology and ERP modernization, and use Lean projects to lock in best practices before bigger system shifts. If you care about healthcare supply chain transformation, pediatric hospital operations, and building a strategic supply chain that clinicians actually trust, listen through to the end. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with one question you want us to tackle next. Send us Fan Mail

  8. Apr 9

    How The Bellwether League Honors Healthcare Supply Chain Leaders

    We sit down with Rick Barlow to unpack why the Bellwether League Foundation exists and what it takes to honor healthcare supply chain leaders the right way. We trace the Hall of Fame’s origin story, the real world hurdles behind building a nonprofit, and why recognition can be the difference between losing talent and keeping it. • Bellwether League Foundation mission as a healthcare supply chain nonprofit  • Why the “bellwether” name ties to lighthouse leadership  • How a research project and a baseball Hall of Fame debate sparked the idea  • Early challenges launching the organization including legal setup, banking hurdles, and the 2008 crash  • Why healthcare supply chain leaders often stay unknown despite massive impact  • Historic and unexpected inductees including Clara Barton and early GPO roots  • How Bellwether Honorees, Future Famers, and the Dean S. Ammer award differ  • How the foundation is funded through corporate and individual support  • What BLFIR is and what happens at the annual induction event  • “Goes Back to School” campus outreach to grow healthcare supply chain talent  • SCMAT maturity assessment tool as an operations improvement path  • How to get involved by attending, nominating, volunteering, or sponsoring  • Why the nomination process is designed for credibility over reputation  And don't forget to hit that subscribe button and connect with us online so you'll never miss an episode and can catch up on all the ones you might have missed. Got a topic you're fired up about, or maybe you want to be a guest on the show? Fred would love to hear from you. Just reach out at fcrans@stonge.com. Send us Fan Mail

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Ratings & Reviews

4.7
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

St. Onge’s Healthcare Hall of Famer and industry icon, Fred Crans, chats with leaders from all areas of healthcare to discuss the issues of today's- threats, challenges and emerging trends and technologies in a lighthearted and engaging manner.ENGINEERING A BETTER HEALTHCARE SYSTEM We provide comprehensive planning and design services to develop world-class facilities and highly effective support services operations. Our capabilities in hospital supply chain consulting include applied industrial engineering, lean methodologies, systems thinking, and operations research to enable improved patient care and staff satisfaction. We are proud to have worked with over 100 hospitals, including 18 of the top 22 in the US, utilizing diverse design strategies, post-construction implementation, and change management.

Information

  • Creator
    St. Onge
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    84
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Taking The Supply Chain Pulse
  • Show Website
    Taking The Supply Chain Pulse