Supply Chain Resiliency: Key Takeaways from Eric Henneke, Jesse Schafer at LogiMed 2025

At LogiMed 2025, Eric Henneke from Mayo Clinic and Jesse Schafer, Executive Director of the Healthcare Industry Resilience Collaborative (HIRC), delivered a compelling fireside chat on "How to Make Supply Chain Resiliency a Core Strategy at Your Organization." Drawing from events like Hurricane Maria and COVID-19, they explored building robust programs through collaboration, standards, and innovative badging. This session offered actionable insights for healthcare leaders aiming to balance agility, efficiency, and resilience amid ongoing disruptions.

Key Takeaways

1. Trusted Partnerships

Resiliency starts with flipping the script on distrust—prioritize smart prediction, prevention, and recovery via reliable relationships. Schafer stressed that these partnerships don't form accidentally but require investment in buffers, capacity, and end-to-end visibility. This approach counters black swan events, aligning with industry shifts toward total cost of ownership where high-resiliency products ultimately save more than low-resiliency ones.

2. Product Criticality Assessment

Avoid emotional "everything is critical" lists from clinicians by using data-driven algorithms. Mayo Clinic employs parameters like necessity for care, substitutability, and historical reliability within ERP systems to stratify products. This methodology enables targeted protection strategies, tying into broader trends of value analysis and risk stratification for efficient resource allocation in volatile supply chains.

3. HIRC Standards Development

HIRC, launched by Mayo Clinic and Corewell Health in 2019, fosters collaboration between providers and suppliers through six core standards like Business Continuity Maturity (BCM) and mapping/monitoring. These create efficiency, set expectations, and simplify resiliency paths. By focusing solely on resiliency—not contracting—HIRC accelerates innovation and shared standards for the entire industry.

4. Resiliency and Transparency Badges

HIRC's badges, including Transparency (geographic data preload) and Resiliency (300+ diagnostics via third-party assessment), differentiate suppliers. Early adopters like Cardinal, Medtronic, and J&J gain commercial edges in RFPs and Gartner scores. Suppliers benefit from customer-defined carrots that normalize measurement, while providers access on-demand risk insights—transforming proprietary data into mutual value.

5. Collaboration Over Silos

Audience testimonials from Ochsner Health and J&J underscored HIRC's organic growth through authentic, non-stressed engagement. Providers and suppliers align on standards, close assumption gaps, and adopt outside-in perspectives. This prepares organizations for turmoil by building common language and peer benchmarking during calm periods, echoing LogiMed themes of cross-functional unity.

Why It Matters

These insights resonate amid persistent disruptions like hurricanes, pandemics, and backorders, where poor visibility and siloed operations threaten patient care. By promoting HIRC's collaborative model, the session bridges provider demands for transparency with supplier capabilities, redefining resiliency as a shared differentiator. Leaders ignoring these strategies risk higher costs and lost trust, while adopters gain efficiency, RFP advantages, and stronger partnerships—vital for future-proofing healthcare supply chains in a complex global landscape.

Actionable Insights

• Assess product criticality: Implement ERP-based algorithms using care necessity, substitutability, and reliability to prioritize protections.
• Build trusted partnerships: Invest in visibility tools and multi-sourcing while enriching key supplier relationships for balanced resiliency.
• Adopt HIRC standards: Join for BCM, mapping, and scorecards to streamline vendor assessments and foster industry-wide efficiency.
• Pursue resiliency badges: Suppliers, preload data and complete third-party audits for commercial differentiation in RFPs.