Meridian hospital streamlines supply chain with new service center

Planning for a new facility housing supplies began about nine years ago. Construction began just over two years ago. Completion came last week.

On July 23, St. Luke’s celebrated the opening of its new Consolidated Services Center in Meridian, housing medical and non-medical supplies for the health system.

The facility is the size of six football fields, the health organization stated, or more than 300,000 square feet. It has 60,000 square feet dedicated to pharmacy services, which also includes a sterile medical compounding room. Twenty-eight robots operate along with staff members to fulfill distribution services.

St. Luke’s stated that in the past it has relied on third-party companies to oversee distribution, supply, storage and procurement. The new facility brings those services in-house and will give the organization better inventory oversight, improved demand planning and forecasting, streamlined ordering and fulfillment, better logistics, greater cost savings and more benefits.

“Today, the center is preparing and distributing medical and non-medical supplies and medications daily to most of St. Luke’s eight medical centers, more than 730 clinics and many other support facilities in south central and southwestern Idaho,” said Adrian Wengert, vice president of supply chain and procurement for the system, and an opening ceremony last week. “The CSC will not only enhance how we manage our supply chain but also ensure we’re better prepared for the unexpected.”

Though planning for the facility has been in the works since 2016, St. Luke’s pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in supply chain functions.

“Many health systems are just now realizing the strategic importance of a consolidated service center,” Wengert said. “We’re fortunate that St. Luke’s was already planning for this before the pandemic. Thoughtful planning and extensive research, which included visits and tours to CSCs throughout the country, went into the facility we see in operation today, and one that will serve our communities well into the future.”

Because of the research done, St. Luke’s stated that about 75 health care systems throughout the U.S. already use a CSC because of the benefits. Among those benefits are the enhanced care provided through the dedicated pharmacy portion of the facility.

“These enhancements will not only improve our service delivery but also reinforce our commitment to providing high-quality care,” said Kelley Curtis, St. Luke’s chief pharmacy officer. “Through the sterile medication compounding center, we will be centralizing intravenous medication compounding for all of our hospitals, and we have been able to integrate a new program that offers home infusion services to patients beyond our hospital infusion centers.”