Healthcare Supply Chains Need More Than Visibility — They Need Orchestration

When healthcare supply chains break down, the consequences are measured in more than missed delivery windows or higher procurement costs. They can show up as delayed procedures, frustrated clinical teams, wasted inventory, and, most importantly, compromised patient care.

That urgency is at the center of a new Supply Chain Now conversation featuring Mark Holmes, Head of Global Supply Chain Market Strategy at InterSystems, and Michael LaRocca, Founder and CEO of Ready Computing. Together, they explore why healthcare organizations need a new level of supply chain intelligence—and how integrated data, automation, and AI can help hospitals move from reactive problem-solving to proactive orchestration.

Why Healthcare Supply Chain Disruption Is Different

In retail, a stockout may mean a customer chooses a different store. In healthcare, a missing item can mean a surgery is delayed or canceled. As Holmes puts it in the episode, not having the right product at the right time for the right procedure is a fundamentally different kind of failure—one that affects lives, outcomes, and hospital economics all at the same time.

The business impact is significant. Holmes notes that globally, procedure cancellations related to supply availability can average around 10%, with some regions experiencing even higher rates. A single canceled orthopedic surgery, he explains, can represent tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Multiply that across hundreds of procedures, and the financial case for change becomes clear. But the operational and human case is even stronger: every avoidable delay creates stress for patients, families, clinicians, and administrators.

The Hidden Cost of Disconnected Systems

At the heart of the challenge is fragmented data. Hospitals often rely on a patchwork of clinical, procurement, inventory, logistics, and financial systems that were never designed to operate as one. Add mergers and acquisitions, multiple facilities, varied suppliers, and department-specific workflows, and the complexity quickly compounds.

LaRocca describes the everyday burden this creates: manual processes, duplicate data entry, spreadsheet reconciliation, and the “swivel chair effect,” where staff move between systems to complete a single workflow. These inefficiencies increase the risk of error and take skilled clinical and operational staff away from higher-value work.

They also erode trust. When frontline teams are not confident supplies will be available when needed, they may over-order or hoard inventory—driving waste, expiration risk, and unnecessary cost.

From Visibility to Decision Intelligence

Visibility is a necessary first step, but it is not enough. Healthcare leaders need trusted, unified data that supports real-time decisions. Holmes calls this “data readiness”: the ability to bring clinical and supply chain data together so organizations can understand not only what inventory is available, but also what care is scheduled, what supplies are required, where disruptions may occur, and what actions should be taken next.

That is where InterSystems Supply Chain Orchestrator™ enters the discussion. Holmes describes it as a decision intelligence data platform designed to unify disparate data sources, harmonize information on demand, integrate business processes, and apply advanced AI and machine learning to deliver prescriptive insights. In practical terms, it helps organizations move beyond dashboards toward timely, actionable recommendations.

How Ready Computing is Applying the Technology

Ready Computing’s Channels360 application builds on that foundation. At its core, Channels360 is a case management platform that coordinates people, systems, and workflows around specific operational needs. In its supply chain edition, it helps manage the journey from order placement through fulfillment, giving teams end-to-end visibility into order status, shipment progress, supplier performance, and potential alternatives.

LaRocca explains that the solution embeds InterSystems technology at the data layer, supporting integration, standards-based interoperability, data transformation, APIs, and AI-enabled workflows. Over time, the platform can help organizations identify which manual steps can be automated, where bottlenecks recur, and how to make supply chain processes more consistent and resilient.

The AI use cases are especially compelling. LaRocca points to practical applications such as generating supply lists for upcoming procedures, supporting automated replenishment when par levels fall too low, and helping teams act before a disruption affects care. Holmes adds that prescriptive insights matter because healthcare supply chain decisions involve thousands of touchpoints—from working capital and transportation costs to patient scheduling and clinical requirements.

The Bigger Opportunity: Resilient Care Delivery

The episode makes clear that this is not simply a supply chain story. It is a healthcare transformation story. Better data and automation can improve patient experience, reduce waste, free staff from administrative burden, and help hospitals operate more effectively as businesses. That matters as health systems face rising demand, staffing pressure, cost scrutiny, and the expansion of care into rural and distributed settings.

As supply chains extend, disruption risk increases. But so does the opportunity to build systems that are more connected, intelligent, and responsive. With real-time visibility across clinical and supply chain operations, hospitals can uncover wasteful ordering, quantify labor spent chasing supplies, identify supplier or logistics bottlenecks, and make more informed decisions before problems reach the point of care.

Listen to the Full Conversation

For healthcare executives, supply chain leaders, CIOs, clinicians, and operations teams, this Supply Chain Now episode offers a timely look at what it takes to modernize one of healthcare’s most mission-critical functions. The message is clear: the future of healthcare supply chain management is not just about knowing what is happening. It is about orchestrating the right action, at the right time, to support better outcomes for patients and stronger performance for the organizations that serve them. Listen to the podcast.