As the Healthcare Group Purchasing Industry Initiative (HGPII) is set to release its 15th Annual Report, and looks back to HGPII Annual Forum held in September 2020, the organization continues to provide leadership, guidance, and promote best practices among group purchasing organizations serving some of the nation’s largest hospital systems and nursing home industry.

The Annual Forum provided an opportunity for HGPII members to share their experiences during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the release of the 15th Annual Report, HGPII showcases how its members continue to foster transparency in the group purchasing industry. This milestone edition of the Annual Report provides readers with an opportunity to learn how HGPII members held fast to the organization’s founding principles, and also highlights the evolution and transformation of group purchasing organizations across the country during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Readers will be left with a clear understanding of how HGPII members responded to the unanticipated and unprecedented increase in global demand which fostered supply shortages in March and April 2020. While the 15th Annual Report provides a look back at the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Group Purchasing Organizations continue to adhere to best practices, successfully navigate global supply chains, and ensure that members receive needed medical supplies.

2020 Forum Recap

Robert Rajalingam, the President of U.S. Sales at Cardinal Health, speaks to participants about the company’s response to the unprecedented challenges, limited supply, and surges in product demand that the company faced during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michelle Hood, the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of the American Hospital Association, delves into the transformation that the nation’s hospitals made to segregate and separate COVID-19 patients and keep employees safe.

Cathy Denning, the Group Senior Vice President at Vizient, looks back at the internal process to help members find product, identify alternative resources, and review thousands of requests for product.

Christine Arme, the Vice President of Health Care Systems at the 3M Health Care Business Group, discusses the company’s ability to scale relationships with health care distributors and allocate products throughout the health care system.