Healthcare Supplier Diversity Symposium 

Gregory B. Fairchild, Executive Director of the Tayloe Murphy Center and Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

Millie Maddocks, CEO of Chicago-based Mac Medical Supply Company Inc. and Sabrina Smith, Manager, MediChoice Marketing for Owens & Minor, host a panel discussion at the Symposium

A shared commitment to opening doors, creating value, and increasing market-share for diversity companies in the healthcare supply chain, drew nearly 300 individuals to Owens & Minor’s 6th Annual Healthcare Supplier Diversity Symposium, held in Richmond, Virginia, over two days in September. Representatives from hospitals, group purchasing organizations, distributors, suppliers and dozens of businesses owned by women, minorities and veterans, all gathered to network, brainstorm and learn about ways to create value through diversity in the healthcare supply chain. In fact, the theme of this year’s symposium, “From Inclusion to Partnership: Delivering Value through Supplier Diversity,” focused specifically on ways to improve utilization of diverse suppliers in the healthcare supply chain.

While minority-, veteran-, and women-owned firms are making headway in serving the needs of the healthcare market in the United States, opportunity remains strong for these firms to gain a larger segment of the healthcare sector. Armed with statistics from the last census, Gregory B. Fairchild, Executive Director of the Tayloe Murphy Center and Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, demonstrated to the audience that the number of companies headed by women and minorities are outpacing the growth in more traditional businesses. He also pointed out that the healthcare sector has continued to add jobs throughout a challenging economic environment in the past several years.

With changing demographics in the U.S. and an evolving landscape of business ownership, the healthcare industry offers diversity companies fertile ground for growth in coming decades. Yet, for these often-smaller companies, the challenges remain unchanged: how to open doors to big business, how to gain scale, how to solidify a market position, and how to compete in a tightening financial environment.

“We recognize the challenges these diversity companies face,” said Angela Wilkes, Owens & Minor’s Director of Supplier Diversity. “Consequently, this year’s Symposium was focused on enabling minority-, veteran- and women-owned businesses to maximize engagement with larger organizations, tap into large-scale opportunities, and help them continue to develop the necessary core competencies in order to compete effectively in the marketplace.”

Co-sponsored by the Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council (VMSDC), the Healthcare Supplier Diversity Alliance (HSDA), and the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE), the Symposium has grown over its six-year history from an initial meeting of just 50 individuals to its now robust size. Participants this year traveled from around the nation, and from as far away as California. Among the attendees were manufacturers, consultants, educators, financial experts, and healthcare provider executives.

One panel discussion featured hospital executives, who talked about how diversity companies can tap the opportunities in large organizations; and, another panel focused on three women-led healthcare organizations that are driving real innovation in healthcare. Panel discussions ranged from: driving growth through acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures; accessing Federal contracts; innovation from the GPO perspective; and energizing entrepreneurial power.

“Every year, we leave the Symposium with renewed confidence and optimism about the opportunities for diversity businesses in healthcare,” said Wilkes. “We hope the participants will leverage what they learned at the Symposium, and will return next year with even greater enthusiasm.”

Source: Owens & Minor; by Truitt Allcott, September 2011