“A Deeper Conversation”: How CIOs Are Leveraging Communication to Improve Vendor Relationships

The Covid-19 pandemic drove an enormous amount of change across healthcare. But it wasn’t just the rise of telemedicine and normalization of hybrid work models; Covid also has transformed the way leaders approach vendor management, according to Brad Reimer, CIO at Sanford Health.

Since 2020, “there has been a deeper conversation with our clinical and business partners on the true value of vendor relationships,” said Reimer during a panel discussion, which also featured Chuck Christian (VP of Technology/CTO, Franciscan Health) and Donna Roach (CIO, University of Utah Health). “There’s a drive to push out complexity and reduce your overall footprint.” With organizations feeling the ramifications of lost revenue, there’s also a renewed focus on leveraging vendor partnerships to the fullest extent in order to better serve their organizations.

Doing so, they noted, comes down to a simple premise: getting to know vendors inside and out — what is their strategic roadmap, how do they plan to carry it out, and how do health systems fit into the picture. It’s a conversation that needs to go far beyond PowerPoint presentations and statistics, Reiner noted.

At Sanford Health, “one of the things we’ve added to our definition of partner is, are they really invested in healthcare? Maybe they have an industry vertical that sells to healthcare, but are they really trying to understand what our current problems and opportunities are, and help us solve those problems?” Getting to that point is critical, which means leaders must be willing to “put pressure on vendors to make sure they really understand the nuances of healthcare.”

Partner selection

Of course, it’s not quite as simple as asking straight-forward whether they appreciate just how complex healthcare can be. But there are signs that can determine whether a partnership has long-term potential, according to the panelists.

• Enterprise versus niche. “I’m not looking for vendors; I have enough of those. I want partners,” said Christian. One differentiating factor? Vendors might try to sell solutions based on the needs of individual regions, rather than seeking to benefit the enterprise as a whole. “That’s when you need to have a broader conversation rather than taking a niche approach.” This is where having solid processes in place can make a big difference, he noted. “You have to be seen as a partner, and for local hospital leaders to know that if they bring something to you, you’re going to be honest about whether it will fit.”
• Keep digital top of mind. For a solution to be considered at Utah Health, “it has to fit our architectural design and direction,” said Donna, admitting that it wasn’t always a top priority. “In the past, we didn’t elevate that as much. Now we have to, because for a digital strategy to work, we have to have the design down and be able to pull apart the layers of the onion,” and tell a vendor if it’s not going to work.
• Patient at the center. If a vendor isn’t heavily invested in data integration, and doesn’t view it as a top priority, beware, said Reimer, who believes having a proper API structure in place to orchestrate the patient experience across the continuum is non-negotiable. “If a vendor doesn’t have a way of receiving patient input outside of their product cycle, they’re not going to lead you in the right direction,” he noted. Furthermore, if they aren’t willing to discuss how to keep the patient at the center of the conversation, they may not be ready for a true partnership. “If the bottom dollar is what drives all of their conversations with you and the activity within their organization, it changes the way we interact with them and how we think about them long-term.”

On the other hand, finding partners who are “truly dedicated to healthcare,” versus those who are focused on meeting quarterly numbers, can guide organizations down the right path, said Christian. “We have a tendency to look for those partners.”

Communication lines

Once organizations do find the right partners, it’s vital to build and sustain a mutually beneficial relationship. The key to that, as is the case in so many facets of leadership, is effective communication. To that end, the three panelists shared insights based on their own experiences on how to keep the lines open.

• Take the lead. A common mistake, according to Reimer, is letting vendors dictate the agenda during meetings. “That’s not who should be in the driver’s seat,” he said. At Sanford, “we’re trying to pull that accountability back in house. They obviously have to participate, but we need to drive it.”
• Multiple touchpoints. And it shouldn’t just be account managers from the vendor side; “multiple touchpoints” need to be involved in the conversation, he added. “We need to take a little bit more accountability on our side to make sure that we are managing that relationship to the best of its value opportunity.”
• Share roadmaps. Transparency is also a key component in a successful partnership, according to Roach, who has made it a point to share Utah’s digital roadmap with their top vendors — and expects them to do the same. “If you don’t understand what their plans are, you’re missing out,” she said.
• Schedule face time. Although it’s certainly possible to engage in these critical discussions by phone, Roach is a big proponent of in-person visits. By having her team onsite at vendor headquarters, “it helped open up that dialogue of, ‘here’s where we’re doing. How does your roadmap apply to that?’ And vice versa. There’s some very interesting information that you can’t get from a phone call. It’s having those one-on-one conversations.”

By cementing those relationships and becoming trusted partners, leaders can also get on the inside track, noted Christian, who has learned a thing or two during his decades in healthcare leadership roles. “If you gain their trust, they’ll let you know about things that are coming down the line,” he said. “It’s not things that they’re sharing inappropriately; they want to give you a heads up to be prepared. They don’t want to see you fail.”

The feeling, of course, should be mutual, said Roach, who emphasized the value of respect in any relationship — particularly one that can have such an enormous impact on any organization’s success. “You have to be very purposeful about developing that ongoing relationship,” she added, and not just with those outside of the organization. “It has to spill over in your own team so that people understand the why. It’s almost like creating a relationship map. You need to share that.”

Reimer agreed, adding that in the years to come, it will become increasingly important for healthcare leaders and vendors to lean on each other. “There needs to be continual investment in that partnership to keep up with the world that’s changing around us.”

To view the archive of this webinar — Building Win-Win Vendor Relationships — please click here.