2013 SURE AWARDS Piedmont CEO remembered for his roots, vision
After leading Piedmont Healthcare, an Atlanta- based hospital system for more than a decade, R. Timothy “Tim” Stack, President and CEO, died
Monday, July 30, 2012. Because he helped fuel Supply Chain operations, too, his passing was both a professional and personal loss for Joe Colonna, Vice President, Supply Chain. Stack served as the top executive for Piedmont
Healthcare since December 2001, according to a press release. Under his leadership, Piedmont grew from two hospitals and eight physician prac- tices to a $1.6 billion organization that includes fi ve hospitals, more than 50 primary care and specialty physician practices and a 900-member, clinically-integrated physician network. Stack also led Piedmont to develop Atlanta’s fi rst in- tegrated cardiovascular program affi liated with a community health system — Piedmont Heart Institute — which now employs more than 100 cardiovascular experts and received a $20 million gift from the Marcus Foundation for the Marcus Heart Valve Center. Press reports in several local newspapers cited
Stack for being instrumental in expanding Pied- mont’s liver transplant program, restructuring the board of directors, purchasing land for a new hospital in a suburb, and focusing on physician and organization alignment. But these represented a fraction of Stack’s ac- complishments. He also believed that a Strategic Supply Chain operation can make a real contribution to the goals of a healthcare organization — not just in the traditional areas of cost reductions and cost man- agement, but in all areas of operations, including quality, patient safety/satisfac- tion and physician/employee satisfaction. Colonna came to Piedmont Healthcare in 2008, when the system’s C-suite decided that a change in Supply Chain direction was needed in order to support Piedmont’s goal of becoming one of the top 10 community health systems. “Originally I was brought in as a consultant and
For Stack, this was not the first time he had been involved with an organization’s complete Supply Chain transition. As the CEO of Borgess Health Alliance in 1999, Stack assumed the ex- ecutive leadership role to create a consolidated Supply Chain model for Ascension Health, to which Borgess was a member. This meant unit- ing more than 70 acute care facilities under one Supply Chain. Dan Zeitler, who was part of Supply Chain leadership at Borgess and re- mains part of Ascension’s Supply Chain team, noted,“…It was the support and vision of a leader of Stack’s caliber that contributed significantly to the initiative.” Stack’s interest and understanding of Supply Chain operations should not sur- prise anyone if you knew how he entered the healthcare industry. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), revealed some of Stack’s background during a speech he gave on the Senate floor after learning of Stack’ passing. “Tim Stack grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, work- ing in the steel mills,” Isakson stated. “When the mills closed, he looked to find a job, and he worked in central supply at the Eye & Ear Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA. He was working and studying to be a teacher and a football coach. By working in the hospital, he became fascinated with the complexity of hospital administration and was challenged by the love of caring for people who were ill. Tim Stack changed his major to hospital administration and became a leader in the United States in the administration of hospitals.” Colonna noted that Stack brought this
Joe Colonna
attitude to Piedmont. “Among the many times I have experi- enced Tim’s support and understanding of Supply Chain was when Ed Lovern and I presented our vision for the fu- ture state of Supply Chain to him,” he
interim leader with a one-year contract to reorga- nize and restructure the Supply Chain division and eventually hand leadership over to a permanent person,” Colonna recalled. “With Stack’s sup- port and encouragement, and working with Ed Lovern, the Chief Administrative Offi cer (CAO) of Piedmont to whom I report, we developed a vision that would take Piedmont’s Supply Chain to strategic from transactional.”
recalled. “Our vision was to transform the PHC supply chain from transactional to strategic and in the process create a different relationship between Supply Chain and its customers. The new PHC Supply Chain would be recognized as a national leader in creating value for its orga- nization within five years. Piedmont clinicians and team members would know that they will have the materials they need, when they need them and that their participation in and support of the Supply Chain will achieve value for the organization. “Tim was immediately supportive and under- stood the concepts and the need for change in a
Ed Lovern
way that some leaders in his position sometime struggle to get,” Colonna continued. “He un- derstood that in the future, for a health system to be both high quality and financial stable, Supply Chain would need to play a significant role in that success. His reaction was simple and straightforward in this paraphrase: ‘… Go make it happen…What can I do to help you be successful?’ “Of course, rolling out a complete reorganiza- tion of Supply Chain always has challenges, but Tim Stack continued to demonstrate his support, understanding and rec- ognition of the vision and helped us to recruit and empower the leaders and physicians in the organization to support our efforts. Tim recognized our efforts and the support of the physicians both publicly and pri- vately,” according to Colonna.
“Since 2008 we have saved more than $30 million dollars and significantly improved opera- tions. We have been able to strategically invest in improvements both in human and technology resources,” he continued. “More importantly, we have become a strategic resource to the organization. Supply Chain is not just asked to participate in cost savings initiatives but also to participate in strategic planning for the organiza- tion. Stack regularly invited Supply Chain leader- ship to be part of his strategic discussions and when he met with potential business partners. Everyone from consultants with an idea on a ‘better’ way to national and local manufacturers. Tim was good about being available to potential new suppliers if they had a truly ‘new’ concept. He was always interested in how the industry could help Piedmont meet its goals. “Currently, I continue at Piedmont, well
beyond my one-year contract as a permanent member of the team,” Colonna said. “In fact, I had not been here long when Tim told me that I would be staying. He did not ask me to stay but gave the impression it was a foregone conclusion. One of the key reasons for my planting roots at Piedmont is that in 28 years of working in Supply Chain, I have rarely seen the kind of support and appreciation from a CEO or leadership team for Supply Chain, nor a solid connection between Supply Chain and the health and well being of an entire organization and its goals for the future. I firmly and fully believe that Piedmont will go on to be a Top 10 health system because Tim surrounded himself with strong and visionary leaders.”
www.hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • January 2013 13
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