Program Director-Capital Planning Acquisition

At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better health care, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. We pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, our goal is to take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

The Program Director, Capital Planning & Acquisition reflects the mission, vision, and values of Northwestern Medicine (NM), adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

The Program Director, Capital Planning & Acquisition is responsible for the oversight of the capital medical equipment planning and procurement, the clinical engineering team, the medical equipment cyber security team, and the construction medical equipment planning team.  Included in the responsibilities are the associated service agreements for the IDN. This position is responsible for strategic capital equipment procurement activities, including negotiations, contract and project management, spend analysis, sourcing, fleet and service management along with continuous improvement initiatives through total cost of ownership and system standardizations.

This individual will establish measurable goals and objectives for their respective portfolio including the development, oversight, adjustment and implementation of both short and long term plans.  This individual will develop, lead and execute on productivity reporting and tracking mechanisms associated with their work and team’s performance.

The Capital Management Team’s mission is to ensure the preservation and improvement of the quality of patient care while reducing or maintaining costs and risks related to the procurement and the use of products and services at all NM business units and facilities through collaborative efforts and effective communication by a mode of service line steering teams and specialty sub-committees.

Responsibilities:

Consulting

• Provides leadership in the area of capital equipment expense management to contribute to the facility or IDNs overall strategic plan especially as it relates to capital process, including routine capital as well as construction and strategic initiatives.
• Works closely with finance and other senior leadership to develop and maintain a capital budget process that provides accurate projections on capital equipment needs across all regions and affiliates.
• Engages Clinical Asset Management and IT leaders to understand the total cost of ownership and interoperability implications for any given equipment category to develop purchasing agreements, provide vendor selection guidance, and support standardization efforts.
• Provides oversight of external MEQ consultant activities, including specifying MEQ equipment, coordinating building loading and activation activities ensuring NMHC standards of care.
• Assists with integration processes of new entities. Works with end users to review and identify deviations from system standards, and consolidate equipment and service agreements.

Capital Equipment Planning & Acquisition

• Identifies opportunities to place vendors/equipment under contract or enhance existing contract for all capital equipment.
• Responsible for conducting benchmarking activities, reviewing industry best practice, analyzing corporate spend and collaborating in cross-functional teams to achieve cost savings, increase quality, and build and maintain a competitive capital expenditure portfolio.
• Manages the contracting relationship with strategic vendors by leveraging the overall scope to maximize cost reduction opportunities and achieve terms that are beneficial to the organization.
• Coordinates and conducts Competitive Market Assessment (CMA), Request for Proposal (RFP) and financial negotiations with vendors per NM policies and procedures.
• Responsible for negotiation of key business terms related to savings and contracting initiatives, ongoing portfolio maintenance, contract arrangements, and monitoring of vendor contract compliance.
• Proactively identifies group purchase opportunities that leverage volume from all regions to gain favorable pricing and terms while ensuring the purchasing timeline is in accordance with any budgetary considerations within the participating regions.

Manage Clinical Engineering Team & Medical Equipment Cyber Security Team

• Accountable for installation, preventative maintenance and repair of medical equipment, following TJC requirements
• Provide leadership for simplification of processes and Lean initiatives. Drive and develop operational and savings initiatives.
• Own customer escalations and drive for fast and effective resolution.
• Assess the effectiveness of service delivery through benchmarking, and best practice sharing.
• Ensuring the team support efforts for clinical specialty committees focused on new equipment evaluation.
• Coordinate network onboarding activities between BioMed, Information Services, Supply Chain, Construction and the vendor, including, but not limited to, pre-purchase device evaluation and the collection and ongoing management of network address and identity information
• Oversee the coordination of vulnerability treatment efforts for identified cyber security risks between the device owners, device vendors, and applicable IS Teams, including downtime scheduling for service activities
• Identify a point-of-contact for Medical Devices during equipment evaluation (pre-acquisition) to ensure devices align with NMHC standards
• Manage the following:
  • Triage and document requests, incidents, changes, and risks within NMHC Service management platform
  • Support the development and execution of BioMed/IS Security cross-discipline services and capabilities
  • Assist in development and enforcement of configuration and data backup policies on NMHC Medical Devices

Fleet and Service Management

• Develops a system approach to the capital equipment process and planning that includes but not limited to understanding customer's capital inventory and developing an end of life/replacement plans, which includes service/maintenance strategies.
• Identifies and enforces institutional medical equipment standards.
• Validates equipment configurations of new purchases.
• Develops multi-year fleet equipment replacement plan and coordinate system-wide budget approval and procurement. Coordinate equipment roll-out with Biomed, clinicians and other supporting services.
• Provides medical equipment planning and procurement support to NM key projects and key initiatives.

Service Contract Management

• Evaluates and standardize levels of service, entering into system wide service agreements when possible.
• Manages expiring warranties and service agreements.
• Additional Functions as Directed

Required:

• Masters degree or higher in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Project Management, Health Care Management, or other healthcare related fields.
• 10 years of relevant experience in either healthcare or industry managing a substantial contract portfolio.   
• Demonstrated negotiation experience.
• Strong project management skills with demonstrated ability to meet/exceed aggressive project constraints.
• Requires highly developed communication and negotiating skills to effectively collaborate with customers and vendors.
• Ability to deliver presentations to a variety of audiences at various levels.
• Demonstrates an ability to coordinate and manage large, complex projects and be able to negotiate and build consensus among groups or individuals with diverse interests and function effectively as a team leader in a team environment.
• Proven ability to deliver results including cost savings while maintaining contractual service levels.\
• Demonstrated skills in process improvement, project management and change management.
• Excellent communication skills, written and oral, including presentation skills for interaction at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team-based environment, contributing ideas, participating in team decisions, and achieving team outcomes.
• Ability to be flexible and adaptable in a rapidly changing environment.
• Ability to think strategically and provide actionable insights for senior management.
• Experience interacting, collaborating and presenting to senior level executives.
• Excellent PC skills, proficient in MS applications (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint).

Preferred:

• Experience working in a healthcare system, hospital, physician group or supplier to the healthcare industry.

Northwestern Medicine is an equal opportunity employer (disability, VETS) and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected status.

Background Check

Northwestern Medicine conducts a background check that includes criminal history on newly hired team members and, at times, internal transfers. If you are offered a position with us, you will be required to complete an authorization and disclosure form that gives Northwestern Medicine permission to run the background check.  Results are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and we follow all local, state, and federal laws, including the Illinois Health Care Worker Background Check Act.

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used in some portions of the candidate review process for this position, however, all employment decisions will be made by a person. 

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits that provide employees with tools and resources to improve their physical, emotional, and financial well-being while providing protection for unexpected life events. Please visit our Benefits section to learn more.

Sign-on Bonus Eligibility (if sign-on bonus offered for position): Internal employees and rehires who left Northwestern Medicine within 1 year are not eligible for the sign on bonus. Exception: New graduate internal employees seeking their first licensed clinical position at NM may be eligible depending upon the job family.