Healthcare supply chain becomes integral to patient care at Trinity Health

For Max Washko, the supply chain is not an administrative back office function but part of the clinical experience itself.

In a recent Q&A with Repertoire Magazine, Trinity Health’s vice-president of supplier relationship management described a career built across logistics, manufacturing and consumer packaged goods before moving into healthcare, where the consequences of disruption are far more immediate. He said that experience across plants, distributors and retailers ...

gave him a broad view of how goods move, but that healthcare “hits a little different” because the work can affect people at their most vulnerable moments.

That sense of purpose is central to his leadership at Trinity Health, one of the largest health systems in the US. The organisation’s supply chain team oversees procurement, delivery, storage and distribution, alongside capital construction projects, and Trinity Health says its mission is to provide clinically integrated and socially responsible products and services that support patient care. The system has also been recognised in Gartner’s Healthcare Supply Chain Top 25 for five consecutive years, ranking 18th among US health systems in 2025.

Washko said his approach in 2026 is shaped by what he called a return to fundamentals. In practice, that means sharpening the everyday disciplines that keep hospitals supplied and finance and clinical teams aligned across the system’s footprint. At the same time, he is pushing ahead with a broader digital overhaul, including automation, bots, larger language models and stronger data governance designed to give staff faster, more useful information.

His emphasis on basics comes as Trinity Health continues to manage major operational change. Trinity Health Livingston, for example, is preparing to open a new state-of-the-art campus in Brighton, Michigan, with full operations due to begin on 19 April 2026. The move to the new 174,000-square-foot hospital has required close coordination with vendors, community partners and regulators to transfer patients and equipment without interrupting care.

Washko also pointed to supply chain as a connector across the organisation rather than a silo. He said his team must work in step with clinicians to understand point-of-care needs and with finance teams to match budgets and operational priorities. That collaborative model reflects Trinity Health’s broader supply chain strategy, which also includes impact purchasing, an initiative intended to use the system’s buying power to support community prosperity, economic mobility and stronger supplier relationships in the areas it serves.

For Washko, the long-term challenge is not only efficiency but resilience. Trinity Health says its purchasing approach is meant to strengthen local communities while reducing risk in the supply base, and that balance between social impact and operational stability is increasingly important in a sector still contending with cost pressures, reimbursement strain and supply disruption.

Looking ahead, Washko said he is watching developments in robotics and other emerging technologies, but he returned repeatedly to the same point: the purpose of supply chain work is to help deliver care. In his view, every improvement ultimately comes back to the patient and the community.

Source: Noah Wire Services