AMR Research Selects 'Healthcare Top 25' for Supply Chain Excellence

Saying that, by identifying 25 top-performing firms in delivering value across a supply chain from manufacturer to patient in a healthcare setting, AMR Research hopes to raise the importance and recognition of good supply-chain practices throughout healthcare. The Boston market-analysis firm combined quantitative assessments of ROA and inventory turns with qualitative rankings by two panels: a group of outside experts, and the AMR analysts. The company plans to update the list annually while highlighting new, successful innovations.

The Healthcare Top 25 (ranked by their composite scoring):

1. Johnson & Johnson

2. Sisters of Mercy Health System

3. Cardinal Health

4. Owens & Minor

5. McKesson

6. CVS Caremark

7. Abbott Laboratories

8. Novartis

9. Becton Dickinson

10. Wyeth

11. GlaxoSmithKline

12. AstraZeneca

13. AmerisourceBergen

14. Walgreens

15. Covidien

16. Cleveland Clinic

17. Merck

18. Genentech

19. Alcon Laboratories

20. Medtronic

21. Boston Scientific

22. BJC Healthcare System

23. Roche

24. Amgen

25. Mayo Clinic

From a biopharma perspective, AMR’s scope is a little unfamiliar: The company defines the healthcare value chain from manufacturer to a patient, but mostly one in a hospital or clinical system—something that directly represents only about a quarter of the biopharma market. Some qualifiers: except for the healthcare systems, AMR limited its analysis to publicly traded firms, which would exclude, among others, privately held wholesalers like HD Smith; it did not include distributors that have large business outside of healthcare (which would have brought distribution companies like UPS Healthcare Logistics into consideration); and, according to AMR chief strategy officer Kevin O’Marah, “rightly or wrongly, we are biased against payers and other intermediaries” which thus excluded PBMs and mail-order pharmacies like Medco (even though the PBM parts of CVS Caremark or Walgreens got in via their retail operations).

Even so, the ranking is sure to generate discussion, at least among biopharma companies who compete head to head, and the longer-term goal, according to AMR VP Hussain Mooraj, is to highlight the efficiencies to be had by better collaboration among trading partners, better sales & operations planning, and a stronger patient focus.