With our agenda set, the Spring IDN Summit and Expo in Orlando is ready to rock and roll April 20-22. We think that you will find we have quite a show in store for you.

When my company took over this event a little more than a year and a half ago, we had a goal of building on what was already a unique conference. The reverse expo, a great idea in concept and execution, was already in place. We wanted to add to that a different kind of program. There are a lot of meetings in the supply chain space, but we believed that by focusing on innovative educational content and interactivity, we could spark some magic. Each Summit and Expo could be bigger than the sum of its parts, giving attendees the information and inspiration they need to help their organizations deliver on the promise of higher-quality, more cost-efficient care.

We continue to build on that concept. For Orlando, we have created a new Market Intelligence Track, where sessions will focus on a range of cutting-edge research on aspects of the healthcare supply chain. In these sessions we’ll work on analyzing key research impacting the healthcare supply chain. As we move forward, we’d like for each new IDN Summit and Expo to feature the results of our latest research as well as other market research.

I mentioned interactivity. We introduced a Peer-to-Peer Exchange (P2P) at last fall’s Summit and we’ll continue this concept with the Peer-to-Peer Exchange Breakfasts allowing attendees to review in-depth four key challenges in supply chain management and through moderated dialogues arrive at some new ideas and solutions to those challenges. At the spring event, the topics will be physician preference items, communicating with leadership, vendor credentialing and data standardization.

In Orlando, we’re going to introduce attendees to the concept of Positive Deviance (PD). For those who don’t know exactly what PD is all about, we’ll discuss the adaptation of this concept to healthcare, where it is being used with great success to solve a range of seemingly intractable problems, such as healthcare-acquired infections. The approach enables organizations to mine the uncommon, but successful habits of its best people and spread those habits across the enterprise.

We’re also going to provide attendees with the benefits of our partnership with Disney Institute. Talk about magic: Institute experts will be on hand to explain the Disney Difference in Value Chain Management. They will discuss how integrating four components—planning, processes, partnering and performance—can help healthcare organizations  manage resources, streamline processes and reduce waste to add money to the bottom line without raising prices or passing costs on to customers.

We also have worked to make our meetings timely, and so, with health reform still a possibility, we have put together a high-impact panel discussion on reform and future trends led by Chuck Lauer, healthcare visionary and former publisher of Modern Healthcare magazine. The panel includes John Hillenmeyer, CEO, Orlando Health; Michael Israel, CEO, Westchester Medical Center; Ed Lovern, Executive Vice President of Piedmont Healthcare; and Joseph Swedish, CEO, Trinity Health.

We believe this meeting is your meeting so let us know what you think of the agenda, and if you would like to participate for the Fall IDN Summit contact Lisa Ponssa, and she’ll discuss the opportunities with you.

Rest assured, we will continue to build on our commitment to making the IDN Summit and Expo a unique event in the annual healthcare supply chain conference landscape.