FAQs
SMI is a not-for-profit consortium of executives representing providers, suppliers, distributors, and disruptors united to network, collaborate, and reengineer innovations that drive meaningful improvements in the goods and services that support patient care and the healthcare marketplace in the United States.
SMI membership is open to Providers and Industry Partners.
Provider Partners are integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and/or academic medical centers. Provider organizations must serve as a transactional trading partner whose major mission is patient care and who has direct involvement in the delivery of such care. The organization must be the purchaser of products and services used in the delivery of care for its own patients. The designated member is to be the senior executive responsible for the supply chain of the provider organization with the capacity to affect operational change throughout the organization.
Industry Partners are manufacturers of medical surgical supplies/devices and equipment, pharmaceuticals distributors; service providers; IT and data companies; and other suppliers of goods and/or services to healthcare facilities. Â The designated member is to be a senior executive with the capacity to affect operational change throughout the organization.
SMI may, as appropriate, involve others with a particular expertise who can directly contribute to a specific initiative for the term of a given project.
SMI membership is open to Provider and Industry Partners as described above. Organizations without the capacity to directly affect operational change, who do not ultimately impact patient care delivery, or are not transactional trading partners (as described above) are not eligible; though as stated above, may potentially be drawn in on a temporary basis relative to a specific project.
SMI Forums are for SMI Members and invited guests only. Tickets are not sold. Sponsorships are not allowed. Two Forums are held annually – one in the spring and one in the fall. SMI Forums utilize an interactive meeting process offering a balanced blend of large general sessions, roundtable discussions, and small group work teams designed to educate participants and promote development of meaningful solutions. SMI does not allow sales, marketing, or sponsorships and does not have a trade show component.
SMI was formed to provide a venue where collaborative teams can carry out real work, together, to address industry challenges and implement best practices thereby positively shaping the future of the healthcare supply chain value stream. Additionally, SMI was formed to act as a change agent for healthcare and to introduce non-healthcare related best practices and technologies to the healthcare supply chain.
SMI was incorporated January, 2005.
No, SMI is a not-for-profit, non-stock 501(c)(6) corporation.
Yes, all members pay annual fees. Member fees are the only source of revenue for SMI.
SMI is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of 12 persons, equally representing Provider and Industry Partner members. Board members receive no compensation from SMI.
SMI is staffed by the Executive Director, Jane Pleasants who reports to the Board of Directors; Nancy Anderson, Associate Executive Director, who reports to the Executive Director; Christine Dean, Senior Director, who reports to the Executive Director; Carolyn Huntington, Communications & Operations Manager, who reports to the Senior Director; and Katherine Bailey, Program Manager, who reports to the Associate Executive Director.
No, members are not paid to attend SMI Forums. No monies by way of consulting fees or surplus allocation are provided to the Board of Directors or any member. In the unlikely event that SMI should be dissolved, remaining funds are to go to charity.
All members must meet the membership criteria as previously stated. To be as effective as possible, SMI’s membership policies are designed to maintain a balance among different segments of the healthcare industry and to avoid becoming too large for meaningful dialogue at our Forums. The Membership Committee and the Board of Directors establish the membership size and balance.
No, there are no special considerations.
No, there are no preferred appointments.
Antitrust counsel has been retained to ensure that all discussions and initiatives comply with the antitrust meeting guidelines. Participants should not discuss:
- Current or future prices or costs of any product or service
- Future bids or upcoming specific business opportunities
- Current or future strategic plans, marketing efforts or pricing policies
- Specific Provider/Industry Partner contracts or negotiations, including price and other contract terms
- Proposed industry-wide or association-wide positions on prices or contract terms
SMI is a member-focused and member-driven consortium. The Thought Leadership Councils select the initiatives that are to be worked on. The suggested list of initiatives is periodically discussed with the Thought Leadership Council Steering Committee. Members may be invited or self-select which initiatives they work on.
SMI is dedicated to improving the healthcare supply chain and to that end findings / improvements / processes / established best practices are shared with the marketplace. SMI accomplishes this through white papers, SMI2U webinars, industry meeting presentations (such as AHRMM), articles in national publications, and free access to final work products. Tools are posted to the SMI website for free download to any and all in the industry. Outcomes produced or published by SMI may be used as is with specific acknowledgement made of SMI as the original author/developer.