William J. Mcfaul

Work Experience – Minimum 10 years of service within the healthcare supply chain (including a hospital or nonacute care facility, manufacturer, distributor, GPO, consulting or service company).

Career began in the late 1960s as a purchasing agent/internal auditor for the laboratory in New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
Promoted to assistant director of purchasing by 1971.
Became director of purchasing at Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, NJ, in 1973
Became director of the Central New Jersey Shared Services Corp., a not-for-profit shared purchasing and materials management operation between two unrelated but neighboring hospitals in the Trenton metro area. Within two years, (by 1975) the venture grew to support 16 hospitals in central and southern New Jersey
In 1980, co-founded McFaul & Lyons Inc. as a consulting firm that helped hospitals control expenses and streamline operations
Sold MLI to Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. in 1998 and retired
Returned to healthcare industry in 2004 with The Center for Modeling Optimal Outcomes and Strategic Initiatives in Healthcare, sister firms designed to create and cultivate critical thinking, leadership, management and visionary development of processes
Earned patents on a number of learning and leadership training programs

Work Performance – Specific accomplishments/achievements in their respective organizations, including expense management measures, committee involvement and management leadership.

In the late 1960s-early 1970s, helped New York-based Joint Purchasing Corp. develop new concepts for members, including a laboratory contracting program
Touted the concept of the “supergroup,” or a group of GPOs, which led to the founding of MAGNET, which he helped develop
Applied the industrial concept of value analysis to healthcare and created the idea of consumption analysis, which involved statistical measurements of service and supply utilization
At MLI, worked to double sales every year from 1985 forward for many years.

Professional Activities – Minimum 5 years of active association participation (e.g., office holder, committee chair or contributor, organizing and running meetings, mentoring others) on the national, regional and local level; performed a minimum of two speaking engagements (national, regional, local, facility) and published at least twice (including writing an article or being interviewed by the trade media) during career.

Wrote more than 100 articles about resource and materials management, group purchasing, shared services, expense reduction and strategic planning as the healthcare industry
Served on the editorial board of two publications and contributed a monthly column for two others
Conducted more than 150 local, regional and national educational seminars and conferences for administrative executives, financial managers and resource/material management professionals
Developed strategic plans for seven GPO/shared services organizations and facilitated planning processes for six others
Presented more than 400 in-hospital education programs dealing with expense reduction issues
Personally attended or chaired more than 800 in-hospital meetings dealing with product evaluation/standardization, capital equipment selection, value analysis and conflict resolution
Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association in 1999 and Materials Manager of the Year Awards by both the Health Care Resource Management Society and the Association of Healthcare Resource Materials Management

Advancing the Profession/Industry Influence – Challenging the norms, contributing to the thought process, pushing the envelope in terms of moving the profession/industry forward. Examples include serving as a mentor either within his or her individual organization or on a national, regional or local level outside of his or her individual organization; internal inservices for the C-suite on supply management; pioneering new concepts and ideas that may or may not become reality; influencing those up and down the corporate hierarchy on the benefits of and promotion of sound supply management.

Pioneered contract management services for materials management (on a not-for-profit basis)
Innovated concepts for statistical analysis of product and service consumption/utilization, clinical value analysis facilitators, Integrated Resource Networks, value analysis techniques for health care, standardization modeling for IDNs and strategic resource management
In the early 1970s, hired a clinical nurse to better understand clinical practices as they related to materials management and shared services. She later became his business partner in the expense management consulting firm they founded
Felt he could expand concepts he developed at the shared services organization to other hospitals, including data sharing and product standardization
Trained tens of thousands of executives, department managers and medical staff members about such concepts as value analysis and non-salary expense reduction

McFaul never shied away from making the tough decisions and making them quickly. He also was one to roll up his sleeves and actually do the work, instead of delegating everything to others. He was never satisfied with any concept at face value and was motivated by the mere notion of challenging himself. Liked to tinker with every concept – expand, modify, recreate it. After each project, he would analyze the results and figure out ways to do processes differently – and better, if possible. One of his key motivations today is disrupting conventional thinking and processes from the C-suite on down the management ladder, redesigning how executives become executives and leaders become leaders.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

What are your thoughts about the mission and philosophy of Bellwether League Inc. and how do you feel about becoming part of the organization as an honoree?
To me, the most significant aspect of being nominated by the Bellwether League is the fact that my selection was made by some of the most qualified professionals who have ever worked in the industry. Unselfishly, the nominating committee agreed that those involved with the League would not be eligible for nominations for a three year period. In my opinion, the entire nominating committee will undoubtedly be honorees as that moratorium expires.
The mission of the Bellwether League offers supply chain professions (purchasing agents, materials managers, resource management executives and group purchasing executives) the ability to be honored for their contribution to the country at large. Little thought is given to the fact that, regardless of the title or specific duties, supply chain executives are making a major contribution to restrain excessive healthcare expenditures.
The Bellwether League process will provide recognition for the profession as a whole and, hopefully, supply chain executives will gain even greater respect for their contributions to all of the U.S.; not merely to their employer.

What attracted and motivated you to join the healthcare supply chain management field when you did?
Since joining the healthcare industry in 1968, the satisfaction of growing professionally into a position that offers measureable outcomes that impact a large number of providers has been my primary motivating factor. While the rewards of working directly in a provider setting were substantial, the enjoyment for me as an executive in the shared services industry and then as a consult/owner of a firm working throughout North America were immeasurably better.

For what one contribution would you like to be most remembered?
My efforts to change the perception of the purchasing and materials professions into one where executives are recognized for their leadership and change management contributions was one for which I would like to be remembered. Unfortunately, all too often, by the nature of one’s title, too many executives are perceived as merely performing inventory control and rote order placement duties.
While the mid-1990s the effort to have the position of Chief Resource Officers become common place wasn’t successful, I hope someone reinvigorates those efforts.

If you were to encourage people- either outside of healthcare or just out of school- to enter the supply chain management field and potentially qualify to be a future Bellwether League Inc. honoree, what would you tell them?
Future success in the healthcare supply chain profession will depend upon leadership and communication skills. Trying to convince someone to follow mandates hasn’t worked in the non-profit sector of healthcare. The future lies in being able to get people to want to give you what you want. It will not be linked to IT skills or product knowledge. They should focus on sharpening their kills in inter-disciplinary communication and team dynamics.

What is the one industry challenge you would like to see solved in your lifetime?
The most serious challenge in the entire business sector in the U.S. is the control of healthcare expenditures. The U.S. cannot compete globally unless we rein in (reduce) our healthcare expenditures. To accomplish this objective, the politicians and leaders of corporate America must realize that healthcare reform isn’t merely reforming insurance. Until the providers reconfigure their processes without the horrors of re-engineering-type reforms, the chance of success diminishes as each year passes. In my lifetime, I hope providers will overcome the silo-based operating structures that inhibit the true inter-disciplinary collaboration the industry needs to end the current crisis.

<< Hall of Fame 2008