Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Blaine Douglas

On this episode of The Healthcare Plus Podcast, host Quint Studer is joined by Blaine Douglas, Managing Principal of Vizient overseeing indirect spend (or purchasing services). Blaine manages a team of 220 people who work to help Vizient’s provider members put processes in place and drive value. Quint and Blaine discuss how Vizient has driven its impressive workplace culture and created positive employee engagement results across the organization.

Vizient provides services that impact quality across the healthcare industry, but employees don’t necessarily see the direct impact they have on patient outcomes. Blaine believes that the key to improved engagement is tying the work his team members do to the company’s mission of improving patient care and serving member hospitals.

Listen to the full episode to learn more about:

• How to leverage employee engagement survey results
• Why having a “family atmosphere” is crucial to employee attraction, retention, and engagement
• How a hiring process can ensure bringing in talent that will flourish in your workplace culture

About Blaine Douglas

Blaine Douglas brings over 30 years of experience in the health care industry. His areas of expertise and professional skills include health care operations with a focus on operational efficiencies and expense control. Blaine leads the nonclinical consulting practice, including purchased services, supply chain, construction and facilities, and capital and equipment planning consulting service areas. Since joining Vizient, he has led many multimillion-dollar improvement projects totaling over $250 million in savings, including a $30 million financial improvement in 12 months at a large Southeastern academic medical center—surpassing a three-year savings guarantee in the first 13 months, exceeding the $12.5 million target by over 200% and improving a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award-winning health system’s supply chain savings by more than $16 million.

Prior to joining Vizient, Blaine spent 18 years in health system operations as a COO of a health system and CEO of a Level I trauma center. As CEO, Blaine led a dramatic hospital financial turnaround while also improving patient, employee and physician satisfaction, as well as overall hospital quality.

Blaine has a bachelor’s degree in fire safety engineering technology from Oklahoma State University, a master’s degree in health care administration from Oklahoma State University, and a Doctor of Health Administration degree from Central Michigan University.