Blanchard Named to Consorta Board

2/20/2009

Michael Blanchard, vice president of administrative services at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield has been elected the new Executive Committee vice chairman of the board directors of Consorta, Inc.

Consorta, based in suburban Chicago, is a leading health care resource management and group purchasing organization whose shareholders, including Ministry Health Care, are faith-based or non-profit health systems. Consorta’s 12 shareholder health care systems represent 60 percent of all Catholic hospitals in the country, and are among the leading integrators of non-profit health care in America. Consorta aggregates purchasing volumes and contracts for better pricing than individual hospital systems could get as single entities.

As vice chairman, Blanchard’s responsibilities include filling in absence of the chairman.  The Executive Committee functions as the finance and human resource committees for Consorta, and is also responsible for developing the strategic plan.

“I have been involved with the Ministry Health Care Supply Chain for the past 11 years,” said Blanchard. “Our primary responsibility is to drive process and price improvement. We have been aggressive in our attempts to reduce waste and to gather accurate data from which the operations leadership can make decisions. One of our major accomplishments is a process to review all requested products and all product changes to ensure quality, safety, efficiency and cost.”

In 2007, Consorta became part of Health Trust Purchasing Group, which serves more than 2,500 not-for-profit hospitals and 500 ambulatory surgery centers nationwide. Consorta’s membership now encompasses more than 3,200 care sites representing 78,000 patient care beds.

Blanchard, Vice President of Administrative Services at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, has more than 25 years of experience in hospital administration. He joined Saint Joseph’s Hospital in 1997, coming to Marshfield from Luther/Midelfort-Mayo Health System in Eau Claire.