What does it take to build a healthier supply chain—one that strengthens patient care, protects communities and
drives financial performance? For Kaiser Permanente, it starts with collaboration that goes beyond transactional
relationships.
Through the Collaborative for Healthcare
Action to Reduce Medtech Emissions (CHARME), health systems, medical device
and equipment suppliers, distributors, GPOs, and industry experts and stakeholders—including Vizient, who along with
Kaiser Permanente serves as co-chair of the collaborative—are working together to reduce carbon impact while
strengthening supply chain resiliency and financial performance. I recently spoke with Steven Chyung, senior vice
president and chief supply chain and procurement executive at Kaiser Permanente, who shared how the initiative is
translating ambition into action—from reusable gowns to transportation optimization—and reshaping the way healthcare
partners innovate together.
What is CHARME, and what inspired Kaiser Permanente to join the initiative?
Chyung: CHARME is a collaboration with key stakeholders across healthcare to impact or reduce the pollution
footprint
for medtech devices. The genesis of the initiative is to address what we see as a gap in how we collaborate with our
industry partners to reduce our environmental impact.
What is your organization's role in accelerating decarbonization across the healthcare value
chain?
Kaiser Permanente’s overall mission is very much tied to environmental health. We see a very clear correlation
between weather-related events and the impact they have on the health of our communities. For example, the recent
wildfires we’ve seen in California and Hawaii have led to an increase in respiratory diseases and the displacement
of folks who are members of our community. Similarly, we’ve seen how other weather-related events like hurricanes or
tornados can cause supply disruptions that impact patient care. So, for us, the connection between the environment
and our community’s wellbeing is very clear, and it’s why we want to help drive collaboration with our
manufacturers, distributors and other partners in this space.
Could you share an example of how collaboration within a CHARME workstream has driven measurable
progress or
innovation for Kaiser Permanente?
We’ve tried to work on very specific, action-oriented initiatives, such as developing guidelines or processes that
could become scalable to other healthcare systems and that demonstrate ways providers can collaborate with
manufacturers and distributors.
One clear example comes from CHARME’s Single-Use Device (SUD) Reprocessing workstream, where we partnered with other
health systems and supplier partners to co-develop a single-use device toolkit. The innovation was in how that
collaboration transformed collective knowledge into an implementation-ready playbook. Health systems brought
real-world insights around clinical adoption, procurement and change management, while supplier partners contributed
practical expertise on operationalizing reprocessing at scale. Together, the workstream addressed common barriers
like unclear policies and contracting complexity, translating them into guidance healthcare systems can use.
At Kaiser Permanente, our processing program avoided disposal of more than 10,000 pounds of devices annually and
saved more than $2 million in 2023. The toolkit helps us scale and standardize that impact by giving teams a
repeatable way to build buy-in and expand adoption across sites. It also strengthens a shared value proposition for
ongoing collaboration and innovation with suppliers as we continue to grow the program.
How have suppliers responded to the initiative, and what shifts have you seen in engagement or
alignment with
health
system decarbonization goals?
It’s created a forum where we can share ideas and develop a better understanding of the perspectives and challenges
providers and suppliers face. What is it we do, and how do we operate? What is it they do, and how do they make
decisions? And then, where is that intersection between our missions and how can we work to drive mutual benefit?
Those are the conversations that have been really helpful in moving these goals forward.
How do you see CHARME shaping the broader conversation around more resilient and healthier supply
chains?
Whether the goal is resiliency, cost savings, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions or a combination or all three,
being able to create a value proposition toward collaboration and innovation is key. The most important thing CHARME
does is to help us tell stories around where we can innovate within the healthcare supply chain.
What are the biggest opportunities for providers and suppliers to drive solutions that further
resiliency and
financial stability?
One of the things that’s been most helpful is that we’re coming to a better understanding of the end-to-end supply
chain, and I think the more that we understand that, the more we're going to be able to optimize cost,
sustainability and reliability. Transportation is a good example. By reevaluating order quantities, delivery
frequency and upstream impacts on manufacturers, we can optimize the supply chain end to end—reducing transportation
costs and our carbon footprint while maintaining reliable, on-time product availability.
As part of this, we’re also gaining a better understanding of what goes into a product, where that product is sourced
from and the lifecycle cost of that product once it enters our waste stream. Creating that transparency—and
understanding ways to improve a product’s lifecycle—helps drive a healthier supply chain.
Learn more about CHARME.
