In 2021, UMass Memorial Health made an “Impact Purchasing Commitment” that will create a major shift in our procurement strategies to help address economic, racial and environmental inequities in our community. We joined 11 other health systems across the country in this leadership commitment organized by the Healthcare Anchor Network, which aims at collectively increasing spend with women and minority owned business (MWBEs) by more than $1 Billion by 2025.

Even small shifts in the spending portfolio of anchor institutions like UMass Memorial Health can make a difference in communities with a history of underinvestment. When local businesses and Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) are awarded business contracts, they can employ local residents and provide stable wages that allow employees to securely afford food, rent and other necessities – all of which are crucial to individual and family health. Our commitment has four major components:

1. Increasing Diverse Spending: We’ll be working to increase our spending with MWBE suppliers from around $4 million in FY2020 to more than $14 million by FY2025 – more than tripling the current amount. We’ll also work with our vendors to include terms in future contracts that require them to increase their own spending with MWBEs as well.

2. Promote Sustainable Spending: By 2025, we will ensure that 20% of our food purchases are categorized as sustainable; 50% of our vehicle fleet purchases are alternative fuel vehicles; the harmful chemicals PVC and DEHP will be eliminated from certain priority medical supplies we purchase; and 30% of our annual furnishings and furniture purchases will eliminate the use of chemicals of concern, such as flame retardants.

3. Build Community Wealth: We will work to increase spending with businesses headquartered, owned and operated within our service area by at least $11 million by FY2025. We also plan to increase spending with employee-owned, cooperatively owned or non-profit-owned businesses and will work with some of our vendors on achieving a specific number of impact hires from within the community. Finally, we are committing by FY2025 to embedding in all future contracts a requirement that all vendors pay a living local wage.

4. Institutionalize and Incentivize: We will align these goals with our existing policies, procedures and data analytics. We will also build capacity in diverse, local and employee-owned businesses to support community wealth building through outreach and mentoring strategies. Finally, we will enable a more resilient and equitable supply chain ecosystem by engaging with other key partners in our community to advance these priorities within the communities we serve.

Eric Dickson, MD, UMass Memorial Health President and Chief Executive Officer, said of the commitment, “With a focus on increasing purchasing efforts with local, minority and women-owned businesses, UMass Memorial Health can help create job growth and make a direct impact on many of the devastating social determinants of health factors that contribute to the inequities we see in the communities we serve. This commitment further demonstrates our long-held commitment to bolstering the community’s economic well-being, as well as helping individuals live vibrant, healthy lives.”

To learn more about UMass Memorial Health’s Impact Purchasing Commitment and activities, email us.

If you are a vendor or want to register as a potential vendor, please visit our vendor registration portal.