By Doug Golwas
Chief Commercial Officer

Nearly every company says it’s focused on the customer. Every sales and service representative says it. Every clinician in every health system likely has said it at some point, too, referring to their patients counting on them for quality care.

So when we say Medline is “relentlessly focused” on the customer, I understand why those words might not necessarily jump out at you. “You’re a manufacturer and distributor, right? It’s the same service and the same products another company could provide just as well, isn’t it?”

It isn’t. To us at Medline — and I’ve seen it in practice every single day of my 18 years here — the words mean something much greater. We are absolutely relentless in getting customers the right medical-surgical products when and where they need them and at the best total value. But we don’t show up with standard supply chain solutions or Medline brand product solutions or models, asking each of our customers to fit into them. Instead, we come in prepared to design, implement, modify and expand a variety of solutions, including ones that no one initially anticipated us being able to provide. By doing so, we relentlessly learn and problem-solve for healthcare providers, across the entire continuum of care. We listen first, understand what matters most to customers financially, clinically and operationally, and then build around their reality.

Every Medline customer relationship is tailored with specific, bespoke solutions for systems, clinicians and care providers. And because we start from the premise of each customer having unique needs and pain points, we often end up solving problems for them that have little to do with medical distribution or medical products.

One example is a major health system using space at our largest distribution center in Grayslake, Ill., for its mail-order pharmacy operations. The customer didn’t want to take on more real estate in Chicago. They wanted flexibility. We had space we could offer, and solving this unconventional problem for them allowed us to advance to what is now a strategic relationship.

In Central Florida, another large health system wanted a stronger supply chain for its hospitals and care teams coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a tall ask, well beyond the traditional supplier relationship. But Medline had an answer, working with this health system to co-develop a 375,000-square-foot consolidated service center (CSC) that includes a distribution center, a print shop, a mail-order pharmacy and more. Staffed by 250 employees from both organizations, this CSC now streamlines service to the hospitals, improves inventory strategy and reinforces long-term resilience.

Nobody else in the market would have solved these problems because they fell outside the boundaries of distributing medical products. This is a fundamental difference with Medline. We did it because we are these customers’ business partners and because we find answers, relentlessly.

Combination of candor and ‘can do’

When outside-the box needs come to light in our conversations with customers, sometimes our answer is a simple “yes.” Sometimes it’s a “yes, and” — with more conversation and work to do. Sometimes it’s a “no” because we don’t believe we can realistically solve the issue and we don’t want to waste the customer’s time. That honesty matters.

It’s also why our model looks different. Honest conversations with customers tell us where care is actually going and what support they truly need, not just what fits neatly inside a traditional distribution model. Health systems are larger now. Decisions are more centralized. Yet care continues to branch away from hospitals into physician offices, ambulatory surgery centers, home health and laboratories. Because we’re willing to hear those realities plainly, adapting to them instead of selling around them, we can handle wherever patients go.

Everyone at Medline has a role in this. An employee picking products in a warehouse or driving a MedTrans truck is actively maintaining a good customer relationship. Product developers shape what ends up in a clinician’s hand. Some team members bring solutions to life that can fundamentally change how we work together with customers to eliminate inefficiencies. Others keep Medline operating strongly as a company and attracting quality talent for our facilities. There’s really nobody here whose job does not impact a customer at the end of the day.

We’re not perfect. However, most customers recognize what sets us apart: We just want it more.

The difference shows up most when things gets hard. Anyone can operate when it’s easy. It’s when the challenges go outside the normal lines that a customer realizes who their partners are and who are just transactional suppliers. When it’s tough, we’re at our very best.

Always about the relationship

Each day, I wake up and ask myself two questions: One, how can we help our customers better reach their goals and best serve patients today? And, two, how do we preserve and strengthen the confidence a customer has put in us?

I firmly believe that wherever and whenever Medline is in the mix in the healthcare supply chain, we are doing more to make a difference than somebody else can. I believe that every time an organization selects us as their partner and problem-solver, it’s a benefit to their clinicians and patients.

And I believe “relentlessly focused” is not a slogan. Not at Medline. It’s a way of life. It’s the willingness to listen more deeply, tailor more thoughtfully and tell the truth faster. It’s doing what others won’t when the routine becomes challenging, when the challenging become harder and when a customer’s biggest problems turn out not to be the most obvious ones.

Doug Golwas joined Medline in 2008 and became chief commercial officer in 2023. Learn more about the primary areas where Medline helps customers with uniquely tailored solutions.