A hospital supply chain coordinator keeps every unit stocked, from ER trauma kits to lab tubes, by setting par levels, ordering on group buying contracts and checking in shipments. At a hospital this small, one person usually also handles recalls, backorders, expired stock and the disaster supply.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a supply chain coordinator to keep our hospital stocked without overspending. You'll set and fill par levels on every unit, order through our group purchasing contracts, receive and put away shipments, handle recalls and backorders, and pull expired items before anyone can use them.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Set, review and restock par levels for nursing units, the ED, lab, imaging, [surgery] and support departments.
Order supplies through [your materials system] at group purchasing organization (GPO) contract prices, and fix price errors with vendors.
Receive, inspect and put away shipments, and match packing slips to purchase orders and invoices.
Act on product recalls and FDA alerts: find affected items, pull them, and document what you did.
Find substitutes for backordered items, and get clinical approval before switching products used on patients.
Rotate stock, remove expired items, and keep storage off the floor and clear of sprinkler heads.
Keep an emergency supply reserve for surge and disaster plans.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Scan or count par levels on the units and fill them.
Place the day's orders and check open backorders.
Receive deliveries and take supplies to departments.
Answer calls for items that ran out, and find a fix the same day.
Update item files, prices and par levels in [your materials system].
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Stockouts on clinical units: [your target].
Supply spend per adjusted patient day: [your target].
Purchases on contract: [your target].
Expired product write-offs: [your target].
Recall response time: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
High school diploma or equivalent; supply chain or business coursework is a plus.
[2+] years of purchasing, inventory or warehouse experience.
Comfort with spreadsheets, inventory software and barcode scanners.
Accurate counting, record keeping and follow-through.
Valid driver's license [if you'll run supplies to clinics].
6. Preferred Experience
Hospital or healthcare supply chain experience.
Certified Materials and Resource Professional (CMRP) from AHRMM.
Experience with GPO contracts and recall management.
7. Physical Requirements
Stand, walk and push supply carts through the hospital for much of the day.
Lift and carry cases up to [50] pounds, and use step stools and hand trucks.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Weekday schedule: [hours], with weekend par checks as needed.
Work at the receiving dock, in storerooms and on all clinical units.
Heat and cold at the receiving dock, depending on the season.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new supply chain coordinator gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What's different about supply chain in a critical access hospital
A large hospital splits buying, receiving and delivery across a department. Here one coordinator does all three, with fewer trucks, a disaster plan that leans on the storeroom, and a cost report that sees every rebate.
Rebates belong on the cost report
Medicare pays critical access hospitals for most services based on their costs, which they report each year. A rebate cuts what the hospital paid, so it belongs on that report. Under the federal safe harbor for discounts, a rebate is protected only if it is earned on one fiscal year's purchases, claimed that year or the next, and fully reported on the cost report. Send every rebate check and credit memo to the CFO, with the paperwork. Source: 42 CFR 1001.952: safe harbors, including discounts and group purchasing (Cornell LII).
Recalls are found by lot number
FDA ranks recalls as Class I, II or III. Class I means a reasonable chance the product will cause serious harm or death. When a notice comes in, the coordinator checks every storeroom, unit, crash cart and clinic shelf for the listed lot or serial numbers. They pull what they find and write down where it was. A device's unique device identifier can include its lot, serial number and expiration date, so scanning helps. Source: 21 CFR 7.3: definitions, including recall classes (Cornell LII).
Sterile stock needs room around it
CDC says sterile items should sit 8 to 10 inches off the floor, 5 inches below the ceiling or 18 inches below a sprinkler head, and 2 inches from outside walls. A package that is wet, torn or punctured isn't used, and one dropped on the floor gets checked for damage. That goes for every unit's supply closet and the ER's too, not only central storage. Source: CDC: Sterilizing practices, storage of sterile items.
The disaster plan counts on your shelves
Medicare requires a critical access hospital's emergency policies to cover food, water, medical supplies and drugs for staff and patients. That holds whether they stay put or leave. If roads close, a rural hospital may wait days for a truck. The coordinator keeps the reserve list and rotates that stock so it doesn't expire. They also know which items run out first when several patients come in at once. Source: 42 CFR 485.625: emergency preparedness in critical access hospitals (Cornell LII).
A substitute needs a clinician's yes
A small hospital may see the distributor's truck only on certain weekdays, and one backorder can empty a shelf fast. When IV start kits or catheter trays run out, the coordinator finds a substitute. But a product used on patients doesn't change until the staff who use it say yes. That may be nurses, lab staff or providers. Those staff also learn the new item before it reaches the shelf.
How much hospital supply chain coordinators make
The closest BLS group for hospital supply chain coordinators is shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks. Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $22.45 an hour ($46,690 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $45,260 median for shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks in all industries. About 15,900 of the 816,870 shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks in that survey work for general hospitals.
Usually hourly, with overtime when weekend par checks or after-hours stockout calls add hours. If the job carries an on-call phone for ER shortages, write down how call-ins are paid before you make the offer.
General hospitals
$46,690$46,690 median Middle half $39,620–$51,010 10th–90th $36,820–$61,400
All industries
$45,260$45,260 median Middle half $38,200–$51,570 10th–90th $34,650–$62,190
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
General hospitals
$36,820
$39,620
$46,690
$51,010
$61,400
All industries
$34,650
$38,200
$45,260
$51,570
$62,190
These figures cover general medical and surgical hospitals of every size. Rural hospitals often pay less than city hospitals. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has kept stock and purchase records for a warehouse, store or clinic, and can explain how they kept counts right
Spots a contract price error on an invoice and follows it until the credit comes
Picks up a new materials or ERP system fast, and builds a clear spreadsheet when the system can't answer
Stays calm and helpful with a nurse who just ran out of something
Follows a recall to the last box, then writes down what was done
Teach these on the job
Your materials system, item master and par screens
Your GPO's contract catalog and how to dispute a price
The clinical items on your pars, from blood culture bottles to Foley trays, and who uses each
How to check a sterile package before it goes on the shelf
Your emergency supply list and its rotation schedule
How product changes get clinical sign-off
Day to day, the coordinator uses the hospital's ERP or materials management system, the prime distributor's ordering site, the GPO's contract catalog and a handheld scanner for par counts. Some units run on two-bin cards instead of counts: when the front bin empties, its card goes back for a refill.
Pull a quarter of data first, then set the blanks. Look at stockouts and recalls one at a time; spend and contract numbers make more sense as trends.
Stockouts on clinical units
Count each time a unit, the ER or the lab reached for an item and found the bin empty, from call logs and unit reports. Note the item, the cause and the hours until it was back.
Supply spend per adjusted patient day
Monthly supply expense divided by adjusted patient days, which scale inpatient days up to account for outpatient work. Use the same formula the CFO already reports, so both numbers match.
Purchases on contract
Supply dollars bought at GPO or local contract prices, divided by all supply dollars, from purchase order data. List the biggest off-contract items each month and move them to contract where you can.
Expired product write-offs
Add up what expired supplies cost each month from the write-off log, by unit. An item that expires on a shelf twice needs a lower par or a new storage spot.
Recall response time
Hours from a recall notice's arrival to every affected lot pulled and the response sent back to the vendor. Keep the notice, the search record and the response in one file.
Career path
Receiving clerk or supply technicianUnloads freight, stocks units and learns the item file.
Supply Chain CoordinatorSets pars, buys on contract and handles recalls for the whole hospital.
Supply chain or materials managerRuns buying, contracts and product reviews for a larger hospital.
Supply chain director for a health systemLeads purchasing and contracts across several hospitals and clinics.
It's the amount of an item a unit should have on the shelf after restocking. The coordinator counts or scans what's left and fills back up to par. Set pars from real use, review them every few months, and lower any that keep leaving expired stock. In a small hospital, ER pars need room for a bad night, such as several crash victims at once.
How much does a hospital supply chain coordinator make?
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $22.45 an hour ($46,690 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $39,620 and $51,010 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Can vendors give gifts or free products to supply staff?
Be careful. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute bars offering or taking anything of value to win business paid for by Medicare or Medicaid. OIG lists supplies among the items it covers. The reward doesn't have to be cash, and both sides can be charged. Put vendor gift limits in writing with whoever runs compliance. Send free goods, side rebates or any deal tied to purchase volume to a healthcare attorney first.
What should a hospital get in writing from its group purchasing organization?
A GPO pools many hospitals' buying to get contract prices, and vendors pay the GPO fees. Under the federal safe harbor, the GPO needs a written agreement with the hospital that states those fees. It must also tell the hospital in writing, at least yearly, how much each vendor paid it on the hospital's purchases. Ask for that report and file it with the CFO.
Is the CMRP certification worth asking for?
CMRP stands for Certified Materials and Resource Professional. The American Hospital Association Certification Center runs the exam. Eligibility depends on schooling: three years of health care supply chain work with a bachelor's degree, five with an associate degree, or seven with a high school diploma. Finishing all five AHRMM Academy cohorts also counts. With that much experience behind it, it suits a manager more than a new coordinator, so the template keeps it off the required list.
How is a supply chain coordinator different from a receiving clerk?
A receiving clerk unloads, checks and puts away freight. The coordinator also decides how much to keep and orders it at contract prices. They fix invoice errors, run recalls and work with nurses on substitutes. In a hospital this size the two jobs often fall to one person. So hire for the judgment the buying side needs, not just dock experience.
