Cardinal Health Named Top Health Care Supply Chain

Cardinal Health finished at the top of the Gartner 2011 Healthcare Supply Chain released Monday, gaining from the strong relations the company has with its customer base of pharmacies, hospitals and other providers.

The company reported one of the strongest inventory-turn ratios in the industry and although its return on assets was relatively low — 4 percent between 2008 and 2010, Gartner said — Cardinals work with healthcare providers and others raised its rating among peers.

“Cardinal has the closest thing to a ‘one-stop shop’ in serving providers and gets credit for having a unique ability to support its trading partners,” Gartner said.

Cardinal Health’s portfolio includes surgical equipment distribution, pharmaceutical wholesaling and manufacturing. The company turned over its inventory 13.4 times in 2010, second to the 14.5 turns reported by AmerisourceBergen, which finished No. 12 in the Gartner rankings.

The complete rankings can be found here.