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Brian Hardy provides direction and support for advisory work related to ambulatory and 340B pharmacy. He and his team help healthcare organizations identify opportunities for implementing or expanding outpatient retail ambulatory, central fill and/or home delivery and specialty pharmacy operations.
In addition, his team supports clients in ensuring their 340B program processes and procedures meet or exceed all federal guidelines under HRSA guidance, identifying opportunities to optimize their 340B program. With over 28 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Brian's expertise spans multiple retail and ambulatory pharmacy market segments.
Prior to joining Vizient, Brian was with Intermountain Healthcare, where he created the vision and strategy for their central fill, home delivery and specialty pharmacy fulfillment initiatives. He is a member of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy and the National Community Pharmacists Association.
Brian earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy and a master’s degree in business administration and healthcare administration from Regis University.

Associate Vice President, Pharmacy Consulting

Brian Hardy, RPh, MBA

Dan Kistner leads Vizient spend management and strategic programs for pharmacy, medical-surgical, laboratory and capital equipment product categories. Under his direction, Vizient supports more than half the nation’s acute care providers with an industry-leading portfolio of over 243,000 contracted products, providing access, choice and value across acute, specialty, non-acute, home infusion and long-term care facilities.
Since joining Vizient in 2012, Dan has played a critical role in helping hospitals transform into integrated centers of care, optimizing costs while improving quality outcomes for patients. As part of this work, Dan regularly meets with government leaders and elected officials, including at the Food and Drug Administration, on issues related to product price increases, supply disruptions and the need for more transparency across the healthcare supply chain.
Dan is a frequent industry speaker and has been interviewed and quoted in numerous publications such as NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Bloomberg News, Politico, Modern Healthcare, Becker's Hospital Review, Drug Topics, Managed Healthcare and The Center for Biosimilars.
He has been recognized in the industry as a <a href="https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/pharmacy-times-and-parata-systems-announce-the-2021-next-generation-pharmacist-finalists" target="_blank" aria-label="NextGeneration Pharmacist award finalist - open in a new tab">NextGeneration Pharmacist award finalist</a> and as the <a href="https://www.angelsforchange.org/news-updates/angels-for-change-announces-their-2022-change-maker-of-the-year" target="_blank" aria-label="2022 Change Maker of the Year - open in a new tab">2022 Change Maker of the Year</a> for the work he has led on ending drug shortages.
Dan has a diverse background in the pharmaceutical industry that includes experience in benefits management, retail, hospital, specialty and mail order and earned his Doctor of Pharmacy from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

Senior Vice President/ General Manager, Spend Management

Dan Kistner, PharmD

With more than 30 years of experience as a Performance Improvement Program director, clinical pharmacy specialist and clinical administrator, Jim has worked across both private-sector health systems and the Veterans Health Administration. 
Jim expertise spans medication utilization, formulary management, regulatory compliance, medication safety, quality management, and clinical program development. A dedicated leader, he is committed to driving meaningful improvements in pharmacy practice and patient care.
Jim received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed a pharmacy practice residency at Methodist Hospital of Indiana. He is a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist and a fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Senior Director, Pharmacy, Pharmacy Performance Improvement

Jim Lichauer, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP

Steven Lucio is a senior principal at Vizient, where he leads spend management insights and intelligence to help healthcare providers navigate pharmaceutical access, policy, and innovation. With over 30 years of experience in pharmacy and healthcare, he specializes in drug pipeline evaluation, future trends and budget forecasting, medication stewardship, and guiding health systems through the challenges of high-cost pharmaceuticals and other advanced therapies.
At Vizient, Steven collaborates with clinical and strategy leaders to address drug utilization, financial sustainability and patient access. A recognized thought leader, he provides expertise on supply chain quality and resiliency and has championed the growth of biosimilars’ market. He currently spearheads Vizient’s efforts to expand adoption of cell and gene therapies, advising on operational models, reimbursement and clinical workflows.
Steven holds a Doctor of Pharmacy and has extensive experience in clinical practice, healthcare policy and industry engagement.

Steven Lucio

Mittal leads oversight for the industry-leading <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/sitecore/service/notfound.aspx?item=%7b69699137-3D88-EB61-8E5D-B918F071FD0B%7d%40en" target="_blank">Novaplus&reg; Enhanced Supply program</a>, which gives Vizient members access to more than 100 million additional units of essential medications warehoused in the U.S. She leads a team that develops key strategic sourcing programs that focus on transparency, redundancy and commitment to support a resilient supply chain for essential medications, and to date, over a million doses of these critical medications have been accessed by health systems during a supply challenge.
Under Mittal&rsquo;s direction, the Vizient pharmaceutical portfolio incorporates generic injectables, branded pharmaceuticals, plasma products, pharmacy distribution and the private-label Novaplus program. She also leads strategy and oversight of the Vizient Pharmacy Aggregation Groups, including the Vizient Oncology Network. Mittal also plays a pivotal role in advocacy related to drug shortages, 340B contract pharmacies and the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="/sitecore/service/notfound.aspx?item=%7b2DBB47B0-84DF-D799-720D-46BFE55177F1%7d%40en" target="_blank">unapproved drug initiative</a>. She helped launch and is an advisory board member of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.enddrugshortages.com/" target="_blank">End Drug Shortages Alliance</a> and chairs the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://supplychainassociation.org/about-us/about-us-hsca-committees/" target="_blank">Healthcare Supply Chain Association Pharmacy Committee</a>.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mittal led a team that ensured hospital pharmacies had access to essential medications and COVID-19 supportive care treatments to treat their patients. This included collaboration with supplier partners and 503B entities yielding creative solutions that drove production of additional inventory.
With many years of leadership experience for Vizient&rsquo;s expanding pharmacy program and contracting team, she&rsquo;s held other positions within Vizient&rsquo;s clinical solutions and sourcing teams, managing numerous programs, and contracting activities including the plasma program, contrast media and radiopharmacy distribution, and leading strategies for non-acute sector driving enhanced value for Vizient membership.
Prior to joining Vizient, Mittal served in various healthcare roles, which helped shape her unique perspective and comprehensive understanding of how her current work positively influences the healthcare industry.
Mittal holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Business Foundations certification from McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. Mittal was recognized among <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jhconline.com/mittal-sutaria.html" target="_blank">Women Leaders in Supply Chain in the Journal of Healthcare Contracting in 2020</a>.

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