Creating an Effective Hospital Supply Chain

In the provision of quality service, a hospital needs a supply chain that merges logistic and purchasing operations of clinical elements. Attaining this objective is not always easy. A well-integrated hospital supply chain incorporates all relevant parties in and around the hospital into its process, including clinicians, finance, clinical outcomes, executive leaders, physicians and others, in other to achieve optimal success. When creating an integrated supply chain, all major players should be involved, making it easier to identify the patient, the product, and the outcomes. An efficient integrated hospital supply chain works hand-in- hand with its partners, communicates well, get processes and matters completed quickly, and delivers clinical results efficiently. A few important aspects of an integrated supply chain are:

Senior leadership support

Senior leaders play a very important role in the overall capacity of the organization. They can organize necessary parties together to enhance the operational and clinical processes. This helps them to obtain optimal care for patients at a reasonable cost. Senior leadership participation through integrated supply chain systems helps to push the culture change that is necessary for hospitals to work towards a medically robust supply chain. Hospitals spend a lot of cash on supplies. Senior leaders have required an understanding of the larger picture concerning the strategy of the establishment that can be tapped into in order to control costs.

Engaged and educated Physicians

Hospitals with successfully integrated supply chains involve physicians and clinicians that consume most of the supplies within the facility. Involving and educating physicians in the supply chain process enables hospital staffers to realize shared goals and understand how to improve the supply chain and patient outcomes. A majority of physicians are often not aware of the cost of the utensils they work with. A study published by Health Affairs noted only 19 percent of physicians and residents could correctly guess the cost of 13 regular orthopedic materials.

Product variation reduction

Clinical workshops, seminars, engagement activities, and education can be effective in focusing on minimizing product variation and standardization. This helps remove ‘preference’ from the picture, and provides a working formula that makes sure you’re always paying the best price.

Cover all the loops

As materials managers work with physicians to attain an integrated supply chain system, there is a need for tracking relevant data and consistency in order for this to work as it should. Closing the loop with physicians is important and so in every effective integrated hospital supply chain, this should be a standard. Delivering stats and information on standardization and utilization helps give physicians required insight into present performance and contract compliance to deal specially with areas for extra expense reductions and more clinical alignment. An effective integrated hospital supply chain changes the organization culture to one that is truly focused on driving value and helping to make sure you are using right products for the right reasons. The most valuable advantage in an integrated hospital supply system is the organizational difference that comes with integration where everybody is turning over rocks to seek  opportunities. For information on how we can help, contact us.