Why Is Healthcare Supply Chain Management Important?

Ever since the healthcare system went through some drastic changes in the past few years, there has been a dire need for cost-cutting in inventory management by introducing more technology. According to surveys from various sources, 35-40% of healthcare providers in the U.S have major deficiencies in the Supply Chain System. The global growth of the pharmaceutical market added many shifts in price and supply volume of several generic medicines. Relative to that, the SCM has not made any significant strides.

Thus, it's high time that we need innovation in healthcare supply chain management and a strong connection with the extended network to improve its capability.

SCM Healthcare relates, in general, to products and services procurement and distribution as they travel from the production house to distribution centres, then to healthcare providers, and finally to the patient. The flow of goods and information occurs in a network of interrelated stakeholders who provide them. Those stakeholders are healthcare providers, insurance companies, manufacturers, distributors, and other middle agencies.

In healthcare supply chain management, the participation of government regulators is also implicated. These authorities assess the quality and appropriateness of a medical product or facility for selective patients.

The Healthcare SCM is incredibly complex, and currently, there are several loopholes. Due to a lack of efficient communication and several other reasons, there is a disbalance between demand and supply. Patients fall in a compromised position, especially in case of emergency needs.

Many hospitals are using primitive methods and tools to manage their inventory for medicines, tools, and machinery supplies. The process is not only cumbersome but prone to mistakes and requires more manual labour.

We need to optimize the coordination between the supply chain and the healthcare services. It has many advantages.

• It will promote improved accuracy in data through real-time procurement and analysis.

• Efficient time management between depleting stocks and supply.

• It will aid in obtaining the appropriate contracts with suppliers, which will encourage fair product pricing without exceeding the budget.

• It will enhance the patient experience.

• It will provide professional satisfaction.

Many healthcare organizations agree that they need better SCM, but they haven't implemented it. SCM is incredibly challenging for healthcare. Here are a few things that need attention.

• Often, operators fail to provide adequate data owing to a lack of resources and software.

• Poor maintenance of product uniformity.

• There is a tendency among few vendors to stockpile particular medications and sell them at a higher price. Or panic buying in adverse situations like it happened during the Pandemic.

• We need better regulatory measures in process and practices.

• Automated order entry systems for huge volumes by bulk action

• E-mail generation at certain steps of the order process and tracking notifications for better customer service.

• Bill and invoice generation for every payment

It allows a level of transparency among stakeholders. With better communication, they can make collaborative efforts to deliver quality healthcare needs to patients at critical times. Also, deal with the shortages with effective solutions.

To improve performance, individual healthcare organizations need to have strategies in place. It will help design a workflow suitable for them based on their workforce, equipment, and other resource availability.

These are vital for the management of a successful healthcare supply chain.

Investing in healthcare supply chain management is required for healthcare providers to increase ROI and workplace efficiency while also satisfying patients.

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