Chapter 8 Operations Managment and Supply Chain Managment{0}
This chapter talks a lot about supply chain management and how it affects a business’s bottom line and also the customer receiving the goods or service. A recent survey was conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas and found that the healthcare industry is in dire need of supply chain management. Heather Nachtmann, who conducted the survey, said, “…the healthcare supply chain is starved for accurate and accessible data, which are the primary barriers to efficiency, collaboration and standardization.” Nachtmann goes on further to note that on average a healthcare provider spent $72 million a year on supply chain related functions. This was a whopping one-third of the providers operating budget. Almost half those surveyed admitted that their provider’s supply chain was unstructured. It lacked definition of supply chain management process and much of it was not documented with no methods of process measurements in place. The need to implement a supply chain management system that would explicitly define process, tackle logistical issues and measure process is obvious. It is believed that this problem is one of the key drivers of healthcare costs today. By implementing a supply chain management system that is efficient and effect this will reduce the amount of money wasted on operating costs. This will, however, involve getting the manufacturers, distributors and providers to use the same supply chain management system to identify everything from scalpels to cups of jello-o. This should garner savings in operations and turn will translate into reduced healthcare costs to the patients.
Drug Store News. (2009). Survey finds healthcare supply chain needs improvement. Retrieved October , 15 2009 From http://drugstorenews.com/%28S%282pl54nfnqqnpeiraxdw3swjp%29%29/story.aspx?id=119085&menuid=335