Bruce Johnson, CEO of GHX discusses five ways that healthcare organizations can utilize supply chain management to save more money and still be efficient.

As reform continues to force hospitals to find new ways to cut costs and increase effectiveness, many organizations forget about the processes and supplies needed to keep the business moving. An estimated “$5 billion is lost annually in the implantable device supply chain as a result of waste, inefficiency and lack of visibility” states Bruce Johnson, CEO of GHX, a leading healthcare supply chain management software/services company. Getting a better grip on managing a healthcare organization’s supply and demand will save tons of money to the organization while also increasing positive patient care.

Johnson notes that supply chain management in healthcare is not only about medical-surgical supplies anymore, but complex in nature involving more technology, consolidation and partnerships within the supply chain community. With supply chain management being the second most expensive cost under labor, hospital CFOs are looking for a better way to save more money and still be efficient at the same time. Johnson discusses five ways that healthcare organizations can utilize supply chain management to reduce the rising costs and run efficiently in light of all the constant healthcare reform changes.

It seems that the healthcare supply chain can look to retail supply chain models to get a head start on how to effectively foster these relationships. According to a study dedicated to supply chain best practices by the Center for Innovation in Healthcare Logistics at the University of Arkansas, researchers found that the retail supply chain has done a better job in the critical area of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment, which involves suppliers and retailers – or healthcare providers – working together to adopt order forecasting and inventory planning to create an integrated supply-chain network. There is much to be done at this level to move in the right direction of having a more effective healthcare supply chain model.

The full article from HIT Consultant can be viewed here.