Health Supply Chains Improve Using Retail Best Practice

By Admin
A report released today by the University of Arkansas indicates that the healthcare industry is falling behind the retail industry when it comes to eff...

A report released today by the University of Arkansas indicates that the healthcare industry is falling behind the retail industry when it comes to effective supply chain management. The report suggests that the healthcare industry could benefit significantly from adopting several of retail’s best practices.

“The retail industry has a long history of adopting automation, complemented by scientific and mathematical models, to improve supply-chain operations,” says Ed Pohl, Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering. “Conversely, healthcare has been relatively slow to adopt these methods. Based on survey responses, we believe that considerable efficiency gains might be available to the healthcare supply chain through the adoption of best practices from the retail supply chain.”

Read Related Articles On Healthcare Global

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.

Also critical, healthcare is struggling to catch up with retail in the area of scanning technology, which is used to track materials by means of barcodes and RFID technology.

Furthermore, according to the report, the healthcare supply chain is lagging behind retail when it comes to professional training and education, specifically the skills associated with materials management, purchasing and warehousing.

Considering retail’s success, researchers conducted the survey to get a better understanding of the gaps between the two supply chains and to learn how the healthcare supply chain might benefit from adopting some or all of the best practices used by retail.

The first step involved identifying best practices. The researchers came up with an initial list of 22, based on an extensive literature review and guidance from a steering committee made up of industry leaders. The steering committee scored and ranked all 22 best practices according to their potential impact on business and their associated cost and ease of implementation.

From this ranking, the top 10 best practices were identified and included in the report. In addition to collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment, scanning technology, and education and training, best practices included >>>

  • Centralized purchasing and supply
  • Supply chain services reorganization
  • Regular cycle counting and stock rotation
  • Performance management
  • Actual usage inventory management
  • E-commerce
  • Data standardization

By using retail supply chain management as a benchmark, healthcare supply chain executives should consider implementing best practice strategies to bring healthcare standards up to par. 

The study was conducted for the Center for Innovation in Healthcare Logistics at the University of Arkansas.

Share
Share

Featured Articles

Hyfe AI uses acoustic AI in its digital cough monitoring

Hyfe uses acoustic AI in its digital cough monitoring. Dr. Joe Brew, Co-Founder & CEO of Hyfe AI, tells us more about coughing technology post-COVID-19

Siemens: smart finance to help medical technology growth

Penny Pinnock, Business Development Manager at Siemens Financial Services UK, discusses how adopting digital technology can support the healthcare sector

Healthcare Digital news roundup: prostate cancer & AI

This week in Healthcare Digital, we heard from experts in the sector: Trevor Dearing from Illumio, Avenda Health’s Brit Berry-Pusey & Vish Charan of Abbott

Lexica shares post-COVID-19 digital healthcare trends

Digital Healthcare

Medical devices expanding senior healthcare innovation

Medical Devices & Pharma

Abbott’s CRM medical devices can help cardiac arrhythmia

Medical Devices & Pharma