Supply Chain transformations within hospitals

A systematic supply chain management system within hospitals is not only crucial to an  organsiations’s operational functioning, but has some far reaching impact of  its financial stability.

Zarine Najmuddin Khety, Head – Clinical Pharmacy and Scientific Officer, Clinical Research and Pharmacy Department, Saifee Hospital, Sojwal Vora, VP & Group Head – Supply Chain, Chief Procurement Officer, Manipal Hospitals, Dr Suresh Saravdekar, Consultant – Procurement and Supply Chain, Institute of Medical Sciences – BHU, Varanasi and Gaurav Loria, Group Head Quality & Administration, Apollo Hospitals in this panel discussion,  began an dialogue on having a holistic strategy for end-to-end supply chain within a hospital—and how it can have a dramatic result on a hospital’s bottom line and patient care. Experts on this panel, discussed on aspects such as need for a well-framed supply chain strategy, strategic advantages of superior supply chain system, critical capabilities required for the same, how NELEM can be helpful, quality checks and audits for medicines and processes and the impact of an holistic supply chain system on patient care and bottom line.

The panelists highlighted that healthcare organisations espcially hosptials, need to be concise on the quality standards and SOPs that ensures each link in the supply chain such as identification of the right product, vendor identification and evaluation etc., functions efficiently. They also stressed upon that fact that  communication, automation, data analytics are key in building a strong supply chain system.  Supply chains are expected to be very agile and hence governance and monitoring mechanisms in supply chain management are very crucial.

At the end, the audience were engaged in an Q&A where a lot of pertinent queries were raised and the experts shared their insights on the same.

Key takeaways

• Supply chain starts from the manufacturer. It is anything that happens from the time a product is manufactured to  the time until it reaches the patient. Cash flow management, inventory management, purchasing, patient-centricity all are elements of supply chain management.
• Maintaining an optimally functioning hospital formulary is essential to managing an efficient supply chain management
• Healthcare organisations should pay attention to details and ensure that each link in the supply chain such as identification of the right product, vendor identification and evaluation etc., is functioning properly to bring in better efficiencies in supply chain management.
• Supply chains are expected to be very agile and hence governance and monitoring mechanisms in supply chain management are very crucial. Just setting up processes aren’t enough, it needs to be ensured that they are being implemented efficiently.
• Improved communication, automation, data analytics, etc. will be very important towards revolutionising supply chain management in healthcare.

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