Healthcare supply chains are very different and often far more complex than those in other industries. Unfortunately, the pandemic brutally exposed weak processes and lack of hospital supply chain optimization: highlighting insufficient inventories, poor visibility, inaccurate data, safety risks, and unreliable supply.Now is the time for teams to re-evaluate and re-engineer processes to optimize hosptial supply chain.

Now more than ever, healthcare facilities need to address resiliency issues within their supply chains and work toward optimization that will improve revenue, patient safety, and overall performance. Today, we’ll be covering areas of focus to to improve healthcare supply chains. 

1. Know Your Costs 

While knowing your costs may sound obvious, many healthcare providers and hospitals don’t have a clear handle on their finances. Visibility is  further compounded by poor healthcare supply chain management resulting in  missing or inaccurate data, supply shortages, and/or excess waste.

Healthcare leaders need to evolve capabilities to clearly understand costs as well as revenue. It is not just about the price of the product but understanding the upstream costs and risks. Healthcare providers can look for cost patterns that  impact raw material costs or fall outside standard parameters to better understand  where future issues in supply management may arise. 

The recent  product shortages, supply expirations, and product recalls make  good inventory management processes critical to managing costs. Quickly understanding and predicting the cost impacts of these product outage situations is a fundamental need for hospital supply chain optimization.  

2. Ensure Effective Communication 

With the pandemic came unprecedented changes in how the operations of healthcare work. With shifts in personnel to remote workers and overall shortages in the ability to keep departments fully staffed, communication within the organization and with key business partners is another important area for processes to be examined.

Effective recall management is a crucial component of healthcare supply chain management. Unfortunately, poor recall communication between providers and suppliers has been an ongoing problem that comes at a high financial cost and risk to patient safety. The disconnect has become greater as many of these administrative functions are now conducted remotely- disconnected to traditional systems of communication like mail.

Suppliers frequently issue recalls for medication, supplies, and medical devices, but many continue to rely on inefficient mailed recall notices, delaying notification receipt,  increasing response times and ultimately increasing the time that patients are at risk. Moreover, duplicate and inapplicable notifications can lead to alert fatigue, increasing the risk to recall compliance.  

Fortunately, technology solutions like NotiSphere eliminate recall delays by improving communication between providers and suppliers. In turn, providers can quickly alert their patients, remove recalled products from the shelves, and implement appropriate alternatives. 

3. Embrace Innovative Automation 

Optimizing recall management processes will save lives, but innovative hospital supply chain software is needed to improve many traditionally manual activities. Automation is the future of healthcare supply chain optimization, improving efficiency, offsetting current challenges, and reducing costs throughout every facet of the supply chain.

Healthcare providers can benefit from many other automated solutions, including:

• Automated Inventory Management: Automated inventory management reduces the risks of supply shortages due to human error. Additionally, automating inventory helps providers reduce waste and monitor their budget and spending more effectively.  
• Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics uses data mining, statistics, and other techniques to predict and prevent illness and disease for at-risk patients based on current conditions, previous treatments, age, and demographics. Additionally, this data can mitigate patient readmissions and help providers better prepare for population health trends.  
• Blockchain Smart Contracts: Blockchain smart contracts automatically trigger transactions when specified conditions are met. For example, a provider can automatically share digital patient records with another provider that meets with the patient. Or, records can be pulled and submitted for treatment authorization seamlessly to achieve faster approvals. 

NotiSphere is one Solution that assists with   Hospital Supply Chain Optimization 

Hospital supply chain optimization results in improved efficiency, reduced delays, lower costs, and can save patient lives. While recall management is just one process within healthcare supply chain management, it’s a big one related to minimizing patient risk.

Every second counts in healthcare, and NotiSphere helps save precious time by bridging the communication gap between suppliers and providers with streamlined and easy-to-use recall management solutions.

Create your NotiSphere account to get started, or contact our team to learn more about how we can improve recall communications together.sts may sound obvious, many healthcare providers and hospitals don’t have a clear handle on their finances. Visibility is  further compounded by poor healthcare s=