Healthcare Supply Management
PPE Shortages Disrupting Hospitals Nationwide: Portrait of a Broken Healthcare Supply Chain
A recent article in the Washington Post highlighted the massive shortages of PPE that are now decimating hospitals nationwide, as the number of new cases of Coronavirus goes through the roof. The Post notes that: “Health-care workers on the front […]
The PPE Shortage Nightmare is Far From Over — It’s About to Get Worse
Given the lack of discussion in the media on supply chain shortages in healthcare, one would think that this crisis has been averted, and that shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medicines, and hospital supplies is now a history lesson. […]
We Need Supply Chain Immunity, not Resiliency: A Position Paper
In today’s post I am sharing insights from a position paper that my colleague Dan Finkenstadt, PhD, myself, and other academic and government officers are working on. The paper is an attempt to create some logic in the fact of […]
Needed: A National Governance Framework for Healthcare Supply Chains
The Tragedy of the Commons – A situation in which a shared resource system, where individual users, acting independently according to their own self-interest, behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling the shared resource […]
Where are all the N95 Masks? A Supply Chain Dilemma
An interviewer asked a FEMA representative on CNN this evening a simple question: How many N95 masks will be delivered to hospitals, and when will they arrive? The representative managed to pivot and dodge the question, with a common response […]
Coronavirus reminds us to review supply chain continuity plans
The rapid escalation of the Corona virus has now devastated China and other regions, resulting in more than 800 deaths and more than 37,000 cases worldwide. The most critical outcome of this issue is the tragic loss of life, but […]
FDA Warns of Significant Drug Shortages – What Gives?
In a recent report, the FDA has warned of significant drug shortages in the U.S. These shortages are affecting approximately 130 drugs that are commonly used in the treatment of medical conditions or used in surgical procedures. The report titled […]
Physician Preference Cards: The Key to Hospital Low Inventory Utilization and Waste
Almost every hospital or IDN faces significant challenges in managing their operating room inventory, which can be traced to a simple concept: utilization. Utilization is simply a ratio of the $ value of clinical purchases BILLED to patients or insurance, […]
Hospitals Suffer from a Lack of Market Transparency: New Evidence from a Research Project with SCWorx
Healthcare in the United States of America is a USD $3.2 Trillion industry, yet is often described by experts as a “cottage industry” due to the lack of maturity surrounding its contract management and supply chain practices. Research suggests that […]
Using DRG Analytics to Drive TCO: The Holy Grail in Healthcare Analytics
Hospitals are bleeding money. After a period in the 1980’s where the AMA was dictating prices they could charge, Medicare regulation, Part B, and introduction of bundled payments has now severely restricted the payments coming in to cover operations. The […]