Industry Challenges

HSRC-ASU annually develops and disseminates a list of the top challenges for the health sector supply chain. These challenges are instrumental in guiding consortium thought leadership and research.

Downloadable versions of the 2009 Top Challenges and 2008 Top Challenges are available.

Health Care Supply Chain Top Challenges – 2009

• Increasing emphasis on maximization and demonstration of value in the supply chain. Strategic, focused and lean operations will become the standard. Distribution, inventory and transportation opportunities will be reconsidered. Reuse, waste reduction and recycling will become operative activities.
• Greater pressure on manufacturers, group purchasing organizations and distributors to demonstrate provided value and risk reduction in the supply chain. Value pricing, increased quality and evidence basis for improved clinical outcomes will be demanded.
• Response to the push for transparency. This transparency will encompass value, pricing, quality, clinical outcomes and relationships.
• Engagement of physicians in supply chain activities. The value of physician clinical expertise, their leadership capabilities and ability to influence will be viewed as critical elements for successful supply chain management.
• Heightened focus on supply chain trading partners for standardization and simplification of their business models. The quest for value and transparency will drive this movement.
• Greater focus on supply chain activities and supply costs by payors. Movement will be towards greater transparency and itemization of high-cost supplies.
• Response to the need for intensified scrutiny of supply costs and outsourced services by hospitals. The ability to maximize capabilities internally and add clear value to their institution will be prioritized.
• Prioritization of supply chain management. The necessity of prudent spending will serve to highlight the critical role that the supply chain plays in an organization's sustainability. The value of inclusion of supply chain leadership at the “C” suite level will increasingly be a consideration.
• Response to the scrutiny of supply chain trading partners. This scrutiny will be driven by ethical issues and the push for transparency, and will pose a threat of regulation.
• Demonstration of efficiencies and value that IT can bring to the supply chain. IT as the means to amass high-quality data at the supply chain as well as across an institution and link supply chain activities to higher quality, error reduction and maximized clinical outcomes will be highlighted. This will be facilitated by progress in metrics and product identifier standards.
• Integration of comparative effectiveness as a means to optimize clinical care and provide value. Comparative effectiveness research will be further delineated at the federal level. A shift will begin to occur whereby purchasing will be viewed through the lenses of value pricing with evidence basis for clinical outcomes.
• Fostering alignment, collaboration and integration of the multiple supply chain stakeholders. The push for value, transparency and evidence basis for clinical outcomes will lead to more areas in need of collaboration between stakeholders. Thought leadership will begin to identify opportunities and help drive this alignment.