So why doesn’t this happen? Again, lots of reasons. Healthcare supply chain staff are busy. They don’t have time to find a buyer or seller, do the required paperwork, or set up a hospital as a new vendor in their accounting system. They also have contracts to abide by, and there’s a reluctance to step outside of that, even when it’s advantageous and doesn’t breach contract terms. For example, contracts often specify volumes at which hospitals must purchase items directly from the manufacturer, but that leaves the remaining volume, plus all non-contracted items for out-of-the-box sourcing. In addition, sometimes it makes more sense to purchase, say, two of an item instead of a box of twelve, or you need specialty items not under contract. All of these situations are ripe for sourcing directly from hospitals that have the inventory you need.
The concept is straightforward – supply chain professionals need a way to communicate and collaborate directly with each other, connect unwanted products with a provider that needs them, and streamline the entire transaction. We need a platform that allows hospitals to exchange assets instead of throwing them away, a platform that is a hybrid of Amazon and LinkedIn for healthcare supply chain.
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Providing the platform – the technology – won’t be enough. It requires action on the part of supply chain professionals, a change in both the way we think and a slight change in the day-to-day process. All supply chain professionals know they have waste, but rarely do they understand the value of the assets that get discarded. We monitor what is bought and what is used, we also need to measure what assets are being thrown away and their value, so we can understand the cause of the waste and make more informed decisions.
There is tremendous value trapped within supply chain that we need to unleash. If we give it the attention it deserves, we can buy and sell supplies, devices, capital equipment, and non-controlled pharmaceuticals hospital-to-hospital directly. We need the will and the way to create more efficiencies, recover costs, and reduce spend in supply chain.
About the author: John Kupice is the CEO of H-Source.
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