JULY - 201919much or too little on-hand inventory and inaccurate forecasting. It's time to take a different approach to the supply chain.In a fee-for-service reimbursement model, the supply chain's job was to ensure product availability. With the rise in consumerism and the evolution toward fee-for-value reimbursement models, the supply chain not only needs to ensure "right product, right place, right time," but needs to work holistically to reduce the total cost of care delivery.The first step in building trust is improving the transparency of how products move through the extended supply chain. Greater visibility reduces the opaqueness that exists today--opaqueness that leads to misgivings between partners and the inefficiencies that follow.We now have technology, enabled by RFID, which allows us to capture the point of use demand signal and share the signal throughout the continuum of care through a robust cloud-based analytics platform. This tracks information from patient bedside back to the manufacturer.To respond to evolving needs and delivery models, the healthcare industry needs to go through the same sort of supply chain transformation that revolutionized retail and other industries. We need to focus on the first moment of truth and move toward a patient-driven supply network. We need to extend our thinking beyond our own four walls (be it provider, manufacturer or distributor setting) and think holistically.The principles and processes that allow the manufacturing industry to increase efficiency and reduce waste can be effectively applied to healthcare, such as Toyota's lean methodology and Kanban, a system that pulls inventory as it is actually needed.Patient Driven Supply Network (PDSN) creates a demand-driven supply chain for medical products, using lean principles and tools (e.g., RFID and Kanban) to create superior value for providers and manufacturers. The benefits are experienced for all stakeholders.To capture the benefits of PDSN, manufacturing professionals need to:· Understand how product moves across the value chain· Improve responsiveness by eliminating freeze periods and moving to a lot size of one, so they can quickly adjust production schedules based on consumption and not forecast· Take ownership for total system inventory and challenge their teams to reduce by a significant percentage· Ensure all teams in manufacturing have service to the customer as part of their management objectives (not just traditional metrics like schedule acceptance and adherence)The technologies required to make this a reality are available through the use of RFID and Kanban systems, and today is the right time for our industry to make this necessary advancement. By eliminating the inefficiencies we all know exist in our healthcare supply chain, we can ultimately help improve patient care and outcomes through an improved supply chain. Compliance remains a crucial component of every decision a healthcare facility makes, just the same, the building automation system you use must maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements
< Page 9 | Page 11 >