How can hospitals increase price transparency amongst all the different departments and people? By fully embracing automation.
Automated tools are helping healthcare organizations pave the way to cost transparency. Cost transparency means having every hospital department on the same page. When teams have access to the same pricing data, they can efficiently manage thousands of contracts.
Price transparency is a great starting point for setting up a successful supply chain operations strategy. Additionally, mastering resource planning and risk and inventory management is pivotal to supply chain operations success. Don't worry, though, at BlueBin we are here to help walk you through the most critical steps and strategies.
Read on to discover the top 3 supply chain strategies for success.
1. Prioritizing Inventory Management for Supply Chain
Managing product expiration is the key to maintaining revenue optimization. Hospitals spending margins are usually paper-thin. Everything you can do to optimize the revenue will have a significant impact on overall efficiency.
When supplies expire before use, they negatively impact margins. Hospitals need to leverage supply chain strategies to cut down on and prevent expired supplies from happening in the first place.
Eliminate Excess
One of the best ways to eliminate product waste is to efficiently process all of your inventory. For instance, you could consider implementing a new product management system. The product management system will be able to control the supply chain inventory on all levels.
If you invest in the right system, you'll be able to precisely track which supplies your practice is ordering and all of the important details connected to the order. Next, you will match the supply orders to the quantity needed. You can check the math to ensure the numbers add up.
Safe and Accessible
Prioritizing inventory also helps put the patient's safety at the top of the list. This guarantees that all essential medical supplies will be accessible when needed, and allows for more time spent on patients. At the same time, you'll be able to maintain the proper inventory levels to avoid having excess supplies.
2. Supply Chain Strategy for Risk Management
There are four main aspects to a risk management strategy for supply chain:
- Prevention
- Preparedness
- Response
- Recovery
If you want to avoid disaster, you'll need to cover all four bases completely.
First, your company needs to take precautionary measures to mitigate all supply chain risks. Preparedness means you'll need to develop a contingency plan that you can quickly implement should an emergency arise.
Response refers to the ability of your company to execute the contingency plan promptly. Finally, the recovery aspect of risk management addresses getting back to how business used to be conducted before the emergency. A fast recovery plan allows the company to resume operations quickly.
To cover all aspects of your risk management model, you'll need to learn how to multi-source your solutions.
Mitigating Supply Chain Shortages
Remember the mask shortage when the pandemic began? Large-scale companies with fully automated production lines can produce 1,000 masks a minute, while smaller companies only make around 200 masks a minute.
The lesson to learn here is that you should have multiple suppliers. You could also consider finding a supplier that produces out of numerous locations to minimize your disruption risks.
Cybersecurity Threats
Don't forget about the cyber security aspect of your risk management strategy. Hacking, ransomware, malware, and fishing are just a few of the cyber security threats that your organization can face. You have to be up to date with the latest cybersecurity best practices.
Different environmental risks can make your company even more vulnerable. The best way to strengthen your cybersecurity is by establishing compliance standards for all third-party vendors. Hospitals should have compliance standards for all suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers.
3. Enterprise Resource Planning for Supply Chain
Have you heard of enterprise resource planning or ERP? The right ERP can help streamline your supply chain. ERPs are a way of integrating live management for core processes such as purchasing and capacity planning.
ERP systems help eliminate all sorts of financial fiascos for health industries and hospitals. As healthcare shifts to a value-based care system, you can expect ERPs to become more common.
For instance, there's a significant need for a clear insight into the cost of care. Many of the traditional ERP systems hospitals currently have in place are becoming outdated. At the same time, new systems are making it easy for data, like care costs, to become transparent.
When searching for an ERP, look for a system compatible with the software you're already using. The last thing you want to do is pay for a service that won't easily integrate with your current system. You'll also want to look for an ERP with the latest features to embrace all of the advantages of cloud-based technology.
Cloud-Based Technology
Since ERP uses the cloud-based technology approach, they embrace all of the digital world's benefits. Now large amounts of data can be sent in a matter of minutes. The systems are also great for accommodating high-performance demands.
ERPs have a few different automated features. They can help streamline the supply chain management process and they're the perfect solution for taking swift action once the order is received.
Easy Planning
Supervisors will be able to access real-time information to fulfill various tasks and will find it easier to plan dates for product deliveries as well.
ERPs also ensure that every production job aligns with the current demand. You even get help with managing procurement and supplies of raw materials.
Handling Supply Chain Issues With Ease
Here at BlueBin, we understand how vital optimizing your supply chain strategy is. We're committed to helping customers get the supplies they need and fast. Thanks to BlueQ Analytics, we were able to help organizations enter into the following operations of supply chain technology.
Are you ready to take your organization to the next level? Let us show you how our software can help.
Our software is 100% ERP compatibility, making integration fast and easy. Start a conversation with us, and let us show you some of the best supply chain solutions available.
