Developing Patient Care with Three New Models from SCM 1>

Experts from Booz & Company decided to create solutions to decrease medical costs according to increasing costs of healthcare globally through hospital supply chains, while helping to improve patient care. Jad Bitar, a Principal with Booz & Company said “In the MENA region, healthcare accounted for 3-5 percent of GDP in 2008 and has been rising rapidly at an average annual rate of approximately 15 percent since 2005. The region’s healthcare systems, like many others around the world, have so far been unable to develop a successful formula for providing high-quality, universally accessible healthcare at a cost that is sustainable over the long-term”. So that three models have been created by the company.

The first one simply aims to ensure supplies are in stock, while the second one is more advanced form utilizes a hospital-wide reach to decrease costs and improve efficiency. Also cost control with patient outcomes can be balanced by using the third model. Those models will replace ensuring required items are in stock to developing integrated processes and systems that aim to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance patient safety and clinical outcomes. The SCM’s right governance structure helps hospitals in achieving the balance between reducing costs and providing high-quality care.

As SCM is growing, it’s developed from focusing on the SCM team alone to a collaborative approach involving all stakeholders. “To achieve such a mature governance model means moving away from merely executing clinician orders to engaging with them in an on-going, constructive dialogue and equipping them with the proper information to help them make the right decision for their patients and for the hospital. This is a complex process that includes data collection, comparative and cost/value analyses, and communication” Bitar added.