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transportation issues and decrease back- orders. He also supports robotic process auto- mation (RPA), which “helps you complete repetitive tasks with bots, which means less headcount needed [that] could be passed to customer as savings.”
Realistically, Brennan anticipates AI, auto- mated guided vehicles (AGVs), bar coding, handheld/wearable technology and robotics being implemented first because “these are easier to get in place. We are already using and seeing these initiatives in market.” Still, demand manage- ment, predictive analytics and AI go hand-in-hand, according to John Freund, CEO, Jump Technologies. “I believe that the entire healthcare supply chain, from manufacturing to dis-
John Freund
tribution to consumption, will need to imple- ment more advanced AI = to better predict swings in demand based on outside indica- tors,” Freund said. “Using historical data to create demand plans would not have been helpful in avoiding the supply constraints that occurred when COVID hit. Pulling in more comprehensive demand indicators from the market to be able to predict the surge will be required. To accomplish this across the entire healthcare supply chain will require a substantial effort in data normaliza- tion, which this industry has traditionally struggled with.” Throughout the pandemic, real time inven- tory visibility of critical items in the health- care supply chain was lacking at a time when it was most needed, according to Jason Rosemurgy, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Terso Solutions. “There have been so many stories about missing, misplaced, or diverted PPE, ventilators, key therapies and drugs that it exposed the lack of controls that were in place,” Rosemurgy said. “It became so preva- lent that a new understand-
Jason Rosemurgy
ing seems to have been generated within many health systems that ‘we can never let this happen again.’”
Strategies being implemented with more fervor include Item-level tracking with radiofrequency identification (RFID), real- time location systems (RTLS) and inventory management software platforms that work together to share data and provide health- care systems with information so that they know where key products are, if they have been used, what temperature they have been stored at, if they are not where they are supposed to be and who had them last, he explains.
“This information is so essential in effectively managing the complexity of a hospitals’ inventory,” Rosemurgy noted. “Without the technology in place, people become reliant on old data and manual systems. RFID should be and will be the first technology adopted because not only is it addressing a real concern that has been magnified due to the pandemic, it is also able to be adapted to current workflows and existing technologies, making it the next logical step in inventory automation and security.”
The big picture
Premier’s Powell urges healthcare facilities to extend their scope beyond traditional supply chain areas, such as procurement and sourcing but also incorporate finance to streamline the procure-to-pay (P2) process and root out cumbersome manual tasks that generate massive inefficiencies and waste.
“Take, for instance, that healthcare
finance – including accounts payable/ receivable – still largely comprises manual, paper-based processes,” he said. “As many as 70 percent of all invoices in healthcare are paper-based and nearly 85% of all healthcare purchasing is still done manu- ally via paper checks. Across the industry, these transactions can add as much as $18 billion to $22 billion in unnecessary annual expenses for providers and even the sim- plest errors can lead to an average delay in supplier payment by 61 days. Not only is paper inefficient and expensive compared to digital alternatives but it also leaves room for errors when all of those paper forms are entered into purchasing systems. Peter Saviola, Vice President, Logistics and Supply Chain Optimization, Medline Industries, views low-risk but high-speed maneuvering as essential. “Process changes will come first because they typically require little to no capital investment, and provide speed to value, and in today’s con- stantly evolving environ- ment, rapid change and rapid deployment is essen- tial,” he said. “Technology will be quick to follow especially where proven technologies versus evolving tech- nologies exist specifically, technologies that address and simplify the labor effort.” These include wearable devices that pro- vide digital and voice-activated capabilities and automated guided vehicles. Workflow improvements from wearable technology can make a difference, according to Mark Wheeler, Director, Supply Chain Solutions, Zebra Technologies.
Peter Saviola 12 October 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
hpnonline.com
“Implementing wearable technology can help accomplish a number of operational objectives that are critical to success in the healthcare supply chain,” he observed. “These objectives include optimizing labor productivity and effectiveness, meeting customer service level agreements and controlling and improving visibility of lot- controlled and serial-controlled inventory. Wearable technology can make scanning and data capture of every materials trans- action efficient and ergonomic. In doing so companies can ensure item-level traceabil- ity and process accuracy. Wearable tools are also an ergonomically sound option for workers who need the technology to work with them as they perform their tasks and not add to their burden. I can see this being the first to be adopted and implanted due to the impact the technology can have on improving processes and its proven suc- cess to date.”
From weather events to geopolitical pol-
icy changes, supply chain has seen its share of disruptions within the last few years, but the global COVID-19 pandemic “opened a lot of eyes to inherent fulfillment challenges and exacerbated them for many,” according to Ken Fleming, President, Logistyx. “Exploding e-commerce order vol- umes, increasing carrier capacity crunches, ship- ping surcharges and price increases, and, of course, heightened customer expectations for rapid and inexpensive shipping have all complicated order ful- fillment and logistics for shippers around the world,” he observed.
Ken Fleming
“To effectively manage these and keep them from destroying both customer sat- isfaction and the bottom line, companies should implement a cloud-based multi-car- rier parcel shipping solution, replete with advanced business intelligence,” Fleming said. “By integrating a multi-carrier ship- ping solution into a supply chain tech stack, companies no longer have to ship with just one or two carriers. Instead, they can tap into an extensive carrier network that includes dozens of regional carriers, mak- ing it easier and faster to add and maintain carriers’ rates and services and enabling them to quickly react to carrier capacity limitations, surcharges and rate increases to better control costs and maintain on-time deliveries. HPN
See it online: Top trending tools, technologies:
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