Editor's Viewpoint
A Survey of Healthcare Trends
To enable Canadians to become better informed about challenges to their Healthcare system, the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, developed nine e-surveys this summer. And recent studies by the commission have concluded that “the overwhelming majority of Canadians are definitive about their strong attachment to the current Healthcare model and its principles.”
Given the importance of this sector, LQ has conducted the first part of an ongoing study of Healthcare logistics. This summer, the Professional Logistics Institute worked with LQ to conduct an on-line survey by recommending a select group of logistics professionals in the Healthcare sector as candidates for bench marking research that might be of value to each participant as well as our readership.
A total of 27 professionals responded to the questions that were prepared with direction from three Healthcare professionals. While this is, at best, simply bench marking and and not a substitute for formal research, some of responses and observations were instructive.
Logisticians noted a wide array of concerns, with many commonalities. One of the first recommendations was a call for dramatic change in the traditional distribution model, and the development of a means to abandon conventional distribution models in this sector.
Information management consistently ranked as an issue that most Healthcare logisticians viewed as challenging. One respondent asked the fundamental and pivotal question: “who should control the information?” and alluded to the frustrating position derived from an inability to access the information required to understand the total cost in the supply chain.
A lack of funding and a slow adoption rate of new medical technologies as well as lack of logistics strategies were cited with frequency. There was also considerable concern expressed about a dearth of proper replenishment processes as well as a lack of dedicated software platforms. One respondent registered the view that the software platforms currently used are often clinically-based for accounting primarily, with logistics of secondary importance within such systems. Another concern consistently on the radar screen was the high acquisition and implementation costs of a common system and the existence of a want of interfaces between logistics, business and clinical systems.
Not surprisingly, a lack of government funding and storage space at hospitals clearly was irksome to some professionals. There was also a "perceived lack of control in decision making by hospitals working together." In step with this concern was the shortage of consolidation of warehouses within regions and a view that the consolidation of order information within province(s) could be used collectively to create cost reduction and product standardization. Decentralized purchasing was repeatedly mentioned as a concern. Another primary challenge included the diverse locations of customers and the need to find one carrier to provide a comprehensive set of services (parcel and LTL) for the special requests and requirements unique to healthcare customers.
There were, of course, many other concerns, too numerous to mention here. In this issue of LQ, David Yundt, CEO of Hospital Logistics Inc. (page 13) and Sarah Friesen, director of Supply Chain Services and Biomedical Engineering, Sunnybrook & Women’s College Health Sciences Centre (page 21), provide two insightful articles about trends in this sector.
In future editions of LQ, we’re looking forward to publishing more information about our healthcare survey in tandem with other well-researched documents about this vital sector.