Supply Chain in Healthcare

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN IN HEALTHCARE
Supply Chain in Healthcare
Name:
Institution

SUPPLY CHAIN IN HEALTHCARE
Introduction
The healthcare supply chain is the flow of different types of products which
involves several stakeholders. Healthcare supply chain’s purpose is to ensure products are
delivered in time in order to fulfill the provider’s needs. This essay discusses the present
system used by healthcare organizations for supply chain maximization to achieve
maximum efficiency, the current technology for tracking purchases within the supply
chain and types of inventory control in Saudi Arabian hospital systems.
Present systems that are used by healthcare to optimize supply chain to achieve
efficiency are RFID which is the Radio frequency identification technology that links
objects to the internet so that they can be easily traced and organization can share data
about them. Barcodes technology works better than the manual system and is used for
automatic updating of inventory when employees scan them with a mobile device of
barcode scanner (Adebanjo, Laosirihongthong & Samaranayake, 2016). Another
system used by the healthcare companies is the Just-in-Time (JIT) which enables
healthcare organizations to make strategic decisions, hence reducing shipping and
shrinkage errors that may occur in the supply chain.
The present tools that supply chain is using to track purchases are Real-time
location system (RTLS) which manages and tracks assets like medical equipment across
the supply chain. RTLS improves customer service. Just-in-time (JIT) is supported by
Real-time in manufacturing and retailing which enables the organization to make firm
decisions. Enterprise resource systems (ERP) assist the organization by providing a
detailed application which melds the management of materials, financial, human resource