Supply chain management is crucial for mapping the care of patients, asserted Dr Anne Snowdon, who spearheads the Health-Supply Information Maturity (H-SIMM) – it is a model that combines clinical management with healthcare supply chains.
She added that not many clinicians pause to think about it, but it actually provides a useful method to map patient care. Snowdon explained that one of the main issues facing seamless healthcare services is the proper integration of numerous and varied IT systems across organizations.
This fails to capture the patient’s journey in a proper manner so that every clinician team or service provider is completely abreast of the process. Those include treatment such as drugs that have been prescribed and their outcomes, among other things.
As per Snowdon, the ultimate aim of a clinically integrated supply chain is automated tracking of each patient. It accords traceability which can play a pivotal role in accurate treatment or predicting certain health conditions.
By connecting it with clinical outcomes, an effective data resource could be built it. It could enable organizations take better decisions to further improve their performance.
By digitally connecting the supply chain with clinical program teams, the former also become useful in working towards safety, quality, and value in every program in an organization.
With the subsequent scaling up of such systems across health systems, a humungous and updated data source can be created in “real time.”
The three main advantages brought about by the digital integration of supply chains are quality, safety, and value.
