International Journal of Supply Chain Management
Vol 6, No 3 (2017): International Journal of Supply Chain Management (IJSCM)

Inventory Management Applications for Healthcare Supply Chains

Laquanda Leaven (North Carolina A&T State University)
Kamal Ahmmad (North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro, NC, USA)
Demesha Peebles (North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro, NC, USA)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Sep 2017

Abstract

Recently, the healthcare industry has started using inventory management applications to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in its supply chains. There is a rapid growth in the demand of drugs and diagnostic systems within the healthcare industry. The biggest challenge for health care supply chains is to manage inventory efficiently and keep up the satisfactory service level at the same time. In order to meet the increased demand of healthcare products, healthcare supply chain professionals must find efficient and effective ways to improve and optimize inventory. Moreover, perishability and disposability of many medical products have been major problems in healthcare supply chain management. The current managerial practices and conflicts among different stakeholders in health care supply chains are directly associated with the issue of inventory management. This literature review will introduce various inventory management applications that are mainly focused on minimizing inventory costs and increasing overall efficiency in healthcare supply chains. The uses of simulation, new technologies to track healthcare products, new managerial practices, optimization, and information sharing techniques have been discussed throughout this literature review. We have also discussed pharmaceutical inventory management strategies in great detail, as pharmaceuticals are one of the main products of healthcare supply chains.

Copyrights © 2017






Journal Info

Abbrev

IJSCM

Publisher

Subject

Decision Sciences, Operations Research & Management Engineering Environmental Science Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Transportation

Description

International Journal of Supply Chain Management (IJSCM) is a peer-reviewed indexed journal, ISSN: 2050-7399 (Online), 2051-3771 (Print), that publishes original, high quality, supply chain management empirical research that will have a significant impact on SCM theory and practice. Manuscripts ...