Research

As pressure to keep efficiency high and costs low continues to weigh on the healthcare industry, many hospitals are exploring new ways to manage their inventories. Some leaders are turning to lean and just-in-time (JIT) methodologies in efforts to achieve these aims. Lean and JIT aim to reduce the size of inventory and lessen the risks of overstocking, such as supply hoarding and occurrences of expired products.

To learn more about these techniques, The Academy spoke to three hospital supply chain professionals involved in making the transition with their respective organizations: the administrative director of materials management for a national children's health system; the vice president of supply chain operations for a large delivery network in Michigan; and assistant vice president for materials management administration at a health system in Florida.

“The product is there and available without needing to be stored for any significant amount of time,” the assistant vice president from the Florida organization says. “It doesn’t need to be stored and inventoried on the shelf and a quantity maintained.”