The need for healthcare transparency doesn't stop at information for patients and consumers. Healthcare providers need transparency and visibility in their internal systems to improve operational efficiency.
For example, software systems in the supply chain require a "complete overhaul," according to Harold Richards, system director of materials management at Naperville, Ill.-based Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare. He says systems don't always provide adequate visibility to help clinicians make informed decisions, and those that do provide some visibility still have their shortcomings. "Systems that actually provide visibility today aren't intuitive enough, which makes users work too hard for answers," Mr. Richards says.
Materials management systems in general haven't traditionally been designed for visibility, Mr. Richards says. "Unfortunately many of these systems are antiquated as they were not originally built for visibility and instead for messaging transactions to accounting systems." In a time when organizations are focused on electronic data sharing, such outdated systems present a hindrance.
Visibility also becomes an issue when clinicians need to immediately access certain items but their management software doesn't allow for easy purchasing. "Supply chain customers are evolving now and need to have instant access to core items which may not be stocked on a floor, and they also want to know when they'll be delivered and who's delivering them," Mr. Richards says. "Enterprise systems are forcing nursing and other clinical caregivers to remember cost center numbers, item IDs and wildcard characters in order get a box of gloves. These are the type of bottlenecks which cause nurses to bypass the system and order by phone, which happens to be a supply chain nightmare."
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