Reference: Dixon-Fyle, Sundiatu, Kowallik, Thomas (2010) Engaging consumers to manage health

care demand. Mckinsey & Company.

Mwachofi A, Al-Assaf F (2011) Health care market deviation from the ideal market. Sultan Qaboos
University Medical Journal.

Demand in hospitals

The growing demand of better healthcare facilities, and technological advancement in hospital
capacity management solutions are the major growth drivers for the global hospital capacity
management solutions market. Additionally, the increasing investment by healthcare IT companies,
growing demand for integrated healthcare solutions, and increasing number of hospitals are also
driving the growth of the global hospital capacity management solutions market. The growing
numbers of mergers and acquisitions, and increasing adoption of mobile health IT are some of the
major trends observed in the global hospital capacity management solutions market.

Healthcare demand is gradually rising. According to Dixon-Fyle and Kowallik , many countries will
spend more than 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care by 2050. Two main
contributors to this growth are the increasing prevalence of preventable illness and the suboptimal
use of healthcare resources. These factors are influenced by choices consumers make. For instance,
obesity is on the rise in the United States. Obesity is preventable and can increase the risk of
diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Some patients do not take appropriate control of their health
and seek treatment when conditions become chronic. The lack of initiate to live a healthy life and
prevent chronic illness such as obesity has led to misuse of the healthcare system, hence, increased
cost .

Reference: Rahman, B., N. Wilson. 2010. An HSRC-ASU White Paper Repositioning Supply Chain in
Health Care Systems,Supply Chain Management.

Raviprakash, A. V., B. Prabu, N. Alagumurthi, V. Soundararajan. 2009. RFID : Rx to Healthcare

Industry

Supply

Supply Utilization Management helps reducing wastages, value mismatch and misuse through
standardization and proper specification. Virtual centralization of the supply chain on the other hand
helps improving level of cooperation in hospitals thereby helping them controlling costs and
improving services.

Common Service Center (CSC) brings together geographically dispersed healthcare units together
and allows them to work together to attain maximum efficiencies in procurement, contracting and
customer service.Presently hospitals are looking for new sources of competitive advantage and cost
cutting measures wherever possible. It is imperative to look into the supply chain management
aspects and identify areas in which they can improve the quality of service for efficient patient care.
Supply Chain Management in healthcare should ensure complete end-to-end visibility of information
among suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customers.
The healthcare supply chain involves the flow of many different product types and the participation
of several stakeholders. The main purpose of the healthcare supply chain is to deliver products in a
timely manner, in order to fulfill the needs of providers. Based on their functions, stakeholders in the
healthcare supply chain can be divided into three major groups: producers, purchasers, and
providers.