Barriers and Best Practices for Material Management in the Healthcare Sector

The primary focus of the healthcare sector has been to provide patients with the best quality of care. Recently the escalating cost of supplies and the severe competition among healthcare providers has significantly increased the pressure on material managers to operate more cost-efficiently without compromising high patient care standards. While other sectors have experienced success through the deployment of supply chain management practices, the healthcare sector has not seen major improvements in this area; however, in spite of the uniqueness and complexity of the healthcare supply chain, opportunities for improvements are plentiful. This article provides an assessment of material management in the healthcare sector, by highlighting the areas of improvements, identifying barriers for implementing supply chain management practices, and analyzing material management best practices. Results of this study show that, while progress has been made, there are still many barriers that need to be overcome and essential practices that need to be implemented in order to achieve a more efficient, yet customer focused supply chain.