Healthcare Purchasing News may have closed the book in December on its 40th anniversary celebration, but technically HPN enters its 5th decade with the March edition. Until then, here’s a random list of 40 things the healthcare supply chain industry has now that it didn’t have four decades ago (more or less, even if it existed outside of healthcare).
- Artificial intelligence (no, we’re not referring to “management”)
- 3-D printing
- RTLS (e.g., radiofrequency identification, infrared, ultraviolet, etc.)
- Cellular/mobile telephones (traditional and smart)
- Wearable computers (e.g., eyeglasses, watches, wrist computers, etc.)
- Supply data standards implemented by roughly half the industry in some way
- Open electronic data interchange (EDI)
- Materials management information systems (MMIS)
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
- Widespread (greater than 50 percent at least) use of bar coding
- Bar-code-reader-equipped mobile telephones
- Kanban
- Stockless distribution by more than a few facilities
- Minimally invasive surgery devices (e.g., rigid and flexible endoscopes, etc.)
- Low-temperature sterilization systems
- Sharps safety devices
- Electronic health/medical records
- The term “supply chain”
- Healthcare Purchasing News (nee Purchasing Administration) (Shameless plug: Previously no trade magazine dedicated to covering the industry)
- Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (previously Lotus 1-2-3 under DOS)
- Automated supply cabinets/automated open shelving
- Laptop and notebook computers
- Electronic readers
- Single-use endoscopes
- Clinically driven value analysis
- Integrated delivery networks (IDNs)
- Self-distribution
- Centralized (provider-based) warehousing
- Payer-driven economics (prior to 1982, “managed care” and payer-governed reimbursement largely didn’t exist outside of several provider models)
- Proprietary EDI with translation software for value-added networks
- Lean and Six Sigma management principles
- Women occupy more than one-third of supply chain management leadership posts
- Robotics in distribution and logistics
- Open source software
- Data scientists as an official job title
- Online search engines
- Data breaches, hacking, phishing and skimming
- Social media to share concerns, questions and stories
- General public access to the internet/web (post-Arpanet)
Did we miss any? Comment below to us know!
About the Author
Rick Dana Barlow | Senior Editor
Rick Dana Barlow is Senior Editor for Healthcare Purchasing News, an Endeavor Business Media publication. He can be reached at [email protected].