Innovation through optimized and integrated Patient and Supply Flows in Hospitals: the results of a collaboration network

A hospital consists of a complex set of clinical, material and information flows, which must come together in a point-of-care where the patient and the healthcare professional interact. The synchronization of the different flows in an efficient manner, calls for innovative solutions embedded in a network of multiple stakeholders. Collaboration networks among multiple stakeholders could enable hospitals to optimize flows by linking material and information throughout the supply chain (Durugbo & Riedel, 2013). The ultimate goal of this study is to develop a method and tool-box for the coordination, alignment and optimization of the patient, supply and information flows taking into account various resources (such as materials, staff and equipment) and the introduction of innovative IT systems such as RFID. The development of such a toolbox needs several operational management methods such as the design of a reliable and useful set of flow-oriented performance indicators, process modeling, process mining and simulation techniques. Furthermore, the toolbox should be designed in such a way that it can be implemented in hospitals to effectively steer and synchronize the different flows. This requires the involvement of different stakeholders such as academic research groups, suppliers and hospitals as users. Using a case study method, we describe how a network of two hospitals, an IT integrator, RFID technology providers, a logistics service provider, and multi-disciplinary academic research groups leads to the design of a useful and innovative tool-box. The collaboration within this study made it possible to investigate downstream and upstream relationships at supplier-hospital interfaces. This approach provided insights into supply and value networks and an in-depth understanding of the transition from ‘product thinking’ to ‘system thinking’ and involves intermixing products and services. Integrating the perspectives of the industry into healthcare was challenging. The terminology and focus within the different fields of industry and research led to communication difficulties. Using a multidisciplinary approach we overcame this challenge. An overall perspective on patient-, material- and information flows was created and the knowledge of suppliers and hospital management collaborating in the network was integrated. Moreover, from a contingency perspective we also integrated the opinions from care professionals (nurses and physicians) working in the hospitals. The innovative toolbox contains several applications and methodologies to develop an operational performance dashboard using hip surgery as case study. Measurements and tools are adjusted to the specific characteristics of healthcare. Healthcare managers are looking with bigger interest to optimizations of process alignment. While these concepts are not new in the industry sector. This is a rather new concept in hospital operations management (Villa, Barbieri, & Lega, 2009). Industrial companies have experience in several improvement programmes in the field of supply chain and information technology. Although, the healthcare sector differs from the industry because of specific characteristics, hospital managers can learn from this experience. This study integrates different perspectives, insights and competencies of experts of both private companies and hospitals. Moreover, a multidisciplinary research group sustains the research project. The results of this study are realized because of the broad knowledge of the different partners participating in the research project. We state that better cooperation between hospitals, hospital suppliers and research groups can sustain process optimization in healthcare. Research should fit the demand of the healthcare sector integrating multidisciplinary knowledge of both academics and practice