July 27, 2023 – While the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events and geo-political activity have exposed vulnerabilities in the global supply chain in recent years, organizations across the healthcare industry have felt the impact of fragmentation—particularly as complexity has grown due to emerging markets, expanding product portfolios and numerous additional structural factors.
Cardinal Health™ Laboratory Products and Services distributes to more than 6,300 hospital labs, hospital-owned clinics and reference laboratories. From its perspective as one of the largest dedicated lab distribution networks in the U.S., Cardinal Health has unique insight into the complexities of the laboratory supply chain and how to proactively address fragmentation.
“With the continuing decentralization of healthcare delivery, the proliferation of new products and services to the market, and evolving regulatory requirements, supply chains are more susceptible to fragmentation and the associated costs,” said Emily Berlin, Vice President Laboratory Marketing & Aero-Med Commercial Sales and Operations.
“Clinical labs have faced labor constraints, supply availability challenges and unpredictable shifts in demand – events that are compounded and made more difficult to address with a patchwork supply chain.”
Fragmented supply chains experience rising costs due to stockouts, delays, quality issues, errors, lack of standardization, inconsistent processes and decreased visibility. For organizations aiming to evolve to a more integrated model, a comprehensive and systematic approach that enables better visibility, faster transfer of information and stronger alignment between clinical, operational and logistical teams is necessary.
Read more in the latest issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting.