Healthcare Supply Chain Technology and Strategy

Are we living through the single most revolutionary time in business? Or does it just feel that way? When I think about the combined forces of the Internet, cloud computing, social tools, mobile devices and a nearly infinite amount of big data, I wonder how any business can fail to be transformed. (The alternative being to simply fail.) Then I think of business at the dawn of the industrial era, and I'm convinced that we really are in the midst of revolution. Yet as a fan of history, I play devil's advocate with myself on all this.   Maybe what the business world is currently experiencing is not all that unique. I was recently reading about historical periods of business transformation and came across the fascinating history of the ice industry.  Yes Sorry  - not the  Big Ice Age ... but the ice business really.  The 1860s were the height of competitive American ice harvesting, when thriving firms like the Knickerbocker Ice Co. distributed ice to homes and busin...

Nod to Marcelo Ballve at CBinsights for the blog title  How many of you use the fax every day? Interestingly enough we hear disturbing rumors that over 20 years since the birth of the commercial Internet, fax machines remain in wide use in the economy.  According to CBinsights  Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said most traditional stock brokerages “still run on paper and fax machines.”  And get this  The worst offender appears to be the US health care industry. Surveys show a majority of medical communication, including sharing of patient data, still happens by fax.  Might the use of fax machines be positively correlated with an industry’s lack of innovation? or Is this just an American thing like writing checks? While we may not understand fully this somewhat old school approach,  we at TSH still have your covered.  The MDS-Nx System is specifically tailored to the needs of the health care community.  So it is no surprise, We offer an integrated ...

While not as prevalent today as in the past, there has been tension between group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and distributors over the years. A good deal of the tension was the result of a misunderstanding as to the roles each plays in the supply chain. For instance, many distributors believed — and may still believe — that they are in competition with GPOs. DEEPER INSIGHTS Turn Buyer Expectations into your Competitive Advantage While its not true for all GPOs and all situations, in the health care industry and in scores of other industries, that is not the case. In fact, instead of competing, distributors often can benefit from their association with GPOs. The Truth is it's almost impossible to exist in the health care supply chain without some GPO affiliations or membership. But the fact remains that the distributor remains the key element in the supply chain: the manufactured products are distributed and sold by the distributor and the distributor receives their typical fee...

Using the power of color can change how  people use your software and increase productivity and view your business.   Like death and taxes, there is no escaping  COLOR  It is ubiquitous, but it's rarely recognized for it's power to control peoples behavior. By utilizing the "Power of Color" within the MDS system you can easily draw attention or  give simple visual queues on any screen or field with the click of a button.  As an example the Open Accounts  Receivable  Screen now shows and past due invoices in RED - alerting a customer service rep visually that the invoice needs to get paid.  Simple and easy system changes like this allow you to control how people use the system and build a more user friendly environment.  For more on the power of color see below.  The Power of Color Red  is an engaging and emotive color. drawing a user's attention to elements on a screen. Yellow  is the first color a person distinguishes in ...