The Necessity of Seamless Hospital IT Solutions
“Winning solutions should be both cost effective, leveraging existing infrastructure where possible, and easy to implement, given staffing concerns.”
This was a key finding of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Report on the State of Hospital Business Solution Provider Relationships in 2023.1
Many hospitals struggle with disparate systems that aren’t integrated with legacy solutions. In today’s healthcare environment, marked by labor shortages, shifting to integrated and streamlined hospital IT solutions has become essential. According to AHA research, healthcare facilities need easy-to-implement solutions.
Cost-effectiveness is also crucial. Hospitals prefer interconnected solutions over standalone systems that burden IT departments. At a recent healthcare conference, supply chain leaders from different IDNs discussed efforts to reduce the number of systems. Their main challenge is managing numerous discrete, unintegrated solutions with limited IT staff.
Better hospital IT solutions can help supply chain opportunities
One big opportunity where digitizing processes and data significantly boosts efficiency is the supply chain. Across many industries, supply chain digital transformation can reduce process costs by 50% and increase revenue by 20%; hospitals are no exception.”2
For a hospital supply chain to be truly digital, processes must be automated, eliminating manual intervention and creating a seamless flow of information from one system to the next.
The two most critical systems for hospital supply chain integration are the electronic health record (EHR) and materials management information system (MMIS). Having a seamless integration of these data sources is important to providing safe and effective care and calculating the cost of care.
Examples of supply chain solution integration success
1. Product Replenishment
Consider product replenishment in a hospital. If a hospital’s supply chain solution is integrated with the hospital’s MMIS solution, users can be alerted when inventory levels go below PAR and order replenishment product all from the supply chain solution. If they are not integrated, users would still be alerted when inventory levels go below par by their supply chain solution, but they would then have to login to their MMIS to place a replenishment order.
2. Point-of-Care
Another example of where system integration is important is at the point-of-care. When a product is used on a patient, two tasks are required. The first is to document the use of the product; the second is to deduct that product from inventory. When a hospital’s EHR is integrated with their inventory management solution, those two tasks become one, saving the clinician time.
Looking Ahead: Ensuring Efficiency and Preparedness in Healthcare
As the healthcare industry faces ongoing staffing and supply challenges, integrating solutions with a hospital’s legacy systems has become more important than ever. Seamless integration enhances supply chain efficiency and accuracy, freeing up clinical time for direct patient care and ensuring products are available when needed. By adopting comprehensive hospital IT solutions, healthcare facilities can focus on their patients and offering the best care possible.
For more information on how integrated IT solutions can benefit your hospital, learn more about the Owens & Minor’s QSight platform.
1 Becoming a Health Care Business Partner of Choice, American Hospital Association (AHA), January 2023
2 How Digital Transformation Can Improve Hospitals’ Operational Decisions, Harvard Business Review, January 18, 2022