Title: Evaluation of integration technology approaches in the healthcare supply chain

Authors: Spyros Kitsiou, Aristides Matopoulos, Vicky Manthou, Maro Vlachopoulou

Addresses: Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece. ' Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece. ' Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece. ' Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, Thessaloniki 54006, Greece

Abstract: Healthcare organisations are increasingly being challenged to look at their operations and find opportunities to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of their supply chain services. In light of this situation, there is an apparent need for healthcare organisations to invest in integration technologies and to achieve the integration of supply chain processes, in order to break up the historical structure characterised by numerous interfaces and the segregation of responsibilities. The aim of this paper is to take an independent look at the healthcare supply chain and identify at different levels the core entities, processes, information flows, and system integration challenges which impede supply chain quality improvements to be realised. Moreover, this paper proposes, from an information systems perspective, a framework for the evaluation of different integration technology approaches, which can be used as a potential guideline tool for assessing integration technology alternatives, in order to add value to a healthcare-supply-chain management system.

Keywords: healthcare supply chains; integration technologies; added value; evaluation; value chain management; supply chain management; SCM; supply chain integration; information flow.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVCM.2007.015091

International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2007 Vol.1 No.4, pp.325 - 343

Published online: 13 Sep 2007 *

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