RESUMEN
To gain and sustain competitive advantage, health-care providers have to continuously review and renovate their operational and information technology (IT) strategies through collaborative and cooperative endeavour with their supply chain channel members. This paper explores new ways of enhancing a health-care organization's responsiveness to changes and increasing its competitiveness through implementing strategic information technology alliances among channel members in a health-care supply chain network. An overview of issues and problems (e.g. bullwhip effect, negative externalities and free-riding phenomenon in multichannel supply chains) presented in the health-care supply chains is first delineated. This paper further goes over the issues of health-care supply chain coordination and integration for strategic IT alliances, followed by the discussion of the spillover effect of IT investments. A number of viable IT practices (such as information sharing and Internet-enabled supply chain portal) for effective health-care supply chain collaboration and coordination are then examined in this research. Finally, the paper discusses how strategic IT alliances can help improve the effectiveness of health-care supply chain management.
Asunto(s)
Equipos y Suministros , Sistemas de Información/organización & administración , Conducta Cooperativa , Eficiencia Organizacional , Internet , Administración de Línea de ProducciónRESUMEN
The Internet is transforming the US economy. Though it continues to lag behind other industries, healthcare has begun to incorporate this technology on a wider scale to reduce costs and more effectively address quality and patient-choice issues. This article presents the background of the US healthcare system, examines the application of e-health, advocates for the integration of e-health components and discusses the roles of major stakeholders in e-health as the basis for the strategic planning, initiation and implementation of integrated e-health systems. Strategic planning provides the opportunity for an insightful view and consideration of the impacts, expectations and responses of e-health stakeholders while implementing integrated e-health solutions for access to more cost-effective and better patient care delivery.