Research Paper Assignment: Healthcare Supply Chain, Leadership, Management, and Planning

Question:

How would you integrate concepts of Leadership, Management and Planning to create a vision for excellence in the healthcare supply chain, and determine fundamental tenets of performance evaluation for the healthcare supply chain?

Does your model from the question, immediately above, maximize clinician time for the care process? Discuss and explain your answer?

Body:

A. There are three concepts; Leadership, Management, and Planning. Each of these concepts are separate discussions, and should be labeled as an independent "title" for independent discussion in the paper. After each independent and separate discussion, you will bring all three together to explain how all concepts "integrated" helps creates a vision for excellence in the healthcare supply chain.

B. Below are "Things to Discuss," but with all that you have covered in your textbook up to this point, I expect you to include some things that are not listed. Each discussion point is related to either Leadership, Management, or Planning, but that is up to you to decide where it best fits. Where it fits depends on the direction you're going in. There is no right or wrong placement, it's up to you. With that said, you may find that four or five discussion points should be discussed under "Management," and three or four different discussion points should be discussed under "Leadership," and so on.

Things to Discuss:

- Discuss manufacturers, distributors and providers of care such as hospitals, health systems, and physician offices.

- Leadership and management principles that would work best for leading the healthcare supply chain.

- Discuss the importance of having long term strategic sourcing relationships (consider the need for the 'technology of care).

- Tools, models or techniques of demand forecasting and its benefits.

- What about the planning process?

- Discuss how the transaction history file is used to determine high volume, high dollar or clinician preference items and why is knowing this information important and beneficial.

- Enterprise Systems (purchasing, network security, finance, structured cabling, voice, networking, wireless & video conferencing, human resources, and inventory management).

- Is there a particular type of leadership model and management model you would utilize for leading people and managing resources in the healthcare supply chain?

- Discuss how you would categorize or segment healthcare supply chain items and which segments need clinician interaction and communication.

- Discuss what can be done to limit the impact of drug shortages, and how this is beneficial.

- Discuss the business model you would use and why, in order to lead, manage and plan within the context of the healthcare supply chain with regard to sourcing.

- The value and function of acquiring, in developing your thinking about leading, managing and planning within the healthcare supply chain.

- Discuss contract principles that are important in supplier or vendor legal agreements, and the benefits.

- Discuss how regular supply items (SKUs) are different from highly sensitive or security oriented supplies or pharmaceuticals with regard to inventory intervals and method of inventory.

- Discuss the leadership and management principles presented in the textbook that would work best for leading the healthcare supply chain.

- What metrics would you use and why, to lead, manage and plan within the context of the healthcare supply chain?

Things to consider:

- Consider what "supply chain" means and how this is applied to a healthcare facility when addressing "Things to Discuss."
- Consider all operations / departments of a healthcare facility.

Paper Formatting

1. The paper must contain at least 6 full-length pages (at a minimum).

2. 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced text, and one-inch margins all around.

3. Include page numbers.

4. Adhere to a recognized writing style for formatting citations throughout the paper, and the bibliography.

5. Your final paper must contain the following parts, in order:

- Title Page: This should contain paper title, course/section number, your name, professor's name, and the date.
- Introduction (not a thesis statement)
- Main body
- Conclusion
- Bibliography

6. Provide transitions to the next topic/subject matter that are clear.

7. Have clear topics introducing the subject matter being discussed.

8. YOU NEED TO PROVIDE TWO ADDITIONAL SOURCES IN ADDITION TO INFORMATION FROM THE TEXTBOOK (Books, Journals, etc.).

9. The title page, table of contents (if you decide to include one), and bibliography DO NOT count toward the required page total.