Article: Medsupplysoftware.com
FINE TUNING INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY Cost cutting adds to the profit. In the cost cutting drive in any industry, specially the health care industry, inventory management has large scope of extracting huge savings. Streamlining of the inventory through scientific inventory control modules is already catching up in the industry. In addition to savings from unnecessary investment in superfluous stock and wastage of expired medicines, properly streamlined inventory control relieves the nurses from sudden stock out and from record keeping. Thus helping them to devote more time to their primary responsibility of patient care. Types of stocks In the inventory control terminology there are two types of stocks, namely minimum stock and risk insurance stock. Minimum stock is determined considering the purchase and delivery lead time of the particular stock. The aim is to avoid stock out at any point of time as well as avoiding stocking unnecessary inventory. Stock out is alarming for health care industries as it directly affect the patients. For some life saving drugs or for drugs which take very long lead time, risk insurance stock is maintained. Minimum ordering level is fixed considering the stock in hand, lead time of delivery and consumption pattern. For reaching the probable estimated future consumption, statistical analysis is done taking last five years consumption pattern. Key Pain Points Another issue that comes up is concerning the stock positions at stores at different physical locations. In proper inventory management, coordination among various stores, poses real challenge. Patterns of consumption of medicines can often be erratic. For example there are many seasonal diseases when the consumption of some particular categories of medicines increases. All these things are required to be taken into consideration in inventory management. In addition to the stock levels the store officer is also to be in the know-how about the stocks in the pipeline. In order to maintain minimum level of stock, the stores officer is required to monitor the supply chain along with the purchase staff. For medicine stock special monitoring is required to sort out the stocks as per expiry dates. The issue of the medicines is also to be planned keeping in mind the expiry dates. You have to issue the medicines that are closer to the expiry dates first. This requires huge and precision record keeping and close monitoring. The solution In the age of digital technology that is the solution. The modern medical software’s with inventory management modules can be gainfully employed for streamlining such complex issues. Though prior to computerization you will need to organize the complete inventory management module as per your needs. First you have to be clear about your requirements. The IT team will ask for all the details
Article: Medsupplysoftware.com concerning the operations and you have to apprise your staff to cooperate with them, answering their queries and providing all the needed documents. Software’s like supplypro software are quite user friendly, powerful and flexible. These software’s are able to undertake various inventory control functions like minimum stock level checking, tracking by serial numbers, minimum ordering quantities, FIFO/ LIFO cost analysis, sales records, billing and adjusting stock levels in real time. It is also possible to arrange remote access through the use of internet. This is possibly the best available solution for health care industrial conglomerates. It is also possible to effect emergency purchase of urgent essential medicines or consumables by contacting supplier through such remote access software.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR James Reed is an expert in medical inventory control who loves writing many interesting articles and blogs, helping professionals in understanding the nuances of the function and adopting the best practices to maintain a smooth flowing supply chain. He recommends MedSupplySoftware.com as the name to trust for software’s meant to manage these functions.