Get a jump start on the road to planning and radically improving medical supply acquisition and tracking processes. This book provides a new way for healthcare managers and hospital administrators to think about integrating electronic transactions throughout the patient care continuum.

Start with the Manage the Medical Supply Center model and its supporting analysis tools, modify the model to reflect your organization, then discover the answers to nagging questions such as:

• How do we improve cost effectiveness without impairing quality care?
• How much does it really cost us to provide care?
• How do we measure supplies per episode?
• How can we assure a well run supply program?

Successful supply-chain management can often mean the difference between failing or thriving in today's healthcare marketplace. Equipment - from sheets to surgical tape to disposable or durable, ingestible to topical - is the infrastructure that supports the provision of healthcare. One of the highest cost, highest risk (in terms of liability) segments of the healthcare delivery process is the supply chain. Improving the supply chain yields readily apparent benefits in lower costs and improved healthcare delivery. Linking the supply chain to the information chain, through a maximized electronic patient record, has the potential to yield exponential benefits by creating the next phase of resource management.

This book is titled Beyond the Supply Chain because in it we will demonstrate a more global, process-based approach to managing the electronic transactions that hold the healthcare industry together. Although successful materials management is vital to the economic viability of healthcare organizations, every aspect of healthcare in the hospital, longterm care facility, the home, or the clinic is part of the supply chain.

Healthcare organizations can easily use Wizdom's Healthcare Process and Practice Models and supporting analysis tools to improve internal processes. Starting with the base models and using the modeling tools, they can define their own processes. Then, process properties, such as:

• How long does the process take?
• How much does it cost?
• What is its impact on outcome?
• What documents support it?

In this book you will find:

• The origins and benefits of activity modeling.
• Healthcare Enterprise Reference Models.
• A best practices supply chain process model.
• Tips for change management efforts in your organization.
• An introduction to Ring Thinking.
• Case studies.
• An integrated glossary with over 500 entries.
• Solutions for operational effectivenes.
• Modeling and analysis theory and techniques.
• ProcessWorks!98 Viewer software and Best Practices Model on CD.

• Maximize the potential of your Electronic Patient Record (ERP).
• Develop a strategic assessment.
• Read, analyze, and develop activity models.
• Develop process improvement goals in half the time.
• Test and evaluate improvement plans before you implement them.
• Guide your team through a successful process improvement project.
• Easily identify outcome metrics and Enterprise requirements.
• Convert process models to application code.
• Maximize operational effectiveness.

Developed by healthcare experts for healthcare experts, Beyond the Supply Chain represents Wizdom's years of experience applying time-tested business process reengineering tools and methods to healthcare firms both large and small. This step-by-step guide is based on Wizdom's process and data modeling software and techniques.