Track: Supply Chain Management

Abstract

The healthcare industry in Thailand has two main sectors: the government and the private sector. The private hospitals focus on providing service quality; it makes the customer satisfaction at high level. As a result, it leads the number and income of private hospitals to increase continuously. Therefore, private hospitals focus on improving both financial and non-financial strategies.

For the products, they are the main drivers of the healthcare business which are medicines and medical supplies; both types of products have different handling complexities. For the safety of the patient's life and a competitive advantage, therefore, it is necessary to manage such products effectively and appropriately.

                This research aimed to develop operational guidelines and inventory strategies including the development and prioritization of indicators for measurement of product performance accurately. This research uses data from directly interview with private hospital experts. For the beginning, it started by reviewing SCM indicators, applying them to the BSC perspective, then prioritizing the BSC perspective and sequence of the performance indicators within each viewpoint. The method of hierarchical analysis (AHP) is applied in both quantitative and qualitative integration which is under the complex context of the SCM system to be able to bring conclusions or strategies to practices.

                It was conducted through a literature review and confirmed through questionnaires with experts from private hospitals in Thailand. The study found that the most important management aspect is the financial perspective. The most important inventory management performance measurement indicators are medication error, inventory turnover, and management cost.