If we take a look at the cost structure of hospitals, we can easily see two big chunks (I mean main cost categories!): Personnel and supply. If we focus on the second one which constitutes 25-30 percent of the hospital`s operating expenses, there are lots of opportunities for cost saving even at the first glance.

The reason is that, healthcare in general and hospital sector in particular are behind the retail in supply chain practice. So if we can find relevant best practices in the latter for applying in the first one, it would great.

This idea has been employed by a number of consulting firms and research institutes. One of the recent one which I have seen is the SCMetrix. SCMMetrix is basically a benchmarking tool developed by W. P. Carey School of Business in Arizona State University. Some other organizations such as the Association for Healthcare Resources & Materials Management (AHRMM) have also helped to enrich the content of this tool.

SCMMetrix, as the developers claim aims to give hospital professionals a holistic view of supply chain performance and the factors contributing to it. I think it`s a good idea to take a look at it because it`s online and can be easily used, and for the moment (I think for the promotional purposes) it´s free too.