By Devin Partida, Editor-in-Chief, ReHack.com
LinkedIn: Devin Partida
LinkedIn: ReHack Magazine
As the health IT industry has gained momentum, it has strengthened the pharmaceutical supply chain, providing many benefits to patients, medication producers and health care providers. What specific advantages can strategically applied technologies bring to supply chain management?
Improved Tracking
Many pharmaceutical products are in perpetually high demand. Additionally, some are tightly controlled substances, requiring pharmacies, hospitals and other entities to account for where these medications go and to whom.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) trackers can show the exact locations of individual medication containers, increasing operational visibility. RFID tracking prevents medication misuse and other issues that could attract regulators’ attention if not resolved.
Like RFID tracking, blockchain technology can improve supply chain processes by allowing managers to keep secure records of the routes of different supplies and transactions that occur along the supply chain.
Digitizing supply chain monitoring saves time and improves accuracy, allowing pharmacists and other medical professionals to spend more time in patient-facing interactions rather than time-consuming administrative tasks.
Additionally, some professionals use automated inventory tools that can show depletion rates for specific medications. Above-average usage rates could indicate unauthorized activities that require closer examinations.
In one case, Novo Nordisk Thailand used a digital verification system with a two-dimensional sticker on each package. Pharmacists scan the sticker to check authenticity and receive relevant information. The approach also included an app for professionals to report suspected counterfeit goods.
Accurate Forecasting
Supply chain shortages in the pharmaceutical world disrupt patients, providers and producers. However, oversupply can create similar disadvantages, especially if the goods have short shelf lives and are dangerous to use past their expiration dates. Making too many products also wastes resources by requiring manufacturers to spend time and supplies creating things in quantities people may not buy.
As pharmaceutical leaders try to correct oversupply, some may raise prices, assuming consumers will pay more, especially for medicines that significantly improve their quality of life. However, statistics suggest companies can achieve ambitious growth targets while transferring less than 50% of their costs to consumers and setting substantially higher net price increases.
Health IT platforms can improve forecasting accuracy, curb waste and allow executives to decide which products to make for which markets and when. Leaders may use advanced data analytics to predict the adoption rates after introducing a product in a new market. The outcomes could help them determine which advertising channels to use or understand which demographics most need the medication.
Some analytics tools advise users on addressing particular situations, helping them resolve the issue before conditions worsen. Other solutions receive data from connected sensors, allowing users to see material usage patterns, how products move throughout a pharmaceutical plant and more. These options minimize waste by optimizing processes.
Protected Patients
Health IT solutions can also reveal whether patients take medications as prescribed. Getting more details about the issue can determine if the noncompliance occurred because of confusing packaging instructions or similar problems. If so, the manufacturer may decide to tweak the language to make it more user-friendly while continuing to meet regulatory requirements.
People can also forget to take their medications as they age, leading some health care providers to take specific actions to reduce that likelihood. In one case, researchers created a portable medication reminder system with nine chambers for individual doses. This innovation gave older adults visual and audible reminders to stay on the prescribed treatment regimen. It also contained a phone-based component that calls people if they do not respond to the other prompts within five minutes.
Some reminder platforms also send data directly to health care providers. Those professionals can then determine if they should intervene at patients’ upcoming appointments.
Traditional reporting mechanisms encourage people to call phone numbers or use websites to report adverse events connected to medication consumption. However, patients do not always know how to access those channels, and they do not always attribute symptoms to their medications.
These realities are why some researchers suggest using social media as a monitoring mechanism for potential adverse drug reactions. Executives could set up health IT tools to flag specific names or keywords on social platforms. The resultant trends could reveal possible supply chain problems and safety issues in particular regions or among some demographics, prompting in-depth investigations.
Meet Supply Chain Goals
These real-life examples show health IT solutions are instrumental in strengthening modern pharmaceutical supply chains. Professionals who develop them cause measurable outcomes for everyone involved.