eBusiness in Healthcare: From eProcurement to Supply Chain Management / Edition 1

by Ursula Hïbner, D. Karagiannis, Marc A. Elmhorst, N. LeMaster

Overview

Here is a book that aggregates five years of experience of three successive R and D projects (ELCH, GetTogether, GROPIS) covering technical and organizational issues of eProcurement. The projects, which were funded partly by the government and partly by industry and hospitals, looked at the characteristics of procurement processes and at standard technologies. Two of the projects included case studies (ELCH, GROPIS), the third project focused on the development of standard business objects for eProcurement in healthcare (GetTogether). Together they form a rich source of information worth communicating to a large audience of experts and newcomers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846288784
Publisher:	Springer London
Publication date:	10/11/2007
Series:	Health Informatics
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	326
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ursula Hübner has been a full professor of Healthcare Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück, Germany in the Department of Business Management and Social Sciences since 1997. Her research focus embraces process optimization in healthcare through open networks, in particular the internet, including eProcurement and eLearning. Before returning to university she was a scientist and project manager for R&D projects in healthcare IT at Groupe Bull Paris/Cologne for 10 years. She received her PhD from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany in 1990.

Ursula Hübner is a member of the Management Advisory Board of several firms in the eHealth sector. She is also a Faculty Associate of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore and lectures in Medical Informatics at the University of Heidelberg.

Marc Elmhorst is founder and Managing Director of trinovis GmbH, a consulting company with a focus on process optimization in the health care industry. His special interest is transforming business processes with the help of innovative IT solutions, an area in which trinovis has coordinated R&D projects since its foundation. In 1996 Marc Elmhorst founded Impress Software AG, Hanover, Germany and represented Impress as CEO until 2001. Under his leadership Impress set up subsidiaries in Johannesburg/South Africa, Boston/USA, Sao Paulo/Brazil and Sydney/Australia. Marc Elmhorst is active in the Chamber of Commerce as a member of its parliament and its Committee for Foreign Trade.

Table of Contents

Elements of eBusiness.- to eBusiness.- Opportunities of Supply Chain Management in Healthcare.- Business Process Analysis.- Technical Background.- Integrated Information Systems.- Achieving Interorganizational Connectivity.- From Product Identification to Catalog Standards.- Applications and Experiences.- The Evolution of eBusiness in Healthcare.- An Integrated Strategy for eProcurement: The Case for Leeds Teaching Hospitals.- Supply Chain Management on Clinical Units.- Business Analysis.- Logistics Services and Beyond.- The Expert’s Opinion: Part I – The Healthcare Providers.- The Expert’s Opinion: Part II – The Suppliers.- Outlook.- The Supply Chain Model of eBusiness in Healthcare.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Diana P. Jones, EdD, MS, RN (Slippery Rock University )
Description: The definition and the application of eBusiness in healthcare is the central theme of this book, which provides many good examples of how eProcurement (online purchasing) and eCommerce (online selling) work. There are many solid examples and strategies that organizations can implement to become experts in supply-chain management. Launched in 1988 as Computers in Healthcare and renamed in 1998 as Health Informatics, this series is updated to reflect the evolution in the field of healthcare informatics.
Purpose: According to the author, the purpose of the book is to make full and creative use of the technology to tame and to transform information that advances the quality of patient care. As a result, health informatics will foster the development of the knowledge age in healthcare. The book is needed and timely, reflecting the emerging field of healthcare informatics.
Audience: This book was designed as a resource for nurses, managers, clinicians, pharmacists, and students, but it raises issues that apply to a broad range of healthcare professionals who have a need to understand purchasing and selling online. Experts in healthcare informatics, serving as educators, editors, or authors provide their accounts of innovation in purchasing and selling online.
Features: An introduction to eBusiness in healthcare helps nonexperts gain an understanding of the concept. Discussions of eProcurement and eCommerce applications follow. Many definitions are used to describe new concepts. The book defines and discusses supply chain management and business process management. The authors discuss the industrial sector's experience in this area and how the knowledge can be transferred to the healthcare sector. Particularly well covered is the issue of supply chain management on clinical units, which discusses how healthcare supplies can be efficiently procured and managed on an inpatient hospital clinical unit. Using case studies from a large teaching hospital, the authors outline how using an automated system known as PAR Excellence technology resulted in cost-effective, improved quality processes for supply replenishment. As a result, budget directors, managers, third party payers, administrators, and nurses all benefited from the automated system. One group of chapters describes the technological requirements for eBusiness, the components, their relationships and the solutions. The authors make the case for why technology is not simply a necessary tool but a strong vehicle for shaping a new business. Unique features include a list of abbreviations in the front of the book, which is valuable as there are many abbreviations used throughout the readings. The authors use many tables to illustrate their points. Each chapter begins with an executive summary and ends with a conclusion, summary, and list of references. The book ends with a helpful subject index.
Assessment: It has only been recently that the concepts of eBusiness and supply chain management have been applied to healthcare management. This book provides a foundation and application of eBusiness in healthcare from the business management domain using electronic resources. This is a high quality book and a good resource for a wide audience of healthcare professionals interested in learning about this new approach to purchasing and selling online. The book would be especially beneficial to those who are unfamiliar with and not primarily involved in the day-to-day business of purchasing and materials management but who make important decisions on medical supplies and products.

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews:

"The definition and the application of eBusiness in healthcare is the central theme of this book … . The book is needed and timely, reflecting the emerging field of healthcare informatics. This book was designed as a resource for nurses, managers, clinicians, pharmacists, and students, but it raises issues that apply to a broad range of healthcare professionals who have a need to understand purchasing and selling online. … This is a high quality book and a good resource for a wide audience … ." (Diana P. Jones, Doody’s Review Service, April, 2008)

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Diana P. Jones, EdD, MS, RN(Slippery Rock University )
Description: The definition and the application of eBusiness in healthcare is the central theme of this book, which provides many good examples of how eProcurement (online purchasing) and eCommerce (online selling) work. There are many solid examples and strategies that organizations can implement to become experts in supply-chain management. Launched in 1988 as Computers in Healthcare and renamed in 1998 as Health Informatics, this series is updated to reflect the evolution in the field of healthcare informatics.
Purpose: According to the author, the purpose of the book is to make full and creative use of the technology to tame and to transform information that advances the quality of patient care. As a result, health informatics will foster the development of the knowledge age in healthcare. The book is needed and timely, reflecting the emerging field of healthcare informatics.
Audience: This book was designed as a resource for nurses, managers, clinicians, pharmacists, and students, but it raises issues that apply to a broad range of healthcare professionals who have a need to understand purchasing and selling online. Experts in healthcare informatics, serving as educators, editors, or authors provide their accounts of innovation in purchasing and selling online.
Features: "An introduction to eBusiness in healthcare helps nonexperts gain an understanding of the concept. Discussions of eProcurement and eCommerce applications follow. Many definitions are used to describe new concepts. The book defines and discusses supply chain management and business process management. The authors discuss the industrial sector's experience in this area and how the knowledge can be transferred to the healthcare sector. Particularly well covered is the issue of supply chain management on clinical units, which discusses how healthcare supplies can be efficiently procured and managed on an inpatient hospital clinical unit. Using case studies from a large teaching hospital, the authors outline how using an automated system known as PAR Excellence technology resulted in cost-effective, improved quality processes for supply replenishment. As a result, budget directors, managers, third party payers, administrators, and nurses all benefited from the automated system. One group of chapters describes the technological requirements for eBusiness, the components, their relationships and the solutions. The authors make the case for why technology is not simply a necessary tool but a strong vehicle for shaping a new business. Unique features include a list of abbreviations in the front of the book, which is valuable as there are many abbreviations used throughout the readings. The authors use many tables to illustrate their points. Each chapter begins with an executive summary and ends with a conclusion, summary, and list of references. The book ends with a helpful subject index.
Assessment: "It has only been recently that the concepts of eBusiness and supply chain management have been applied to healthcare management. This book provides a foundation and application of eBusiness in healthcare from the business management domain using electronic resources. This is a high quality book and a good resource for a wide audience of healthcare professionals interested in learning about this new approach to purchasing and selling online. The book would be especially beneficial to those who are unfamiliar with and not primarily involved in the day-to-day business of purchasing and materials management but who make important decisions on medical supplies and products. "