The Power of Healthcare Procurement - its relevance, use and impact for better affordability, quality, and innovativeness in healthcare
Healthcare costs are soaring, becoming a major part of our economy. But one key factor that can help make healthcare more affordable, is often overlooked: healthcare procurement. The way hospitals and healthcare providers buy products and services directly affects costs and the quality of care. Even small changes in procurement can have a massive impact on the entire healthcare system. The COVID-19 crisis taught us valuable lessons about the challenges in purchasing and supply chain management. In this article, we are calling for collaboration among buyers and suppliers to create healthier markets, ensuring fair prices and high-quality products. Interested in how healthcare procurement could lead to better and more affordable care for all? Read it in our article.
At the European Lab for Innovative Purchasing and Supply (EL-IPS), we are pursuing several lines of research in healthcare procurement to better frame and develop the ‘business-not-as-usual’ roles for procurement and evaluate their potential impact. On this website, you will find an overview of our current projects and recent findings, and below we have some recommended readings and sources, we have drawn on in preparing this article.
Any questions, comments, or thoughts? We would be very pleased to hear you. You can contact us at e.peters@utwente.nl
Our research for further reading:
- Knight, L. (2023). Future procurement: We need to talk about markets. University of Twente.
- Peters, E., Knight, L., Boersma, K., & Uenk, N. (2023). Organizing for supply chain resilience: a high reliability network perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 43(1), 48-69.
- Tip, B., Vos, F. G. S., Peters, E., & Delke, V. (2022). A Kraljic and competitive rivalry perspective on hospital procurement during a pandemic (COVID-19): a Dutch case study. Journal of public procurement, 22(1), 64-88.
Other recommended research for further reading:
- Abdulsalam, Y., & Schneller, E. (2019). Hospital supply expenses: An important ingredient in health services research. Medical Care Research and Review, 76(2), 240-252.
- Nordman, E. (2021). The uncommon knowledge of Elinor Ostrom: Essential lessons for collective action. Island Press.
- OECD/European Union (2020), ‘Health at a Glance: Europe 2020: State of Health in the EU Cycle', OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/82129230-en.
- Ostrom, E. (2012). The future of the commons. Institute of Economic Affairs.
