Sustainable Healthcare Supply Chain: insights from Veneto region

This study offers a pioneering design for a ‘Healthcare Supply Network Model’ in order to investigate the logistic performance of centralized healthcare supply networks and quantify consequent benefits on the entire system. The focus is on drug inventory management and distribution and how it can be improved for benefits in terms of system sustainability. The benefits include: increased opportunity for healthcare professionals to focus on patient care, financial savings in terms of a reduction in annual public expenditure and transportation emissions reduction inside cities. A new Italian healthcare supply network is modelled and analysed by System Dynamics Modelling in order to understand the overall sustainability of the new integrated supply chain. Different drug consumption scenarios of such a centralized logistic system (a pull system, since the lowest echelons dictate distribution of materials and services) are simulated and finally its whole performance evaluated in term of the ability to create a more efficient, lower-cost and sustainable healthcare system in accordance with environmental, social and economic considerations.