Patient-Focused Network Integration in BioPharma: Strategic Imperatives for the Years Ahead PDF

Preface

This book started out as an interesting set of conversations with some very insightful and intelligent people. For twenty-five years I've studied supply chains in almost every industry, including oil and gas, automotive, electronics, industrial production, and even financial services. And every time I met with executives, I heard the same statement: "We're different- you don't understand." But in the end, after spending enough time with these executives, it became clear that the same principles of supply chain management applied. Perhaps a different context, different terminology, but in the end, the same rules applied.

When I started dabbling in healthcare, I originally encountered the same sets of objections. "Healthcare is different," I would hear, "After all, you have to consider the patient." But as I spent more and more time with healthcare executives, I only rarely heard the patient mentioned in the discussion. More often than not, the discussion focused on compliance, reimbursement, diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), and other terms that had very little to do with patient care. And as I studied the industry more, it became clear that organizations in the healthcare value chain, from the patient through hospitals, wholesalers, through insurance payers, manufacturers, and finally research and development (R&D), were not very well connected at all. In fact, they each seemed to be operating independently, and the patient was often the very last parameter mentioned in the debate.

This led me to engage in a series of research projects, the culmination of which are the seven chapters in this book. Each chapter can be read as a stand-alone piece of research. However, the common theme throughout the book is that of the need for a life sciences network evolution. This is depicted as a common thread-the healthcare supply chain maturity model, which is described in the second chapter of the book. The book explores the proposition that in order to sustain itself, parties in the healthcare network will need to coevolve, and form a more fluid and streamlined approach to healthcare that is focused primarily on the patient. This proposition is further supported by extensive research I've conducted over the last five years through executive interviews, surveys, focus groups, and multiagent simulations. Together, I hope they provide a set of insights to help guide executives toward a sustainable healthcare network.