Hospital Level Inventory Control and System-Wide Cost Savings: A Case Study from Turkey

Abstract

Health Transformation Program (HTP) of Turkey, initiated in 2003, improved access to care and quality of health care services. In 2009, HTP implemented a centralized web-based information system to manage inventories of public hospitals. Prior to the introduction of inventory management, significant medical resources were wasted because of misuse, non-use and expiration of medical supplies. The objective of inventory management was to improve the efficiency of hospitals by projecting quantities of items likely to be needed by hospitals over a three-month period. The system also allowed transfer of unneeded and surplus items from one hospital to another. This article estimated cost savings for the health care system through the inter-hospital transfer of items. The success of inventory management was evaluated by using indicators such as the value of medical commodities purchased per unit of service delivered, value of stock to purchase ratios and the value of inter-hospital transfers. Trends in purchase, storage and transfer indicate that the new web-based inventory management infrastructure helped the hospital sector to become more efficient in terms of size of stocks held and inter-temporal changes in the value of stocks. It reduced system-wide waste of medical goods and pharmaceuticals, improved effective use of commodities and reduced storage cost.