A hybrid approach for integrated healthcare cooperative purchasing and supply chain configuration

This paper presents an innovative and flexible approach for recommending the number, size and composition of purchasing groups, for a set of hospitals willing to cooperate, while minimising their shared supply chain costs. This approach makes the financial impact of the various cooperation alternati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health care management science 2014-12, Vol.17 (4), p.303-320
Main Authors: Rego, Nazaré, Claro, João, Pinho de Sousa, Jorge
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business and Management
Cooperation
Cooperative Behavior
Cost Control
Costs
Delivery of Health Care, Integrated
Econometrics
Equipment and Supplies, Hospital
Group Purchasing - economics
Group Purchasing - organization & administration
Group Purchasing - statistics & numerical data
Health Administration
Health care management
Health Informatics
Management
Models, Organizational
Models, Theoretical
Operations Research/Decision Theory
Purchasing groups
Supply chains
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Summary:This paper presents an innovative and flexible approach for recommending the number, size and composition of purchasing groups, for a set of hospitals willing to cooperate, while minimising their shared supply chain costs. This approach makes the financial impact of the various cooperation alternatives transparent to the group and the individual participants, opening way to a negotiation process concerning the allocation of the cooperation costs and gains. The approach was developed around a hybrid Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS)/Tabu Search metaheuristic, resulting in a flexible tool that can be applied to purchasing groups with different characteristics, namely different operative and market circumstances, and to supply chains with different topologies and atypical cost characteristics. Preliminary computational results show the potential of the approach in solving a broad range of problems.
ISSN:1386-9620
1572-9389
DOI:10.1007/s10729-013-9262-y