Improving healthcare data can save $100m a year

Inaccurate and inconsistent healthcare data is costing the Australian health industry up to $100 million per year, a new industry study claims.

The Australian Healthcare Industry Data Crunch Report suggests that improving data quality can potentially generate savings of between $30 million and $100 million per annum.

The report specifically looks at the potential beneficial impact of further adhering to the GS1 System of global supply chain standards and the National Product Catalogue (NPC), an initiative of GS1 Australia and the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA).

Analysis for the report was conducted by organisations including GS1 Australia, the School of Business IT and Logistics at RMIT University, the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) and NEHTA’s Supply Chain Reform Group (SCRG).

The analysis shows that the industry spends an estimated $8.8 million manually checking unit of measure data in purchase orders and $4.37 million to ship emergency deliveries due to undersupply.

Different supply chain partners meanwhile spend nearly $7 million to measure weights and dimensions for the same products.

Adopting a consistent set of standards and keeping better track of supply and demand could significantly cut down on this waste, the report states.

“For the Australian healthcare industry to benefit from the findings of this report, we need to follow up with action,” MTAA CEO Susi Tegen commented. “The participants in the study encourage all suppliers and buyers to adopt the NPC.”

Image courtesy of Susan Fitzgerald under CC