Automating Procurement Contracts in the Healthcare Supply Chain Using Blockchain Smart Contracts

Ilhaam A. Omar,Mazin S. Debe,Ibrar Yaqoob,Mohammed Omar,Khaled Salah,Raja Jayaraman

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3062471

Ilhaam A. Omar, Mazin S. Debe + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3062471

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Journal: IEEE Access	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2021
Citations: 114	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Khalifa University of Science and Technology

Abstract

Effectively managing the healthcare supply chain (HCSC) process is crucial for healthcare providers not only during pandemics such as COVID-19 but also in their normal operations. Despite significant advances in new technologies and treatment options providers still suffer from poor procurement, ordering, forecasting, and distribution practices. Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) are an important stakeholder in HCSC and benefit providers with cost savings, volume discounts, and vendor selection. However, the current GPO contract process is time-consuming and lacks efficiency. Hence, our proposed solution integrates blockchain technology and decentralized storage to promote transparency, streamlines communication with stakeholders, and minimize the procurement timeline while avoiding pricing discrepancies and inaccuracies. Our solution connects all the stakeholders such as manufacturer, GPO, distributor, and provider using Ethereum network. In this paper, we propose a blockchain solution using smart contracts to automate the GPO contract process. We propose a generic framework for contracting process in the HCSC with detailed algorithms depicting various interactions among HCSC stakeholders. The smart contract code was developed and tested using Remix IDE and the code is publicly shared via Github. We discuss various security risks and present detailed cost analysis of various transactions incurred by the stakeholders. Our analysis demonstrates that the proposed blockchain-based solution is economically feasible as only a minimal transaction fee is expended by the stakeholders in the distributed network.

Highlights

Effective supply chain management is a source of competitive advantage across various industries, including healthcare
We propose a blockchain-based solution that improves the efficiency of contracting process in healthcare supply chains (HCSC) using Ethereum smart contracts and a decentralized storage system
We present detailed algorithms depicting the interactions among HCSC stakeholders including sequence diagrams that explain the proposed solution for Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) contract management

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Effective supply chain management is a source of competitive advantage across various industries, including healthcare. It is evident that GPOs greatly benefit healthcare systems by offering critical services including product portfolio management, vendor selection, contract negotiation, as well as provide statistical data and information that helps healthcare provider to improve supply chain performance [8]. The process is time-consuming and usually takes more than a month to finalize the contract that will be administered to healthcare providers Another important challenge in the current process involves ensuring that all stakeholders are simultaneously informed regarding the contracts and pricing updates. In this paper, we propose integrating blockchain technology to automate the GPO contract process to speed up the administration process and aid in enhancing the HCSC operation. We present detailed algorithms depicting the interactions among HCSC stakeholders including sequence diagrams that explain the proposed solution for GPO contract management.

BACKGROUND

IMPLEMENTATION

TESTING AND VALIDATION

DISCUSSION

Findings

VIII. CONCLUSION