Digitalization Initiatives of Home Care Medical Supply Chain: A Case-Study-Based Approach

Abstract

The exceptional COVID-19 crisis has shown the fragility of the health supply chain and the need for its digital transformation. However, digitization initiatives for healthcare supply chain have focused mainly on the hospital as a central point of consumption as well as on the relationship between the hospital and its suppliers. Thus, unlike previous studies that have focused on the digitalization of the internal supply chain of hospitals, this article is centered on the digitalization of external trajectories, particularly, the home care medical supply chain. This perspective complements the hospital-centric model, in which logistics activities are analyzed only from the point of view of the focal actor, which is the hospital. In order to understand this contemporary phenomenon embedded in a local context, we have conducted an in-depth case study. Based on an enriched model of the digital supply chain developed by Queiroz et al. (2021), this article offers for the first time a deep understanding and digitalization initiatives of the home care medical supply chain. The research proposals can guide logistics managers and nurses on their initiatives of digitalization of the home care medical supply chain, and further strengthen the healthcare development. This article draws the attention of healthcare stakeholders to the importance of efforts in the digitalization of external trajectories, thus allowing the healthcare system to adapt to the growing needs of elderly people and people with physical or mental disabilities.