ABSTRACT
Contents 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................... 30 3.2 Literature ........................................................................................ 30
3.2.1 Supply Chain Models ............................................................ 30 3.2.2 Simulation ........................................................................... 32 3.2.3 Humans as Inventory ............................................................ 32 3.2.4 Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) ........................... 33
3.3 Current Supply Chain ...................................................................... 34 3.4 Revised Supply Chain ...................................................................... 36
3.4.1 Basis ................................................................................... 36 3.4.2 Ethical Considerations .......................................................... 36 3.4.3 Specification ........................................................................ 37 3.4.4 Looking to the Future ........................................................... 40 3.4.5 Simulation ........................................................................... 42
3.5 Conclusions .................................................................................... 43 3.6 Future Research ............................................................................... 43 References ................................................................................................ 44 Appendix A: Supply Chain Simulation Model .............................................. 45
3.1 Introduction Supply chain considerations in the healthcare industry have been thoroughly examined with respect to medical professionals, supplies, and medications. Varying approaches have been taken in these discussions, most of which rely on characterizing patient volume for determination of needs. The unifying theme through all of this work has been consideration of the patient as a customer entering a system.
