Along with China’s reforms, especially the furthering of the systemic reforms in medical and healthcare systems, hospital logistics is also constantly exploring more innovative management practices. With the strong support of the leadership from the national healthcare administration, the painstaking efforts by hospital logistic personnel across the country, and the nation’s healthcare enterprises, the upgrade of the hospital logistics infrastructure has witnessed an unprecedented huge potential.

Dou Xizhao, the incumbent president of the National Association Health Industry Enterprise Management (NAHIEM).

NAHIEM was established in October 1992. Led by the National Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Working Committee of the Central and State Government, it operates under the guidance of the National Health Commission. Despite being a social organization, NAHIEM possesses national level administrative rights in the healthcare industry. It is a national and industrial social organization formed voluntarily by medical service providers, researchers, management entities, experts, entrepreneurs, and other personnel engaged in the healthcare industry. NAHIEM is a non-profit social organization. Presently, it has 87 branches, 5883 individual members, 3779 institutional members, 4 entity organizations, and 12 internal organizations.

From Independent Hospitals to Socialization

At present, there are 915,000 registered professionals engaged in hospital logistics management. About 10 million people directly provide logistics services to hospitals. There are more than 50 professional categories related to hospital logistics socialization services. A great number of companies are engaged with hospitals to ensure their service quality.  There are more than 5,000 property management companies nationwide. Hospital logistics has experienced profound changes in terms of management concepts, administrative models, and overall efficiency.

With respect to hospital logistics management concepts, hospital logistics administrators have constantly opened their minds and updated their concepts during practice of medical and healthcare systems reforms.  They, actively adapting to hospital reforms, have tried boldly to innovate.

In the past, each hospital has had its own logistic division solely responsible for its logistic operations. Everyone in the logistics department used to get similar rewards regardless of performance, causing low efficiency. Inspired by the successful experience of foreign hospitals, hospital administrators in China abolished the old operating model, which was bulky in scale and excessive in function. This has led to continuous and sustainable innovations in hospital logistics management.

Nowadays, hospital logistics has broadened its scope to the entire society. The new administrative model for hospital logistics keeps perfecting itself with the furthering of its reforms. It is supported by information systems and has become more professional and scalable. It uses modern management and technology more intensively and rationally to make the most of all resources and improve its efficiency and effectiveness. It not only greatly modernizes hospital administration but also contributes to the comprehensive reforms of hospitals.

At the beginning of the systemic reforms in medical institutions, the hospital logistics sector took the lead by making significant progress in management efficiency and actively exploring its own way of reforms.

NAHIEM came into existence as a necessity of hospital logistics reforms. Hospital logistics reforms focus on promoting the reforms of logistics management mechanisms, improving logistics management capabilities, and strengthening hospital’s cost management and control. This has helped to achieve energy savings and low consumption in hospital operations and improve the efficiency of logistics management.  Further, this has made logistics a vital pillar for hospitals and supports medical care, teaching, scientific research, disease prevention, health maintenance, and policy advocacy.

In addition, reforms and changes in hospital logistics have accelerated software and hardware upgrades in hospitals. The overall improvement of the quality of the hospital logistics management team has promoted the socialization of hospital logistics.  This has furthered hospital reforms and facilitated the rapid development of hospitals.

Rectify Shortcomings and Collaborate to Promote Logistics Reforms

Currently, the development of hospital logistics and healthcare enterprises must abide by the Healthy China strategy.  Driven by innovation and aimed to solve problems, reforms should focus on the development in key areas, overcome shortcomings, strengthen weaknesses, consolidate achievements, and push forward innovative development with the joint efforts of all the hospital personnel in the new era.

Hospital logistics managers and healthcare industry entrepreneurs should never let their reforms separate from the hospitals’ comprehensive reforms nor detach from the systemic reform in the medical and healthcare industry. All the innovative development should be integrated into the Healthy China strategy. Hospital logistics managers and healthcare industry entrepreneurs should be thoughtful and practical organizers who utilize all the favorable policies provided by the government to spur the development of the healthcare industry. They should also be dedicated and professional leaders who enhance the operating quality, efficiency, and vitality of hospital logistics. Their detail-oriented, specific, and wise leadership is a key factor for enterprises to become stronger, better, and bigger.

It is not beneficial to dwell on past achievements and highlights.  Instead, it is necessary to find gaps and recognize weaknesses. It is important to keep a clear mind while focusing on long-term and overall development objectives.  It is also necessary to stay agile at discovering and facing problems directly and then analyzing and solving them. No efforts should be spared to find and rectify deficiencies.

For logistics enterprises, it is necessary to strengthen employee pre-job and on-the-job training and assessment.  Strict supervision and management practices should be adhered to elevate the quality and standard of logistic services. In the process, administrators should listen to the opinions of others, be good at discovering problems, and learn from past experiences.  They should also improve and perfect supervision processes and procedures and delineate management policies. At the same time, new technologies and materials should be introduced to improve service quality, increase operating efficiency, and reduce operating costs.

Logistics enterprises, which are entering a new development phase, must continue to innovate and strive to be professional, streamlined, and differentiated. Logistics enterprises must achieve high-quality development during the “14th Five Year Plan” to make greater contributions to the overall development of a healthy China.

Hospital logistic administrators need to keep their managing ideologies updated and fully realize the important role logistics plays in hospitals. The quality of logistics services not only reflects the overall service quality of a hospital but also its image. Hospitals can use the professional services of logistics as a breakthrough point to comprehensively improve patient satisfaction and their sense of fulfillment. To optimize the systemic reform in hospital logistics, administrators must attach great importance to identify clear and precise strategies, design innovate disaster recovery plans and backup strategies, and vigorously promote comprehensive budget management. They should also strengthen the training of logistics personnel at all levels to improve their personal qualities, work ethic, service skills, and management competence to support hospital logistics reforms and development. At the same time, it is also essential to establish a sound evaluation mechanism and strengthen service supervision and quality control.

In October 2018, Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, provided directions related to the development of hospital logistics.  He stated that “The new era puts forward new and more demanding requirements for the high-quality development of hospitals. Hospital logistics administrators should always bear in mind that all their work must comply with the general requirement and mission of establishing modernized hospitals."  During the “14th Five Year Plan,” hospital logistics must continue to implement Ma Xiaowei’s directive, further streamline operations and improve management capabilities to fully promote high-quality development of hospital logistics.

The industry management association should take the initiatives to undertake and actively organize the research and formulation of hospital logistics specifications and standards. Meanwhile, it should further heighten the effort to summarize past practical experiences and use them as the basis to establish new policies and standards. The industry management association must capitalize on its own advantages, deepen its coordination and communication with all levels of government units, reflect the opinions and voices of the industry, and actively strive for favorable policies that are conducive to the development of the industry. It should also strengthen its relationship and cooperation with other social groups and enterprises and actively establish various forms of communication platforms for all ranks of people to share experience and encourage one another.  It is also important to facilitate and provide services that establish a system to evaluate the credibility of industry enterprises and formulate association standards.

The new era has presented hospital logistics administrators and staff and health industry entrepreneurs a new historical mission. They must continue to reform and innovate to improve and courageously shoulder the historical responsibilities entrusted by the new era. Problems, both historical and new, faced by hospital logistics reforms and development and the healthcare industry are layered upon each other.  The task of reforms is more arduous than ever.

Further development in reforms must focus on breakthroughs in innovation. Reforms and innovations have led to great changes in the healthcare industry. To realize a new leap in the new era, it is necessary to persist in making reforms and innovations the fundamental driving force. The innovative development of the healthcare industry is reflected in the market and comes from the innovative spirit of entrepreneurs. Healthcare industry entrepreneurs play multiple roles including organizers of key production elements, pioneers in innovations and entrepreneurship, promoters of transformations and upgrades, and creators of social wealth. Society must create a positive atmosphere to respect, inspire, value, and cherish healthcare entrepreneurs.

Hospital administrators ought to devote their strength and wisdom, cooperate with the party and the government, and use Chinese methods to further the effort in innovations and solve difficult reform problems surfaced from global healthcare. Only through innovative practices can logistics professionals be cultivated to enhance their own talent, expand, and push forward the medical and healthcare cause in China.