Supply chain management practices for improving patient‐oriented care

Purpose – The purpose of the present paper is to discuss organisational problems that occur in situations that are complex because the treatment of patients requires input from multiple health care providers, and to argue conceptually how to resolve these problems by using SCM practices.Design/methodology/approach – First SCM, being related to settings where several companies contribute to the production of one particular product, will be discussed in general. Since patient care is about service provision, the next to be examined will be service supply chains. Subsequently, major challenges in patient‐oriented care provision follow in settings where several health care providers are involved, based on which opportunities for applying SCM in patient care will be presented.Findings – Based on literature addressing country comparisons of patient experiences, four major problem categories are distinguished: communication, patient safety, waiting times, and integration. Although problems also occur within orga...