Development of a Conceptual Framework for Performance Measurement of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain within Hospital

In recent years, the European hospital sector suffers the brunt of the economic crisis. This sector is now faced with a paradox, which is to reduce costs, related to the decline in government subsidies and an increase in the quality of care required by the regulatory bodies. This paradox can be resolved through the optimization of the hospital supply chain. Despite hospital supply chains having a great impact on hospital budgets, still opportunities for optimization exist and improve the health care quality. This article aims to propose a conceptual framework that allows hospitals to evaluate the performance of their pharmaceutical supply chains in order to identify bottlenecks and cost reduction opportunities. After reviewing the literature regarding to the hospital supply chain and the performance measurement, the authors focused on the study of hospital processes of pharmaceutical distribution within the hospital. The findings of this study propose a conceptual framework that will allow hospital to measure the performance of their pharmaceutical supply chain.