| Abstrakt: |
The following two chapters form a single unit summarizing the results of interviews conducted with experts from centers of excellence in eBusiness. While this chapter concentrates on the healthcare providers' view, the next one focuses on the suppliers' perspective and provides a conclusion drawn from all findings. The goal of the interviews was to get a coherent picture of the eBusiness arena by reflecting the experts' opinions on • What is to be gained for an individual organization by adopting eBusiness procedures • What needs to be considered when changing an organization and its processes • What type of barriers still exist in the eBusiness environment • What are the driving forces for moving the providers and suppliers towards the critical mass of users in the eBusiness community • What kind of new opportunities arise from eBusiness besides optimizing the order-to-payment cycle • What the future of eBusiness in healthcare will be Besides general facts about the organization the experts come from and its eBusiness activities, we were mainly interested in an appraisal of the status quo, the expectations, and opinions about new options to better understand the underlying mechanics and dynamics of electronic trading activities in healthcare. Experts from 16 organizations were interviewed: 15 representatives from the healthcare industry (seven providers and eight suppliers) plus one expert from the paper industry serving as a contrast to the healthcare sector. In contrast to initial assumptions that the hospitals were mainly guided by the idea of process automation and the reduction of process costs, the interviews revealed a multitude of reasons to motivate eBusiness. The primary reason for hospitals to adopt eBusiness were 1) process optimization in terms of greater efficiency and less errors, 2) standardization of procurement procedures coupled with a greater discipline in ordering products imposed by the system, and 3) the aggregation and standardization of the range of products purchased constitute the primary reasons for hospitals to adopt eBusiness. Decreased process costs played a less important role because it was unclear whether or not there would be any true savings without making staff redundant. The option of getting clean data and insight into the supply chain was considered to be of increasing importance for hospitals. When transforming the organization towards eBusiness procedures, hospital experts had the experience that backing from the executive level together with assembling a team of individuals dedicated to the ideas of eBusiness were the keys to becoming successful. Although barriers still existed, they did not hamper the adoption of eBusiness today as they did in the past. The technology was available and the technical infrastructure was implemented in many hospitals. Problems were found, instead, at the organizational level. Barriers and deficiencies could be overcome if all the different stakeholders made their contribution—the healthcare providers exerting pressure on the suppliers, the manufacturers providing concepts, and both cooperating in their efforts. Third parties, such as major online trading exchanges, group purchasing organizations, and purchasing cooperatives were also considered to be in a good position for fostering eBusiness procedures. eBusiness was acknowledged to be more than a tool for optimizing the business transactions, as had been clear when asking about the main reasons for adopting electronic procedures. Those hospitals that had gained experience in, or had focused on, new logistics concepts saw a close connection between logistics services and eBusiness, both of them mutually influencing each other.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
