Smoothing It Out: Military Health Care Supply Chain in Transition

Health care provision in the US can be characterized by its ongoing consolidation of systems and facilities in its efforts to achieve clinical and business integration. An important goal in health care systems is integration to reduce fragmentation and gain value. Functional integration has a long history of association with clinical performance. Supply chain can dramatically support the goals of cost avoidance, improved clinical outcomes, and buffer the system from external dependencies. This paper examines the efforts by the Department of Defense to consolidate the medical supply chain and explores lessons for and from the civilian health sector supply chain.