ERP Fixes to Common Pharmaceutical Industry Challenges

While at the 2024 HIDA Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange that took place in Dallas recently, our team had the opportunity to meet with dozens of healthcare industry businesses who shared some of the challenges they routinely face within their industry. These include optimizing workflows, future forecasting, data security, meeting the ever-changing regulations of the industry, improving efficiency in warehousing and distribution operations, and handling vendor chargebacks.

Integrating a pharmaceutical Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution becomes essential in tackling the many issues administrators and providers confront as healthcare continues to change. Professionals in the healthcare sector can more easily improve productivity, optimize patient care, and streamline operations with the use of an ERP solution specific to the healthcare industry. An ERP consists of interconnected applications designed to address areas concerning inventory control, sales forecasting, DEA license management and reporting, DSCSA compliance, vendor chargebacks, and analytics, backed up and secured with disaster recovery, and high availability via the cloud. A pharmaceutical ERP solution is designed to manage the complete supply chain for pharmaceutical companies. They handle everything from production and inventory control to assisting with regulatory compliance and streamlining distribution.

Supply Chain and Inventory Control

An ERP system is critical in supply chain management and inventory control. ERP in this context involves integrating various aspects of the supply chain, from procurement and supplier management to distribution and inventory tracking. A pharmaceutical ERP solution enables organizations to streamline and optimize their business processes, ensuring efficient medical goods and materials flow.

The amount of data an integrated ERP gathers can be put to good use in the form of comprehensive analytics, helping managers and healthcare professionals make well-informed choices on patient care plans, resource allocation, and project management in general. Predictive analytics is also made possible in the healthcare industry by an ERP system. It helps healthcare providers predict patient requirements and maximize preventative care by examining historical data to identify trends and possible consequences.

Furthermore, a pharmaceutical ERP system contributes to efficient inventory control by implementing barcode scanning, RFID technology, or other tracking mechanisms. This ensures accurate tracking of stock levels, reduces the risk of errors, minimizes the chances of overstocking or understocking, and provides visibility to ensure critical products get to where they are needed most.

Sales Forecasting

A sales analysis application in an ERP system can assist in determining the expected level of demand so that companies may effectively manage inventory and allocate sufficient resources. Tools for performance monitoring can instantly analyze how well sales projections match real sales. Accurately gathering sales data enables a company to assess profitability and make operational improvements. A sales analysis application tracks quantity used, costs, and sales volumes while identifying any seasonal or recurrent patterns in the company. Based on volume, expenses, and profitability, companies can rapidly identify profitable or unprofitable clients, vendors, and items with this information, improving vendor and customer relations. 

DSCSA Compliance

The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) mandates that every stage of the drug supply chain be verifiable and traceable, with various milestones having been spaced over several years. Tracking a prescription medication from the point of manufacture to the point of sale to a customer is one example of this. This medication will come in containers with unique serial numbers. There are several forms of tracing, such as lot level and bottle level, which can lead to significant bottlenecks in the supply chain. Technology plays a crucial role in mitigating these bottlenecks. Implementing an ERP that houses all the many compliance requirements "under one roof" assists a business in maintaining compliance.

A pharmaceutical ERP solution is designed to be very particular to the pharmaceutical industry, meeting the requirements of the DEA, the requirements of the FDA, and the requirements of the different state boards of pharmacies with all their licensing requirements.

Decision-Making Support with Analytics

An ERP system integrates data from multiple departments and functions within a healthcare organization to produce a centralized information repository. This aggregated data can be assessed using advanced analytics techniques to extract useful information. An ERP system, for instance, may process customer data, financial data, and operational KPIs to provide comprehensive dashboards and reports. When it comes to resource allocation, and general project management, these reports can assist managers and healthcare professionals in making well-informed decisions.

Improved Data Security and Privacy

An ERP system improves data security and privacy in the healthcare industry, meeting the vital need to protect private patient data. Strong security features like encryption, audit trails, and access controls are built into these systems to make sure that only authorized users may view and alter sensitive data. An ERP system assists healthcare businesses in adhering to privacy requirements and fostering patient confidence in the security of their health information by instituting a secure framework.

Additionally, by putting in place proactive monitoring and alert systems, an ERP system helps to avoid data breaches and illegal access. This increased emphasis on data security protects patient privacy and keeps healthcare companies safe from any legal and reputational liabilities related to data breaches.

An ERP system such as VAI’s Pharmaceutical & Healthcare solution should give customers peace of mind knowing that the system is verifying Licensing and identifying suspicious orders to ensure they won’t have any issues with orders that ship, pricing and rebate/chargeback maintenance are handled beautifully within the package, and all regulatory requirements are able to be met including EPCIS information.

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