(TIỂU LUẬN) GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2 business IT and supply chain

GROUP ASSIGNMENT 2
Business IT and Supply Chain

Lecturer: Bill Au

Nguyen Tuan Thanh – s3695708
Nguyen Hoanh Dat – s3697277
Nguyen Dang Khoa – s3678800
Phan Quang Huy – s3678653
Le Khoi Nguyen – s3682366

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I. Introduction

Figure 1:

A core issue of Vietnam healthcare industry is the high occupancy rates in national
hospitals while there are available capacities in private ones. It can be seen from
Figure 1 that there is an inconsistency when private and public hospitals. Moreover,
according to Exson.com, Vietnam currently has 170 privates clinics, hospitals, takes
14,2% of the number of hospitals in the whole country; however, private hospitals
only take up 4.2% of the occupancy rate in Vietnam. The reason is the quality of
medical equipment or medical staff in private hospitals is still lower than in public
hospitals, at least in the mind of a majority of Vietnamese patients (Pwc, 2019).
According to the interview with Another reason for this mismatch is that not all of the
private clinics, hospitals have health insurance for patients while 100% of public
hospitals have health insurance.

Hence, it is necessary that private hospitals like Than Chan to cooperate with public
hospitals to increase its patients as well as reduce the occupancy rate of public
hospitals. The cooperation of public and private hospitals will also bring the visibility,
transparency and ability to respond as well as the collection and analysis of data
within the whole supply chain. Additionally, with the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the
birth of 5G, it is crucial for Vietnam healthcare supply chain to apply technology to
overcome its challenges such as manual work process, little collaboration between
departments, lack of organization’s visibility as well as maximize the capacity and
utilization.

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In order to tackle the problem of the extremely high occupancy rate in public
hospitals while there are available capacities in privates ones, the government
should impose the new regulation on the maximum occupancy rate for each type of
hospitals. This will encourage the collaboration between public and private hospitals
within an area to share the occupants and reduce the overcrowded situation in the
country.
This paper aims to analyze the case of Thanh Chan private hospital, investigate and
evaluate its current supply chain and then suggest new technologies to migrate its
manual supply chain to eSupply chain. Later on, we will discuss about some
potential problems that may occur during the implementation of technologies and our
action plan to tackle.

II. Current situation of Thanh Chan hospital
Background
Thanh Chan clinic is an international polyclinic with modern medical infrastructure

including 55 patients rooms that have 550 patients capacity. Furthermore, the
equipped machines in the clinic have the technology functions which are qualified for
the international standard. The workforce of the clinic is the experienced doctors and
nurses who have worked for the top-tier hospital. In terms of price concern, the clinic
is having reasonable medical examination and treatment costs which comply with
the regulations of the Ministry of Health (Phong Kham Thanh Chan, n.d).
The current aim of the clinic is to reduce the reliance on manual methods in
collecting data, communication and prescription. In addition, the clinic also wants to
leverage the implementation of technologies to improve productivity, efficiency and
collaboration within its supply chain.

The current process, technology + evaluation
Despite having high-tech facilities of Thanh Chan clinic, some software-systems
still needs renovation. One of those systems is the data collecting systems which
is mostly manual meaning that the data about the patients is on personal health
record or offline-storing in the clinic computers. However, in case of system

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collapse, without the backup file, these difficulties will significantly affect the
service of the clinic. Moreover, this offline health records is incompatible with other
hospitals’ systems, therefore, Thanh Chan may struggle when transferring patient
data outside the clinic.
Another category needs improving is the pen-and-paper prescription. Despite
the fact that doctors and nurses in Vietnam are more familiar with hand-writing,
this traditional prescription is claimed to affect the quality of the service. One of
the drawbacks is the cost. As stated in a report by S.T. McMullin (2005), the handwriting prescription takes approximately $4.12 more for each prescription,

compared with prescription provided by software. In addition, hand-writing
prescription may also be vulnerable to error meaning users have to spend more
time verifying compared to e-prescription.
Lastly, the communication among departments are currently is face to face
method, meaning a nurse will be in charge of delivering the message.
Nevertheless, this traditional type of reporting information is prone to error as it
relies mainly on human faction without any record of the conversation. This has
lead to a long lead time and reduced productivity

III. Application of advanced technology
EHR
Definition
As a complementing technology that can compatible with the cloud computing
system, The Electronic health records, in short term EHRs, is a technology software
that has the functions to store , analyze the health information of patients for the
purpose of ensuring continuous improvement in healthcare service, quality of
treatment and most important ensuring confidentiality at all times (Iakovidis, I., 1998).
In terms of EHRs system, the EHRs software is saved on electronic devices like
computers or laptops, making its usage can be from anywhere that has an internet
connection. Due to this attribute of technology, cloud computing is the essential

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infrastructure for the implementation of EHRs (Lian et al, 2014). Therefore, Remote
EHRs system is defined as “cloud-based” or “internet-based” (Health IT, n.d). In
another way, EHRs can be described as one of the crucial components of delivering
healthcare services to patients since it provides the availability of both clinical and

administrative patient data that are accessible and secured by hospitals based on a
common standard (Iakovidis, I., 1998).

Specific implementation plan (SMART method)
We will establish the electronic health record (EHR) for recording patient historical
data and electrical prescription for all Thanh Chan’s patients within a period of 6
months.
The first phase when implementing EHR is installing EHR on every PC on different
departments of Thanh Chan hospital such as treatment rooms, reception, et cetera.
Next, using PCs, employees will migrate offline data to the new online system.
During this process, any irrelevant document that couldn’t be electronically
incorporated into the EHR will be excluded. In this stage, a supervisor is required to
manage the accuracy of the data migration as this process is done manually by
employees.
The following phase is training, this includes 2 parts: training session and system
trail. The former focuses on educating employees on how to input as well as access
the EHR of patients in the system. Next, the EHR system will be put into motion
alongside the traditional method while the supervisor will check the matching
percentage between the 2. This will help him in deciding whether or not have
employees known how to use the system thoroughly. Finally, the system will be
customized for suitable perposes which are calculating the occupancy rate as well as
being user friendly for both internal employees and public hospitals. For example,
when a patient arrives at the hospital, this information will be forwarded to and
recorded in the main system and then being displayed to its users. Specially, the
EHR of Thanh Chan hospital needs to be compatible with other hospitals’ system for
the convenience when transferring patients from one hospital to the other.

Benefit of implemented technology
The first benefit of EHR is reducing human error from pen and paper prescription
results in lowering the cost of storing data, duplication of testing while improving

safety. Further, EHR provides accurate, complete, and up-to-date information about
patients. It also enables quick access to patient records with more coordinated and
efficient care. Moreover, data are collected and categorized making it easier for
users to observe while also avoiding leaking unwanted information. Overall, it
improves patient and provider interaction and communication with the system.

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Cloud computing
Definition
Cloud computing is defined as a system that users only have to pay for the
computing resources and services used to get access to data, files, programs and
the desired third party services from an online browser which is hosted by a third
party provider ( Kim 2009). There are 3 broad categories of cloud computing that are
worth-mentioned including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service
(PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) (Iacob 2015) (figure ….. ). The cloud
computing services provide extraordinary assists to the workers in the company that
applied the system. The main advantage of the implementation of the services is
believed to be the ability that helps employees to telecommute from home or from
any other place without physically presenting at the company’s headquarters (Iacob
2015). This means that workers can work anywhere as long as there is a laptop and
an internet connection. Furthermore, Baciu’s research (2015) illustrated that the
system also help employees to improve their productivity due to the increase in
storage space which helps users to attach files with large data with a reasonable
price, the fluent usage of the email service avoiding interruptions, email loss and
difficulties when recovering vanished documents. In addition, the centralisation and
standardisation of cloud computing improve the communication between staff by

providing features to access on the cloud servers which are constantly updated in
real time.

Figure:

Specific implementation plan (SMART method)
The suggestion for Thanh chan hospital is that they would establish a cloud network
for storing as well as managing medical information and occupancy rate with the
operation of 3-month period. This includes saving prescription and medical data in
the cloud precisely, build a platform in which worker can input and check the
information and create visibility for the whole organization.
Beginning at the first step, the company will have to subscribe to a cloud server,
specifically we will use Google cloud system. Google provides a system with a
reasonable price for a certain number of users while the capacity of the cloud is
customizable. Furthermore, the Google platform is familiar to most of the employees,

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therefore, they can work with the platform effectively and efficiently without much
training.

Figure : produced by the authors
In the next step, we will create an account to access the server for every employee
as well as supplier of Thanh Chan hospital. For example, nurse id will include : N
(short for nurse) and their ID number for each specific one (figure…….. ), the same
will be applied to other position (D for Doctor, S for supplier). In addition, each
account will have different authorities. For instance, for the external side, the supplier

can only access to the file that is relevant to the goods that they provide for the
hospital. For the internal management, each department can access and input
information related to their positions and responsibilities. For example, nurses can
add their time attendance or overtime hours on the system and check how many
days off remaining. The finance department can view these data on the server and
based on that to calculate the salary/bonus which can be checked by nurses.

Figure : produced by the authors
Finally, we will provide an online instruction videos for our supplier as their task is
relatively simple. For Thanh Chan employee, we will host a training session to guide

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them how to use the platform appropriately. For instance, the medical record in EHR
needed to be uploaded to the cloud computing to ensure the safety of information as
well as real-time visibility and collaboration.

Benefit of implemented technology
The application of cloud computing on the supply chain in healthcare industry has
plenty of impacts. It’s stated by many researchers that the 8.9% compound annual
growth rate in 5-year period (from 2017) is the consequence of the growing concern
on software solutions as well as cloud-based healthcare supply chain management
engines (LaPointe J., 2017). Firstly, the cloud platform will bring visibility and
collaboration in real time within the organization as well as other entities in the
supply chain of Thanh Chan hospital. Hence, the face-to-face communication will be
eliminated which will lead to a significant reduction the human errors created by
face-to-face communication. In addition, the cloud platform will make the information

easier to check if there is any error caused during the data input process. With the
help of the cloud server, Thanh Chan can reduce the lead time resulted from the
inefficient communication in the past. Moreover, the cloud technology will help Thanh
Chan develop a better management of its internal operation as well as the
cooperation with external parties. The cloud will also serve as a store for various
types of data collected by Thanh Chan which will play a crucial role for the data
analysis process. In addition, the scalability of cloud technology bring a huge benefit
to Thanh Chan as from an economic perspective, the implementation provides cost
flexibility and high potential to reduce costs (Cloud Standards Customer Council
2017). Another worth-mentioned benefit of the cloud platform is its ability to restore
data even in the case of server malfunction as the data is constantly being uploaded
online.

Predictive analysis
Definition
Predictive analytics is defined as a diversity of statistical and analytical skills used to
establish models that forecast future possible events and behaviors (Nyce 2017).

Specific implementation plan (SMART method)
We will establish a SPSS in order to further assist the analysing and predicting data
process such as the expected occupancy rate in the next 3 months, the amount of
required medicine in the next year, et cetera with the inaccuracy rate of 5% within 3
months.
In the first step, the company will have to subscribe to a predictive analytic
technology, specifically in this case is SPSS. After that, we will hire a professional
data analyst. His/her main tasks including processing the data in the system and
upload those data to cloud system which is divided into specific document for each

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specific related stakeholder (doctor, nurse, supplier, et cetera). We will supervise the
performance by examining the cause of the mismatch between actual and predicted
data in order to take further action such as change the predictive system or hiring
new analyst.

Benefit of implemented technology
Firstly, the implementation of predictive analytic technology will help maximizing the
capacity of the hospital by reducing spent time in the hospital, leading to a decrease
in cost. According to the case of Mercy Virtual, by using predictive analysis, the
hospital manages to reduce 35% of the time patients staying in the hospital which
increase the hospital’s ability to maximize its own capacities. Moreover, with the help
of predictive, Thanh Chan hospital can improve its decision making process or
planning strategy due to the information processed. For example, Thanh Chan can
use predictive analytics to expect the amount of inventory on next month based on
the trend of current occupancy rate, which types of medicine is highly used, et
cetera. This can create a great responsiveness to Thanh Chan hospital as well as a
demand- pull mechanism for its supply chain

IV. Potential problem while implementing
technologies
EHR
EHR requires extra and specialized training for physicians who are already reluctant
to the new system as its interferes with their existing routines. On the other hand,
patients also show resistance to the new changes due to their concerns about
privacy. For example, physicians aren't allowed to share their patient health record
with other health care providers without the patient's consent. According to Mathai,
Shiratudin, and Sohel (2017), patient negative attitudes toward the EHR system will

contribute to physicians' decision of rejecting the system in clinical practice.
Furthermore, EHR is an online system which can only be accessed via electronic
devices, therefore, in the case of server crash down, system malfunction, the whole
hospital system would be ceased. For example, Universal Health Services Inc.
recorded electronic health devices at 26 facilities were heavily affected due to 2
hours outage.

Predictive analysis
The biggest challenge for Thanh Chan hospital to apply predictive analysis is the process of
data preparation. Specifically, at this step, data needs to be cleansed, transformed and
reorganized into a suitable format for predictive analytic. This involves profiling the data,

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looking for anomalies, determining what types of data quality standards to apply and what
corrections to make, devising a data model suitable for analysis, and performing the
transformations needed to make data sets consistent (Loshin, 2018).

V. Action Plan to tackle potential problems
EHR
First of all, Thanh Chan hospital can persuades both physicians and patients by
demonstrating the benefits of EHR systems. For patients, they will be notified about
the application of EHR in nearby area and its benefits as well as the agreement of
sharing patient's health record between hospitals. Therefore, patients can only be
transferred from one hospital to another only if they agree to the terms above.
Meanwhile, for physicians, they are introduced to the benefits of EHR which
includes better health care by improving all aspects of patient care such as safety,
communication, effectiveness, and efficiency.

Next, the technological issue requires quarterly system maintenance. Furthermore, in case
of malfunction, the hospital should develop an action plan such as manual method to provide

physicians and staff with temporary guidance about workflows

Predictive analytic
In order to tackle the problem of data preparation for predictive analysis, we suggest that the
data analyst of Thanh Chan should work closely with other department on producing a
default platform to input their data on the cloud. According to the default platform, the
process of cleansing the data as well as reorganized can be solved a part. This is because
the data noise can be eliminated easily with an organized data from every department while
uploading to the cloud.

VI. Conclusion
In conclusion, after evaluating the current process as well as pointing out its
drawbacks, the paper suggests several solutions including EHR, cloud computing
and predictive analysis. The combination of all 3 technologies creates an ecosystem
with the aim of storing, managing and analyzing the data in order to speed up the
overall process and increase productivity while minimizing the human interaction
involved. Moreover, we propose suitable action plans for the mentioned potential
issues when implementing these advanced technologies. We acknowledge the
limitation in our action plans as it couldn't be better without creating new cost for the
hospital

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VII. Reference

Stephen Gatskin,’ The Vietnamese healthcare industry: moving to next level’, PWC,
< />Iacob, B. 2015, ‘ ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CLOUD COMPUTING
SERVICES, FROM THE EMPLOYEE'S POINT OF VIEW’, Legal Research Institute, no. 3,
p. 96-100
Kim W. 2009, ‘Cloud Computing: Today and Tomorrow’, JOURNAL OF OBJECT
TECHNOLOGY, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 66-67
Cloud Standards Customer Council 2017, ‘ Impact of Cloud Computing on Healthcare
Version 2.0’, vol.2, p. 7-8
LaPointe, J 2017, 'Cloud-Based Healthcare Supply Chain Management Drives Market',
RevCycleIntelligence, 12 May, viewed 1 September 2019,
< />CBC News 2015, 'Expired drugs found on pharmacy shelves', CBC, 09 April, viewed 1
September 2019, < />Adam Muspratt 2017, 'Tapping into SaaS, PaaS and IaaS', Crozdesk, 31 July, viewed 1
September 2019, < />Nyce, C. 2007, ‘Predictive Analytics White Paper’, American Institute for Chartered Property
Casualty Underwriters/Insurance Institute of America, p. 1

/>McMullin, S.T., Lonergan, T.P. and Rynearson, C.S., 2005. Twelve-month drug cost
savings related to use of an electronic prescribing system with integrated decision
support in primary care. Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy, 11(4), pp.322-332.
Loshin David, 2018, ‘Beat the challenges of predictive analytics in big data systems’, Logi
Analytic, viewed August 31 2019,
< >
Mathai N, Shiratudin MF and Sohel F 2017, 'Electronic Health Record Management:
Expectations, Issues, and Challenges', Journal of Health & Medical Informatics, Vol 8(3):
265
Myah, W 2019, 'Electronic Health Records at 26 Hospitals Hit by Two-Hour Outage,
Bloomberg, viewed 1 September 2019, < />
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Search Business Analytics 2018, Beat the challenges of predictive analytics in big data
systems, Search Business Analytics, viewed 1 September 2019,
< />HealthIT.gov 2019, What are the advantages of electronic health records?, viewed 1
September 2019, < />Phong Kham Thanh Chan 2019, Introduction, PhongKhamThanhChan, viewed 1 September
2019, < />Exson 2019, Được và mất gì khi bỏ bệnh viện công ra tư nhân, Exson, viewed 1 September
2019, < />
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