Identifying standardised Key Performance Indicators for internal hospital supply chain: evidence from a multiple case study

Healthcare Supply Chain Management (SCM) refers to “the information, supplies and finances involved with the acquisition and movement of goods and services from the supplier to the end user to enhance clinical outcomes while controlling costs” (De Vries et al., 2011; Moons et al., 2019). The companies that make up the supply chain need to interact and cooperate to fulfil the purposes of the logistics processes - i.e. supply, distribution and warehousing (Balcazar-Camacho et al., 2016; Moons et al., 2019). The internal supply chain links the logistics processes and patient care services within the hospital (Moons et al., 2019). Assessing internal hospital supply chain performance considers various aspects and dimensions given the organisational structure and process complexity of such entities and the diversity of the stakeholders involved in service delivery likely to set different concepts for the term “performance” (Langarizadeh et al., 2024). This complexity introduces significant challenges in identifying universally applicable KPIs that effectively capture performance across the key dimensions of services standards, stock management, and operating costs. This study aims to identify a set of standardised Key Performance Indicators for the internal hospital supply.