When speaking about eBusiness as applied to the healthcare market two questions arise immediately. Firstly, what is eBusiness? Secondly, why is eBusiness in healthcare different from eBusiness in other sectors?

Within the arena of eBusiness in healthcare, the focus is on purchasing and selling online as the most advanced application. In this book, the Authors consider both the perspective of the healthcare providers and that of the suppliers, showing the interdependencies between the two and developing concepts for a new synergistic cooperation.

eBusiness in Healthcare raises awareness of and interest in electronically mediated business processes in healthcare to a large audience including healthcare informaticians, medical business managers, clinicians, pharmacists and scientists. By taking an international approach to the topic the authors demonstrate the many similarities of eBusiness problems and their solutions among different countries which permits analysis of the differences that are often defined by the national healthcare systems and their rules. Case studies from healthcare institutions and from suppliers in the US, the UK and Germany will illustrate the achievements, barriers and future plans, thus enabling newcomers to learn from previous experience.

Clinicians will gain significant insight by this book which demonstrates the interconnection between patient care processes and management issues at the level of medical supplies. The book also makes a plea for a multidisciplinary effort, to enable the right product to be procured for the right patient. As a rather new discipline, eBusiness in healthcare needs further scientific backing. Against this background, this book will not only provide answers but will also raise questions for future research. Managing change and innovation and establishing the critical mass for eBusiness in healthcare is a major undertaking. The aim of this book is to support this process.

Autorentext

Ursula Hübner has been a full professor of Healthcare Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück, Germany in the Department of Business Management and Social Sciences since 1997. Her research focus embraces process optimization in healthcare through open networks, in particular the internet, including eProcurement and eLearning. Before returning to university she was a scientist and project manager for R&D projects in healthcare IT at Groupe Bull Paris/Cologne for 10 years. She received her PhD from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany in 1990.

Ursula Hübner is a member of the Management Advisory Board of several firms in the eHealth sector. She is also a Faculty Associate of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore and lectures in Medical Informatics at the University of Heidelberg.

Marc Elmhorst is founder and Managing Director of trinovis GmbH, a consulting company with a focus on process optimization in the health care industry. His special interest is transforming business processes with the help of innovative IT solutions, an area in which trinovis has coordinated R&D projects since its foundation. In 1996 Marc Elmhorst founded Impress Software AG, Hanover, Germany and represented Impress as CEO until 2001. Under his leadership Impress set up subsidiaries in Johannesburg/South Africa, Boston/USA, Sao Paulo/Brazil and Sydney/Australia. Marc Elmhorst is active in the Chamber of Commerce as a member of its parliament and its Committee for Foreign Trade.

Zusammenfassung

eProcurement in Healthcare is a book that aggregates 5 years of experience of three successive R and D projects (ELCH, GetTogether, GROPIS) covering technical and organizational issues of eProcurement. The projects, which were funded partly by the government and partly by industry and hospitals, looked at the characteristics of procurement processes and at standard technologies. Two of the projects included case studies (ELCH, GROPIS), the third project focused on the development of standard business objects for eProcurement in healthcare (GetTogether). Together they form a rich source of information worth communicating to a large audience of experts and newcomers alike. Results from the projects are supplemented by the contributions of international experts and their particular views on eProcurement, which gives the book a global perspective and hence allows its readers to learn from a variety of different approaches. Each chapter of the book is structured in a way that satisfies the needs of executives as well as academics. A management summary, tables and graphics together with key statements of experts allow the quick reader to capture the main message of each chapter, whereas background information and reference to the literature address readers who wish to gain a deeper and more comprehensive insight into the field. The management summary and the expert statements will appear in boxes separated from the main text by visual cues, e.g. background color, font size, font type.

Inhalt
Elements of eBusiness.- to eBusiness.- Opportunities of Supply Chain Management in Healthcare.- Business Process Analysis.- Technical Background.- Integrated Information Systems.- Achieving Interorganizational Connectivity.- From Product Identification to Catalog Standards.- Applications and Experiences.- The Evolution of eBusiness in Healthcare.- An Integrated Strategy for eProcurement: The Case for Leeds Teaching Hospitals.- Supply Chain Management on Clinical Units.- Business Analysis.- Logistics Services and Beyond.- The Expert's Opinion: Part I The Healthcare Providers.- The Expert's Opinion: Part II The Suppliers.- Outlook.- The Supply Chain Model of eBusiness in Healthcare.