Material logistics in hospitals: A literature review

Hospital material management has been identified as one key cost containment lever to cope with steadily increasing healthcare costs in industrialized countries. The purpose of this work is to present the state-of-the-art of research on material logistics management in hospitals. Particular focus is given to articles that apply quantitative methods. Our contribution is threefold: First, we provide research guidance through categorizing literature and identifying major research streams. Second, we discuss applied methodologies and third, we identify future research directions. A systematic approach is undertaken in order to identify the relevant literature from 1998 to 2014. Applicable publications are categorized thematically and methodologically and future research opportunities are worked out. In total, 145 publications are identified and discussed in this work. The literature is categorized into four streams, i.e., (1) Supply and procurement, (2) Inventory management, (3) Distribution and scheduling, and (4) Holistic supply chain management. The use of optimization techniques is constantly gaining importance. The number of respective publications has continually grown and has peaked over the last three years. Optimization has been successfully applied in research streams (1), (2), and (3). Category (4) comprises a rather qualitative research field of literature dealing with supply chain management issues.