What is Medical Inventory Management Software?
Inventory management systems for the medical domain consist of specialized software that is designed to track and manage medical equipment, supplies, pharmaceuticals and other types of healthcare-related inventory. It is commonly used in hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, dispensaries, and other medical environments by medical equipment manufacturers, hospital inventory managers, over-the-counter drug retailers, local practitioners and independent pharmacists. The medicine inventory management software monitors, manages and keeps track of all medical inventory stock levels and updates regarding their movement via internal and external logistics inventory management. This avoids any type of confusion related to the products’ position, risks that might impact the business, human errors and even losses from impending natural disasters.
The cloud-based software allows uninterrupted business workflow as compared to manual inventory management, which is susceptible to hardware issues, power outages, missing items, low data levels etc. and may pose detrimental in a hospital setting in case of emergencies. The software avoids the need for multiple warehouse visits, enhances productivity with round-the-clock support and assists businesses in gaining a competitive edge. They can be hosted in remote data centers by software-as-a-service providers in the case of cloud-based systems or on-premises as well, and are frequently updated, optimized and upgraded even across varied time zones. The global medical inventory software market was estimated to be US $23.15 billion in 2023, and the rising demand is pushing the market towards a value of US $30.1 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 5.33%. The major factors for this rapid growth account to delivery chain optimization, shifting preference towards automatic stock monitoring from guide stock monitoring software and an increase in the number of online enterprises that support virtual transformation, e-trading, related duties etc.
Growing market size of medical inventory management software
Key Features of Medicine Inventory Management Software
Lack of proper medical supply tracking systems can lead to multiple repercussions such as inability to stay ahead in terms of competitiveness in the medical inventory market, increased employee resignation due to inefficient business processes and errors, low chances of scalability due to involvement of high costs, vulnerability due to lack of data protection measures, inability to trace data stock levels from multiple locations at a given point in time and more. Given below are some of the features of medical inventory tracking that can resolve these issues effectively –
1. Medical Inventory Tracking & Control:
The software allows real-time tracking of medical products, devices, supplies, drugs, consumables and personal protective equipment (PPE). Technologies like barcode scanning and RFID tags are usually used and recorded by the system to minimize human errors and streamline inventory tracking. With the help of these features, the system simplifies and accelerates inventory checks, for example, SAP intelligent clinical supply management software.
2. Stock Level Management:
Handlers, practitioners and medical inventory managers receive real-time notifications related to low stock levels automatically. In cases of inflation, disease outbreaks and other contingent situations, the medical stock management system is capable of automatically setting the reorder thresholds. It can alert concerned personnel regarding approaching expiration dates of medications, products and other time-sensitive items to avoid the use of expired goods during sales and practice. It features effective expiration date management to help prevent the use of expired or soon-to-expire items which in some cases leads to hypoallergic reactions and other complications.
3. Order Management:
The software can automatically create and manage purchase orders (POs), order approvals, handle supplier and vendor management. It is directly connected with supplier software to place and receive orders automatically and generate invoices.
4. Regulatory Compliance:
The healthcare inventory management software can ensure compliance with healthcare regulations such as maintenance records, proper handling of controlled substances (CFR 21 parts 1300–1308), and product recall management. It efficiently maintains audit trails and logs histories of purchases etc. for transparent regulatory reporting to higher management and concerned authorities.
5. Centralized Support:
The Inventory stock management system is especially useful for healthcare organizations that have multiple branches or departments relying on medical inventory data since it can easily track the same across multiple geographical locations, storage units, thus always ensuring consistency and availability of products and devices at all times.
6. System Integration:
Medical inventory management software seamlessly integrates with Electronic Health Records (EHR), Enterprise Resource Planning software or cloud-based ERP system and other accounting systems for streamlined business operations. This helps in syncing inventory data with patient care workflows for regulated supplies whenever required. The software can be integrated with, or its features can be easily embedded into a web or mobile-based application through web application development services for on-the-go stock tracking and retrieval.
7. Reporting & Analytics:
The medical inventory tracking software provides detailed reports on inventory levels, supply usage trends and financial summaries. It conducts in-depth inventory turnover analysis and also provides usage forecasting to optimize stock levels and reduce waste.
Features of medical stock management system
Advantages of Medical Stock Management System
The software assists healthcare organizations in maintaining optimal stock levels, avoiding shortages, overstocking, waste generation and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Let us have an in-depth look into the benefits of implementing this system –
Improved Efficiency
Real-time updates and automated tracking can reduce manual efforts and chances of human error. With such a software in place, the management can easily review workflows, improve operations, departmental and team-wise collaborations, allow simultaneous knowledge sharing, conflict resolution, avoid any confusion related to patient care-related tasks, and utilize the time for strategic work that could otherwise have been spent fixing manual errors.
Cost Optimization
With features like stock level and expiry date management, overstocking, understocking, dead stock or stockouts and wasted products can be avoided, thus resulting in cost savings. With advances in medical technology and data analytics, the software avoids overspending situations, elevates inventory management processes, reduces stock expenses due to human errors, calculates product-specific demands in the future for assisting organizations save considerable amounts of money.
Enhanced Patient Care
Healthcare inventory management software ensures that medical facilities, hospitals, dispensaries etc. always have the required supplies, equipment, wearable health monitoring devices and medications on hand for timely medical intervention. It is important to keep patients satisfied in terms of their well-being as it increases the authenticity and perception of the healthcare organization, which is efficiently done through accurate inventory control. Automated delivery of proper service at the right location, medication-related orders, warehouse management, real-time updates on shipments, product delivery schedules, and providing all such details to patients can enhance trust in the medical provisioner.
Safety & Compliance
The software helps in meeting regulatory requirements, ensures safe handling of medical products as well as their storage. It helps in maintaining accurate inventory records and represents the correct value to avoid situations of too low or too much inventory, defend the organizational status and avoid risk penalties or fines such as for increased insurance rates etc. It can manage regular inventory reviews for discovering, addressing inconsistencies and ensuring compliance prior to any impending operational issues, thus rendering the inventory audit ready.
Healthcare inventory management limits user access, information retrieval as per customizations, minimizes errors and avoids data leakage through restricted inventory rights. It assures total security and allows room for Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) to ensure that the values entered by team members are up to the mark, thus enhancing data security.
Better Decision Making
The medicine inventory management software provides actionable insights and analytics for making data-driven decisions related to procurement, budget handling and supply chain management. Businesses can gain detailed insights into information related to supplier deals like lead times, work plans, customer demand, forecasts, sales trends and more. Various customizable features, reports, calculations etc. enable them to make informed decisions related to demand planning, stock level maintenance, reordering check points etc.
Sample workflow of healthcare inventory management
Branch-wise Tracking
The software allows branch-wise medical inventory tracking and enhances inventory control by keeping an eye on raw materials in the case of healthcare supply OEMs, equipment, products throughout the entire supply chain. It eliminates the chances of human errors during the inventory management process and looks out for every product that is entering and exiting the cycle, right from stocking to usage in healthcare facilities. It also conducts real-time inventory costs and safety stock tracking to ensure that the facility shelves remain stocked, for example, Harloff medical inventory cabinets etc.
Improved Supplier Relations
Being one of the most critical relations, it is necessary for healthcare organizations to maintain good relations with their suppliers who are dominant in the sector. The medical inventory management software provides access to inventory figures when negotiating with current or future suppliers and empowers transactional confidence by recording them. It assists businesses in providing better patient care and gives room for priority service by giving patients ample time to complete their payments without compromising supplier relations. With in-depth data analytics, healthcare organizations can compare and contrast various suppliers on the basis of delivery time, costs etc. for informed decision-making.
Scalability & Flexibility
Periodic inventory checks are required for detailed analysis of the medical provisionary business, especially when the management looks forward to entering new markets. It acts like an all-in-one solution that not only offers the flexibility to do so but also assists in adapting to new regulations, suppliers, demand etc. by notifying changes from historical records. As and when new stock levels are fixed, automated inventory assists in guaranteeing item accessibility, adjusting to demands, simplification of new goods and usability, lowering expenditures related to upgrades etc.
Access Top-Notch Inventory Management with KritiKal
KritiKal’s web-based medical inventory tracking allows businesses to grow and scale into newer markets and play important roles or decisive factors for their future success. Advanced technologies like RFID, barcode scanning and cloud migration solutions enhance inventory control systems by combining and providing detailed insights into the same. Our software development services assist in providing software that in turn helps in gathering, analyzing and making accurate decisions related to patient treatment with respect to inventory levels and their medical history. It assures regulatory compliance and makes the business audit-ready through timely records and reports. Please get in touch with us at sales@kritikalsolutions.com to know more about our products and realize your automotive requirements.
Chirag Ajmera currently works as an Associate Software Engineer at KritiKal Solutions. He is proficiently skilled in Stack Development, MongoDB, React, Redux, Express, JavaScript, Bootstrap, jQuery, MySQL, Git and more. With his ability to work efficiently in teams and extensive experience of working with software development, he has assisted KritiKal in delivering various projects to some major clients.