'Preface This book started out as an interesting set of conversations with some very insightful and intelligent people. For twenty-five years, I've studied supply chains in almost every
industry, including oil and gas, automotive, electronics, industrialproduction, and even financial services. And every time I met with executives, I met with the same statements: 'We're
different-- you don't understand.' But in the end, after spending enough time with these executives, it became clear that the same principles of supply chain management applied. Perhaps a
different context, different terminology, but in the end, the same rules applied. When I started dabbling in healthcare, I originally encountered the same sets of objections. 'Healthcare is
different,' Iwould hear, 'After all, you have to consider the patient.' But as I spent more and more time with healthcare executives, I only rarely heard the patient mentioned in the
discussion. More often than not, the discussion focused on compliance, reimbursement, diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), and other terms that had very little to do with patient care. And as I
studied the industry more, it became clear that organizations in the healthcare value chain, from the patient through hospitals, wholesalers, throughinsurance payers, manufacturers, and finally
research and development (R&D), were not very well connected at all'--
