A point-of-use healthcare supply chain solution to deliver dividends and benefits to Alberta Health Services won the inaugural Supply Chain Advancement Network in Health (SCAN Health) design competition, the network announced Tuesday.

This first of its kind competition attracted innovative solutions from Canada and around the world to advance tracking and traceability of products and care processes linked to patient outcomes. The winner, TECSYS, is a Canadian market leader of supply chain management solutions for healthcare.

The announcement was made by Verna Yiu, president of Alberta Health Services, at the second annual SCAN Health Global Networking Event in Calgary, Alberta.

“Participating as the case subject of this design competition has given AHS access to a wealth of innovative ideas that have the potential to improve patient safety and quality of care,” Dr. Yiu said. “AHS is looking at all areas of the health system to improve efficiencies and deliver the best healthcare possible to Albertans. That includes areas we don’t often think about, such as supply chain infrastructure.”

TECSYS president Peter Brereton said the company was pleased with its selection.

“Our team’s efforts to advance the dialogue and pursue innovation around the healthcare supply chain is deeply rooted in our commitment to equip health systems with the ecosystem they need to provide patient care sustainably and safely,” he said.

SCAN Health is an international knowledge translation platform hosted by the University of Windsor’s Odette School of Business. With more than 100 partners from industry, healthcare, government, and academia — in Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada — SCAN Health will advance global capacity to adopt and scale best practices in healthcare supply chain to offer traceability of products and care processes from bench to bedside to patient outcomes.