OTTAWA – The federal government has announced a grant of $1.6 million, over four years, for the Supply Chain Advancement Network in Health (SCAN Health), hosted by the University of Windsor. SCAN Health will position Canada as a global leader advancing supply chain innovation in healthcare to improve patient safety, health system sustainability, and economic growth for companies.

“Every year 70,000 Canadians experience preventable, serious injury while hospitalized, and medical error is now the third leading cause of death in North America. Adverse events and medical error are a result of a lack of well-developed supply chain infrastructure that would make it nearly impossible for errors to happen,” said Dr. Anne Snowdon (pictured), scientific director and CEO of SCAN Health. “We are thrilled that the Canadian federal government has recognized the impact supply chain innovation will have on the Canadian healthcare system.”

Spanning five countries, including Australia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States and seven Canadian provinces, and with over one hundered partners from industry, healthcare, government and academia – the Network will enable the exchange of information and expertise to accelerate the implementation of healthcare supply chain best practices around the world.

SCAN Health’s International Knowledge Translation Platform will mobilize the extensive knowledge of supply chain and logistics research in business schools, coupled with the expertise in industry, to work with health system stakeholders.

Through this novel international exchange, tools and resources required to strengthen supply chain leadership capacity, accelerate the adoption of best practices and measure the impact of global health sector supply chain innovation will be developed and shared.

“The University of Windsor is pleased to be the host institution of such an important and innovative new network,” said Dr. Alan Wildeman, president of the University of Windsor. “SCAN Health will enhance our university’s international collaboration initiatives and I am confident through such significant partnerships it will achieve a national and global impact.”

SCAN Health is dedicated to advancing 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.