Healthcare Inventory Management—A Guide to Automation

In the race to digitize patient records and implement AI-driven diagnostics, inventory management is a major area of healthcare that is often overlooked.

Yet, inventory directly impacts broader operational efficiency—from ensuring essential supplies are available to support patient flow to reducing delays that strain staffing and disrupt care delivery.

Modern inventory management solutions like FlowForma are changing this, bringing automation, visibility, and compliance to inventory processes—enabling healthcare providers to operate more efficiently and respond more effectively to patient needs.

This article will take you through everything you need to know about healthcare inventory management systems and how automation empowers healthcare teams to take control of their inventory and deliver better patient care.

Automating inventory management in health care ensures better outcomes and avoids waste 

What is Healthcare Inventory Management?

Healthcare inventory management is the process of overseeing, tracking, and controlling medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and other essential assets within a healthcare facility. 

What are the types of healthcare inventory management?

Healthcare inventory management falls into these main categories: 

1. Periodic inventory management 

This traditional approach relies on manual stock counts at regular intervals. This could be daily, weekly, or monthly. It’s simple but prone to human error.

2. Perpetual inventory management 

This method continuously tracks and updates inventory records in real-time as items are received, used, or transferred. It requires digital tools or healthcare inventory management software, often integrated with barcoding or RFID systems. 

3. Just-in-time (JIT) inventory management

JIT involves ordering supplies only when needed. It’s especially useful in medical supply inventory management, where expiration and shelf life are critical concerns.

4. Consignment inventory management 

In this model, suppliers place their products at a healthcare facility, but the facility only pays for what is used. This model reduces upfront costs and is often used for high-value surgical or diagnostic equipment.

Each type has trade-offs. That’s why many hospitals and clinics are turning to healthcare automation tools like Flowforma to automate these models by combining the benefits of real-time tracking, cost control, and compliance into one flexible healthcare inventory management software.

Importance of Inventory Management in Healthcare

5 benefits of automating healthcare inventory management

Inventory management issues in healthcare affect patient safety, staff productivity, and much more. Here’s why it matters:

1. Patient safety and quality of care 

Missing or expired supplies delay treatment and increase the risk of medical errors. Proper medical supply inventory management prevents these scenarios by ensuring healthcare professionals have timely access to the right resources to deliver safe, effective care.

2. Cost control and waste reduction

Healthcare organizations often over-order to avoid shortages, leading to overstocking, expired products, and potential cost savings through better management.  

With automated hospital inventory management systems, teams can balance supply and demand, avoid duplicate purchases, and optimize healthcare budgets.

3. Regulatory Compliance

In healthcare, maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of medical supplies is a compliance necessity. 

FlowForma’s healthcare inventory management system offers a digital-first approach that simplifies compliance for healthcare providers.

The platform is ISO 27001 certified and also supports compliance with key healthcare regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and National Health Service (NHS) standards.

Why the NHS uses FlowForma for inventory and compliance management

4. Operational efficiency

FlowForma’s healthcare inventory management system automates repetitive healthcare tasks like patient scheduling and onboarding through intuitive no-code workflows, freeing up nurses and admin staff to focus on other critical responsibilities. 

By using FlowForma for healthcare process automation, customers have achieved impressive results, saving over $80,000 annually, digitalizing 50+ processes per year, and reclaiming 6,000+ administrative hours each year.

FlowForma’s no-code solution improves hospital operations, enhancing patient-facing processes while reducing operational costs.

5. Data-driven decision making

Medical clinic inventory management, powered by FlowForma’s real-time workflow analytics, provides healthcare teams and leaders with valuable insights into cost per procedure, supplier performance, and product usage trends. This transforms routine supply tracking into a strategic tool for informed decision-making. 

To know more about how FlowForma’s analytics operates and can empower teams with data-driven decisions, watch this video

Challenges of Healthcare Inventory Management

4 Challenges in Healthcare Inventory Management

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common inventory management issues in healthcare:

1. Siloed systems and lack of integration 

Many healthcare facilities use multiple platforms for procurement, electronic health records (EHRs), billing, and inventory tracking. However, these systems often don’t communicate seamlessly with each other. 

This lack of integration creates blind spots in areas like stock levels, usage history, and purchasing patterns.

2. Manual tracking and human error

Manual inventory management practices are still surprisingly common, even in the world’s best-funded healthcare systems. According to a FlowForma guide on process automation for the NHS, based on industry feedback and customer insights, 64% of healthcare decision-makers still manage 50 to 100% of their hospital processes on paper, email, or Excel spreadsheets. 

 These outdated methods increase the risk of stock discrepancies, missed reorders, and expired inventory.

Impact of paper-based processes on hospitals, according to this report by Flowforma 

3. Overstocking and stockouts

The fear of running out of essential items often leads to over-ordering to ensure timely availability. Ironically, this increases waste and storage costs, especially when items expire before use. 

On the flip side, poor visibility can also result in stockouts, delaying procedures, and putting patients at risk.

4. Resource constraints

Despite the best efforts at inventory control for essential medical supplies, it’s difficult to maintain efficiency without the right infrastructure and resources to optimize inventory turnover. Many of these hurdles can be overcome by adopting healthcare process automation. 

FlowForma enables healthcare organizations to automate routine tasks (including management of inventory), improving accuracy and efficiency. 

Watch this demo to see how FlowForma streamlines the onboarding for new patients, employees, or providers using AI Copilot. This same approach can be applied to inventory management, making processes faster and more efficient.

Best Practices Involved in Healthcare Inventory Management

Best practices for healthcare inventory management

Here are five best practices that will improve your healthcare inventory management system: 

1. Centralize inventory data across departments 

Using a centralized healthcare inventory management system prevents duplication, improves visibility, and helps everyone work from the same real-time data.

2. Automate wherever possible

Manual tracking in healthcare increases the risk of errors, frustrates staff, and drains valuable time that could be better spent on patient care. That’s exactly what Blackpool Teaching Hospitals was experiencing before turning to FlowForma’s process automation tool. They automated over 70 workflows and improved efficiency across departments.

The integration of FlowForma’s AI Copilot further enhanced this transformation. AI Copilot empowers healthcare teams by providing real-time, intelligent assistance, guiding staff through complex processes, offering task suggestions, and flagging potential errors. For instance, in clinical safety checks, AI Copilot can identify discrepancies or missing data, automatically notifying staff to take corrective actions, reducing the risk of compliance issues.

3. Conduct routine cycle counts

Instead of waiting for quarterly or yearly audits, perform smaller, more frequent inventory checks. This keeps your data accurate and reduces surprises during full reconciliations.

4. Implement tiered inventory controls

Create tiered control levels, tighter for high-cost or high-risk items, and looser for bulk consumables. This prevents micromanaging while still allowing you to maintain control where it matters.

5. Train staff on inventory protocols

In healthcare settings, clinical and administrative staff must be confident in how to manage supplies, follow inventory policies, and flag anomalies efficiently. Recognizing this, FlowForma was designed with a user-friendly, no-code interface that requires minimal training—perfect for busy healthcare teams. 

Backed by AI-powered automation, it allows staff to quickly create or adapt workflows without IT support, reducing friction and enabling smarter, faster processes that improve both administrative efficiency and patient care.

How to Choose a Healthcare Inventory Management Software

How to choose the right hospital inventory management system

Selecting the right healthcare inventory management software is just as important as having one in the first place. So here is a clear, step-by-step approach to help you choose the right system:

1. Start with your facility’s needs and pain points

Define your biggest challenges. This could be expiry tracking, order automation, compliance, or stock visibility. A good medical supply inventory management tool should solve your specific realities.

2. Prioritize healthcare-specific functionality 

Most general inventory tools just aren’t built for the specific demands of healthcare.

What you need is a medical clinic inventory management tool like Flowforma, which offers features like integration with EHR and procurement systems, role-based access for both clinical and admin teams, and automated reordering. 

3. Evaluate ease of use and training requirements

Overly technical systems can frustrate staff and slow things down. That’s why it’s important to choose a medical inventory management solution that’s user-friendly. 

Unlike clunky legacy software, FlowForma’s no-code interface allows any clinical or admin user to build and adjust workflows from reorder forms to asset tracking without relying on an IT team.

Watch this video to learn more.

4. Prioritize scalability 

As your healthcare facility grows, so does the complexity of managing inventory, processes, and people. Choose a healthcare inventory management software that scales with you.

5. Look into integration options

For effective healthcare inventory management, integration with existing systems is essential. FlowForma supports integration with a wide range of third-party platforms such as EHR systems and procurement tools ensuring seamless data flow across departments.

Build Your Healthcare Inventory Management System with FlowForma

Inventory management is no longer just about keeping shelves stocked. It’s about empowering clinical teams, improving outcomes, and meeting rising regulatory demands.

With real-time visibility, reduced manual errors, and streamlined workflows, FlowForma turns inventory management into a strategic advantage, helping healthcare providers deliver better care, faster.

FlowForma NHS customer testimonial

In addition to inventory management, Flowforma helps healthcare teams:

• Automate patient onboarding and scheduling processes
• Improve compliance and audit readiness
• Eliminate manual data entry and bottlenecks

In this video, Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS describes the transformative outcomes it has achieved since deploying FlowForma. 

Another example is with a ​major European hospital that leveraged FlowForma process automation to streamline patient onboarding, eliminate paper-based workflows, and enhance internal processes.

By integrating FlowForma with their existing Microsoft SharePoint platform, the hospital digitized key workflows such as waiting lists and theater notes. 

This transformation enabled clinicians to complete tasks like patient referrals in just 30 seconds and document surgical procedures in under two minutes. 

Ready to simplify your healthcare inventory management with FlowForma? Start a 7-day free trial here.

FAQs

1. The four common types of inventory management are:

• Periodic inventory system 
• Perpetual inventory system 
• Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system
• Consignment inventory 

2. What is the best practice for healthcare inventory management?

The best practice in healthcare inventory management focuses on automating workflows for ordering, tracking, and restocking. 

3. What are the 4 components of inventory management?

The four key components of inventory management are stock tracking, procurement, storage, and usage monitoring.