Date of Conferral

5-8-2025

Date of Award

May 2025

Degree

Doctor of Healthcare Administration (D.H.A.)

School

Health Services

Advisor

Robert Hijazi

Abstract

Public hospitals undergoing mergers and acquisitions (M&As) often encounter complex supply chain challenges that disrupt operations, decrease efficiency, and jeopardize financial sustainability. Ineffective post-merger integration may result in increased costs, lower employee performance, and diminished patient satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether key post-merger supply chain strategies: supply chain integration, vendor consolidation, inventory rationalization, and healthcare landscape evolution (independent variables) were significantly associated with hospital performance outcomes: supply chain efficiency, employee performance, employee satisfaction, patient care experiences, and financial efficiency (dependent variables). Grounded in organizational change theory, this study utilized a secondary data analysis design comprised of 7,085 hospital-level cases from 2020 to 2023. Using regression analysis, the study found that "supply chain integration" significantly improved "supply chain efficiency" (β = 0.1869, p < .001), "vendor consolidation" positively influenced "overall hospital performance" (β = 0.4780, p = .002), and "inventory rationalization" was strongly associated with improved "patient satisfaction" (β = 0.5752, p = .005). In addition, all three strategies were associated with enhanced "financial efficiency" (SMD = -0.2138, p < .05). This study contributes to positive social change by providing healthcare leaders and policymakers with actionable insights that support more efficient and equitable delivery of care, promote staff engagement, reduce system waste, and ultimately enhance trust and service quality in communities served by public hospitals.

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