The Best of Intentions: Unintended Consequences of Regulatory Policy on Healthcare Supply Chain Networks
研究了处方药监测计划（PDMP）执法对阿片类药物供应链网络的意外影响，发现执法后网络出现“网络搅动”，反而增加了处方阿片类药物分销，削弱了政策目标。
ABSTRACT Regulatory policy is often crafted with specific objectives for a targeted group of stakeholders, yet its enforcement can have significant, unintended consequences, particularly within healthcare supply chains. Grounded in agency theory, this research examines the policy response across multiple principal‐agent (PA) relationships within supply chain networks. Specifically, this study investigates the effects of prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) enforcement within the context of the opioid crisis, scrutinizing both the policy's intended health impacts and its unintended consequences within opioid supply chain networks. Employing a panel event study approach that integrates secondary data from federal agencies across a nine‐year panel, the findings revealed a troubling discovery. Following PDMP enforcement, prescription opioid supply chain networks distributed increased volumes and exhibited signs of network churning—continuous formation and dissolution of network ties—evolving in a way that undermined policy objectives. This research contributes to the healthcare supply chain literature through a meso‐level analysis of policy‐induced network evolution, underscoring a critical gap in policy design. The research also contributes to agency theory by emphasizing the need to look beyond the targeted stakeholders and account for the highly interconnected PA supply chain dynamics in regulatory frameworks, especially in supply chains that are critical to public health.