The search for supply chain efficiencies has made our health care system leaner and more global. But this efficiency has come at the cost of resilience, with hospitals and health care providers now dependent on fragile global supply chains vulnerable to disruptions from “black swan” events like Covid-19. The pandemic demonstrated the devastating human and economic costs of this fragility: soaring prices and widespread shortages of critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), and health care facilities struggling to protect staff and patients. The shortages also unleashed a homegrown resource that helped us cope: the tens of thousands of domestic manufacturers and community groups who stepped up to produce PPE and other critical supplies when existing supply chains failed.
One Way to Build More Resilient Medical Supply Chains in the U.S.
A blueprint for tapping alternative producers when the next crisis strikes.
February 16, 2021
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Summary.
When shortages of PPE and other medical supplies hit in the early months of the pandemic, tens of thousands of domestic producers — from individual to large companies in other industries — sprang into action and made a huge difference. They should not be forgotten after the pandemic is over. Health care organizations should factor them into their emergency preparation plans so they can be ready to tap them when another disaster strikes. This articles offers a blueprint for doing so.