September 29, 2021
“Made in America.” Is it realistic? Repertoire posed this question to a group of healthcare supply chain experts in the cover story of the October 2021 issue.
Laura Reline, vice president, supplier management, NDC Inc., said it depends on a couple of factors. “How cost-conscious are customers? Is buying American-made products a top priority for the office, health system or facility? The current administration has taken steps to support American manufacturing. In January, President Biden signed an executive order to launch a government-wide initiative to increase the use of federal procurement to support American manufacturing.”
At the end of July, the White House announced a proposed rule that aims to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical goods and increase the threshold for products to qualify as American-made, as part of the commitment to bolstering the number of products made in the U.S. Currently, 55% of the value of a product’s component parts must be manufactured in the U.S. to qualify, Reline said.
The proposed rule would raise that threshold to 60%, and then to 65% by 2024 and 75% by 2029. The rule would also extend enhanced price preferences to some critical products to support their development and expansion of domestic supply chains. The enhanced price preferences aim to provide a source of stable demand for domestically produced critical products, according to The Hill.
“If the U.S. government continues to support these initiatives, then it will certainly assist efforts to bring manufacturing back to the United States.”
Mark Henderson, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Concordance Healthcare Solutions, said manufacturing capabilities, cost of labor and access to raw materials could certainly limit the near-term movement of PPE to large-scale domestic manufacturing. “That’s especially true in product categories like exam gloves, isolation gowns, etc.
But if the demand is strong enough and there is a willingness to pay a premium, our manufacturing capabilities can rise to the challenge.”
For some non-PPE products, we are seeing an increased demand for domestic products. “However, we have not heard the same level of concern about domestic production of med device products, such as implantables or equipment, as we have with PPE and other medical supplies.”