What steps has the med/surg industry taken since the pandemic to handle today’s – and tomorrow’s – supply chain disruptions?
The U.S. healthcare supply chain and economy at large dealt with a slew of challenges in the fall of 2024. Hurricanes, the temporary closure of a manufacturing facility critical to the supply of IV fluids, and a dock worker strike were just a few of the events that made headlines in the United States. Abroad, conflict in the Middle East and shipping issues continued to plague the global supply chain.
Indeed, each season seems to come with its own set of challenges and marketplace disruptions. But both public and private stakeholders have worked hard during the pandemic and post pandemic to put formal processes in place to tackle these disruptions.
In the following interview, Linda Rouse O’Neill Senior Vice President for Supply Chain Policy, HIDA, discussed how preparedness and resiliency initiatives are helping stakeholders tackle the latest round of issues.
What have the last few years (and even last few months) taught us about the importance of preparedness for the U.S. healthcare supply chain?
We already knew that what we do as an industry is crucial for the health of patients. What has changed in the last few years is the broader understanding from outside the industry of the importance of supply chain preparedness and resiliency, as well as the breadth of issues that can impact the medical supply chain. We’ve really seen a wide variety of unusual challenges – including COVID, transportation delays, port strikes, weather events, and critical product shortages. Preparedness and resiliency should be a continual cycle of learning, testing new models and developing best practices. HIDA manages a broader portfolio of advocacy issues than we did 10 years ago. Our issue advocacy extends deeper into transportation policy, industrial base development, and even environmental and trade.
Have the Supply Chain Resiliency Road Map or HIDA’s Traffic Protocol Playbook been used to respond to the recent events (hurricanes, port strike, IV Solutions shortage, etc.) If so, are there any insights you can share about how they are being implemented?
Consultations between federal partners, HIDA, and healthcare distributors have been a frequent and ongoing part of every supply chain disruption since Ebola. HIDA advised federal partners about the impact on the medical supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic, West Coast port delays of 2021, the 2022 railroad labor dispute, and the October 2024 East Coast dockworkers strike. Following the destruction of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, HIDA has been a clearinghouse of information between manufacturers, distributors, and government officials about shortages of IV solutions and its impact on patients and providers.
The Traffic Protocol Playbook is an effort to transition these informal consultations into a formal process, and implementation of the Playbook is ongoing. HIDA released a communications plan to support the Traffic Protocol Playbook this past fall. The work group held its first meeting in October to begin collaboratively monitoring the supply chain with federal partners utilizing the Playbook criteria as a guide. The group is working on the operationalizing details so the Playbook and Communications Plan will be utilized going forward.
How has collaboration among public-private partnerships grown over the last few years? What work remains to be done?
HIDA has been in regular communication with the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at HHS for over a decade. The initial partnership has grown across all aspects of ASPR. Now federal partners are regular participants in several HIDA work groups and councils, including those on shipping, PPE and vaccine-related products. Additionally, participation by federal partners at our events has grown from a handful to now more than 20 federal partners at HIDA’s MedSupplyChain Conference in February and the Preparedness Summit in June. Another recent development of the partnership is that ASPR has a booth and has led an education session at our Streamlining Healthcare Expo in September, which provides them with a broad group of HIDA members to engage.