How To Strengthen The Supply Chain for Medical Supplies and Drugs

By: Michael J. Alkire and Brian Lane

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the nation, governments and the private sector tore through their stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other resources. Several supply chain issues quickly emerged, including the lack of visibility into supply sources, a fragmented approach to ordering and fulfillment, and an over-reliance on overseas manufacturing.

While we have made progress in managing aspects of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, including raw materials, manufacturing, shipping, distribution and "last-mile" delivery, remain in a system not designed for a pandemic's demands.

With a few targeted strategies, it is possible to reverse these disruptions. For our part, Premier, a health care improvement company uniting 4,400 U.S. hospitals and health systems and partner of the Northeast Ohio-based CHAMPS Group Purchasing, has been concerned about supply chain risk management for years, and we've built forward-thinking capabilities to help protect against disruption.

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