On the Front Lines in the Advocacy Around Hospital Supply Chain Issues: One Expert’s View

The national emergency declaration promulgated by President Donald Trump and the Trump administration on Friday, March 13 allowed for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to permit the relaxation of a variety of regulations in U.S. healthcare, including strictures on hospital bed capacity, restrictions around licensure and approvals for telehealth capabilities, and provisions for federal intervention to address supply chain issues for hospitals and clinics, in the face of the surging COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Advocacy leaders at the Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier Inc. have been hard at work interfacing with the federal government around hospital and health system supply chain issues in recent weeks. Among those leaders is Soumi Sasha, PharmD, senior director of advocacy at Premier, has been focusing laser-like on issues around supply chain, and has been working to ensure that all the personal protective equipment (PPE—masks, gowns, etc.) and ventilators that will be needed in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and other patient care organizations, will be available to those patient care organizations, as the COVID-19 pandemic hits the U.S. healthcare delivery system like a tsunami.

Recently, Ms. Saha spoke with Healthcare Innovation Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland regarding her and her colleagues’ advocacy efforts in this area, and her insights on the public health crisis. Below are excerpts from their interview.

Full Story