Lessons learned from COVID-19: Best practices for building a more resilient healthcare supply chain

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the US healthcare industry from a clinical, operational and financial perspective. Surges in suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases have depleted supplies, most notably personal protective equipment; overwhelmed health system and hospital order/inventory management processes and systems, particularly those that are manual, paper based; and essentially wiped out revenues, with US hospitals losing an estimated US$1m per day in cancelled or delayed elective procedures (American Hospital Association. (June 2020) ‘Hospitals and health systems continue to face unprecedented financial challenges due to COVID-19’, available at: https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/ file/2020/06/aha-covid19-financial-impact-report.pdf). In this paper, we present insights from US healthcare supply chain leaders on how COVID-19 has impacted their operations and what steps they have taken to support clinicians and maintain patient care delivery. We include recent research on the impact of COVID-19 on the supply chain and commentary from industry organisations and thought leaders on important findings. On the basis of these industry insights and our own work to support both provider and supplier organisations in delivering critical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conclude with best practices for strengthening the supply chain moving forward.
Readers will gain knowledge around the following:
• How COVID-19 has impacted health systems and hospitals clinically, operationally and financially, including commentary and examples from US healthcare supply chain leaders on their experiences during the pandemic
• Why traditional methodologies, systems and processes for procuring products and managing inventory have failed under the sudden and sharp increase in supply demands
• The impact of the pandemic on the global supply chain, including the risks of procuring products from non-traditional suppliers to meet clinical supply needs
• The many ways health systems and hospitals have been financially impacted by the pandemic, including increased supply acquisition costs coupled with lower revenues and delayed cash collection
• Best practice supply chain advance preparation strategies aimed at strengthening supply chain resiliency and mitigating the negative impact of future disruptions to supply availability and delivery