Supply Chain

Flu Survey Shows Significant Cracks in Supply Chain

By Genna Rollins

Experts say persistent problems should be addressed before next crisis hits

Last winter's H1N1 influenza outbreak exposed major cracks in the health system's supply chain that experts say need to be addressed before another disaster or epidemic strikes.

Hospitals responding to a recent survey reported shortages in everything from respirators and masks to hand sanitizers and needles. Nearly 60 percent of respondents experienced shortages prior to December 2009 of N95 respirators, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for health care workers coming in contact with patients with suspected or confirmed H1N1. One-fifth reported continuing supply problems after January.

The survey was conducted by Materials Management in Health Care, the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology.

"It goes back to a long-standing problem that's still unresolved. Materials management in health care is a business, and we don't carry a vast amount of materials just in case an event arrives. We look at customer needs and carry supplies to meet that need," says Richard Andrew, director of supply chain integration at Owens & Minor. "Medicine is different in that there's a public health component, but still, suppliers don't just gear up for swine flu or other disasters."

To some degree, blame falls on spotty knowledge of state distribution plans for the national stockpile of supplies. Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported contacting their state health departments to determine availability of respirators and masks, yet at the same time, 22 percent reported not knowing whether their state had developed a plan.

"Materials managers should have already contacted state agencies and known what was in place," says Al Cook, chief resource director at Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, S.C. "When the crisis has broken out, it's too late."

Hal Muller, president of special markets at Henry Schein, argues for more consistency in how states handle the stockpile; there is too much variation currently, he says.

Andrew says stakeholders should be engaged now, working to solve some of the underlying problems.

"It would be nice to have a conversation about how to coordinate and share the risk and financial burden while a crisis isn't taking place," he says.

He also supports pooling resources and implementing innovative pilot projects to make surge supplies available across hospitals.

Cook is optimistic that corrective action will be taken, saying, "From a national perspective, it's clear that between the first and second waves of H1N1, the industry was better prepared. I hope they'll take that experience and prepare for the next time now." For more survey results, see DataDig on Page 60.

This article 1st appeared in the July 2010 issue of HHN Magazine.

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