The medical supply chain in the United States is admittedly a complex one. Dependent on commercial research and production, the medications, equipment, and supplies used in US medical facilities help to provide the most advanced care model in the world. There is a saying in the military that ‘amateurs talk tactics and professionals talk logistics.’ The same reasoning applies to the medical world. The medical supply chain remains broken.
One year ago, on November 27, 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services released a statement called “Biden-Harris Administration Announces Action to Bolster the Medical Supply Chain.”
“To ensure Americans always have the essential medicines and other critical medical products we need, we must have more control over our supply chains,” HHS Secretary Becerra emphasized this afternoon at the inaugural convening of the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience. “In addition to having the necessary data and insights for visibility into supply chain disruptions, we need to be better positioned to help our partners in the private sector mitigate supply chain disruptions. The actions we have taken today, and will continue to take, accomplish these goals.”1
This announcement, however, came almost 3 years after President Biden signed executive order 14017 (Executive Order on Supply Chains) dated 24 February 2021.
“Therefore, it is the policy of my Administration to strengthen the resilience of America’s supply chains.”
Excerpt from Executive order 14017 signed by President Joe Biden on 24 Feb 20212
Today is 27 November 2024, 1 year after the HHS announcement and nearly 4 years after Biden’s vaunted executive order that was hyped to fix the US supply chain issue. As I work in my Emergency Room today, I am facing shortages of morphine and IV fluids. Purportedly, these 2 shortages are due to transportation and other issues associated with recent hurricanes. In the past few years, numerous IV fluid shortages have occurred because most of the IV fluid factories are located in Puerto Rico that loses power and sustains damaged infrastructure during hurricanes.
Common sense would dictate that the US identify critical medical supplies and medications and ensure that the supply chains are more solid. Some recommendations could be:
Build factories for key items in places immune to most if not all natural disasters and transportation risks.
Mandate that companies that sell critical items maintain enough warehouse space so that enough is stockpiled to last through any unforeseen crises.
Create national warehouses to store critical items needed for day-to-day operations and national health emergencies. A caveat is to ensure that enough is on hand to last through a production problem or other crisis.
The supply chain is admittedly long and complicated and thus “fixes” take time to both implement and confirm effectiveness. Accordingly, an administration should be given time to see if they solved the problem. With less than 2 months to go in his year term, it is clear Biden has failed to address the supply chain problem. This has consequences for health care providers and more importantly for patients who go without appropriate treatments.
The US is not at war. There have been no epic natural disasters. Bottom line, there is no excuse for this continued failure.
Perhaps incoming President Trump can fix the issue. Time will tell.
