At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals got hit with supply chain problems as demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) soared.
Procuring PPE is no longer as much a problem, but as the pandemic drags on, hospitals continue to struggle to buy other equipment and supplies.
There aren't enough workers in factories, some ports are still closed, a lack of truck drivers is causing delays, and raw materials are in short supply — and that hurts, says Christine Torres, system vice president and chief supply chain officer of Main Line Health.
Torres explained that it's like playing whack-a-mole every day, trying to put out the supply chain fires to keep their hospitals stocked.
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"I think that if you go back to the raw materials," said Torres, "such as glass, such as plastics, aluminum, and think about all the things that are made with them that are in health care — it's across the board. It could be anything, from crutches to blood tubes to bed pans. It's a little crazy sometimes."
And after buying the shipments of bed pans, vials, and plastic tubing, hospitals can't always get them when they want them.
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"There's also the constraints we're getting with FedEx and UPS,” Torres noted. “Just because of resources, they can't get us the product. We would order something overnight, we'd get it the next morning by ten. Now we're waiting until 3 o'clock or possibly the next day to get it. So, we have to again figure out how to be proactive and give those lead times so we don't run out of product."
And to make it all worse, she said, inflation is making everything more expensive.
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