How Physicians Are Navigating a Fragile Supply Chain to Reduce the Impact on their Practices

Are Domestic Producers the Solution?

Among the many revelations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic is the healthcare system’s problematic reliance on the global supply chain in times of crisis. As the early personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage vividly demonstrated, dependence on overseas manufacturers in the face of global demand can lead to disastrous results.

In an article published in Harvard Business Review in February 2021, Douglas Hannah, PhD, assistant professor of strategy and innovation at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, cites the thousands of domestic suppliers who were able to manufacture and distribute critical supplies to healthcare providers across the country in the early weeks and months of the pandemic as the potential solution.

Dr. Hannah outlines specific steps that will enable the U.S. to safely and systematically employ domestic resources and bolster the current healthcare supply infrastructure to avoid a repeat of 2020. These steps include specific ways to document and vet equipment designs to ensure quality and to identify alternative suppliers before they’re needed. He suggests that, even if this alternative system is never used, it will serve as “an insurance policy” against the fragility of the current global supply chain.