Kevin MacDonald is the CEO of Kit Check, a Provider of Medication Intelligence™ responses for hospitals.
Drug shortages in the United States have not been unusual for several decades. However, over the past 10 years, we have noticed more shortages of medicines than ever before and, more importantly, the shortage has lasted even longer than usual. According to mcKinsey study, drug shortages in the United States have nearly tripled since 2005, costing hospitals more than a billion dollars. they pose a serious threat to patient safety. The reasons for that shortage are many and complex, but the effects on hospital pharmacies and patient care are still being felt.
The impact of Covid-19
Medicine shortages have only been exacerbated as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has led to an increase in demand for some medications while further restricting the source of others, resulting in overburdened fitness formulas and understaffed to respond to a formula. failure that has persisted for years.
Data from a recent report by my company shows that over the past 4 years, more than a portion of hospital pharmacists have rated drug shortages as their most sensitive challenge. Since 2020, the percentage of hospital pharmacies facing 10 or more drug shortages has increased to 14%. While hospitals continue to experience increases year after year, the effects of the pandemic on the pharmaceutical industry have been severe and far-reaching.
COVID-19 has also triggered workforce and supply chain issues that have affected the operational efficiency, staffing, and patient care of hospital pharmacies. He highlighted the fragility of a supply chain that relied heavily on last-minute drug manufacturing in factories that were already at full capacity before Covid-19. With each medication shortage consuming staff hours as they tried to locate opportunities or study rare medications, the strain added to an already strained workforce to treat patients in a timely manner and without going over budget. Post-pandemic staff shortages become a major challenge for fitness systems and hospital pharmacies, the increasing frequency and duration of drug shortages can temporarily accumulate.
Before the pandemic, drug shortages charged hospitals up to $360 million a year and generated 8. 6 million overtime hours, which had an additional effect on their primary function: patient care. COVID-19 has also led to the incorporation of distribution networks. (IDN) in fitness systems that experience more common drug shortages, higher drug charges, fewer staff, and extensive care sets that are more capacity-filled than not. an effect on patient care.
Increase operational efficiency: responses will need to be integrated
As hospitals now face post-Covid staffing shortages, supply chain disruptions, and other underlying issues, the focus has shifted to operational power to help mitigate the pandemic’s effects on the industry. and suppliers want to ask themselves the following questions: How effective are our existing operations?What stressors are we currently seeing that can have an effect on our planning?Are we designed to have an effect on existing and long-term scarcity?And if not, what is the worst possible situation and what are we doing to prepare for it?
Solutions that provide complete visibility into how medicines move through hospitals will help hospitals better perceive and navigate the supply chain, making it less difficult to expect shortages and take appropriate action. Without complete visibility, pharmacies are more vulnerable to drug diversion and less prepared to manage shortages. While complete supply chain visibility is perceived as a long-term state, many pharmacy executives prioritize generation responses that can deliver it now. Faced with tight budgets and limited staff, many are looking for new tactics to optimize their operational processes to seize the opportunity to create operational efficiencies and reduce drug expenses. Hospitals and pharmacists looking for the long term want to be attentive to systems and responses to help improve drug visibility and improve operational power to help resolve existing disorders and disorders that would possibly stand up in the unforeseen long term.
The pandemic has revealed, or perhaps more precisely, tested the fault lines within the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to drug visibility, supply chain complacency, and strain on the workforce. While Covid-19 has led to adjustments across the market landscape, drug shortages remain a major challenge for healthcare systems as a whole. In many tactics, drug shortages are a supply chain control challenge, but in other tactics it is an operational challenge. the demanding situations of external change. While drug shortages are unlikely to be completely resolved, new technologies can play a vital role in mitigating their impact. Now is the time to take credit for those new teams to manage this new post-Covid market dynamic.
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