January 3, 2023- Drug shortages are an ongoing crisis affecting healthcare providers and patients across the country. Hospitals and patients nationwide are dealing with shortages of critical, life-saving medications and some providers and patients are now being forced to ration necessary medication. In 2022, the University of Utah Drug Information Service (UUDIS) identified a total of 160 national drug shortages. This figure is likely an underestimated amount, however, as many shortages go unreported and may occur in smaller geographic areas. A survey of manufacturers by UUDIS provided insight into the causes of drug shortages, and more than half of the survey respondents (56%) either did not know the cause of the shortage or wouldn’t provide this information.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies manufacturing quality control issues as the primary cause of drug shortages, along with production delays, lack of raw materials, and manufacturer business decisions to discontinue products. As the sourcing and contracting partners to most hospitals, long-term care facilities, surgery centers, clinics, and other healthcare providers across the country, traditional healthcare group purchasing organizations (GPOs) play an important role in the healthcare supply chain and are leaders in preventing and mitigating drug shortages.
GPOs utilize several strategies to mitigate and prevent drug shortages
Despite limitations with existing data, GPOs track all available data on shortages and raw materials, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). GPOs track this data on a global scale to anticipate any potential supply disruptions and provide suppliers with notice to plan for production capability. GPOs identify and help bring to market additional manufacturers of critical medications and ensure that there are auxiliary suppliers of essential medications and products.
GPOs identify and source high-quality products at the best value, providing stability and savings across the industry, and work diligently to ensure a robust, competitive, market for healthcare products by expanding the number of suppliers of essential products and life-saving medications.
Read on in the latest issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting.