Lack of supply in the health sector remains a critical challenge with high risk impact on financial and operational prospective of hospitals throughout the United States. Some of these shortages when coupled with global disruptions, inflation, and labour market insecurity affecting the healthcare delivery systems that try to deliver consistent and optimum standard of care. Here’s a closer look at how these hospital supply shortages impact hospitals:
The Financial Toll of Hospital Supply Shortages
- Increased Costs: Survey indicates that hospitals with an average bed capacity of 650 report an additional expense of $3.5 million a year on account of scarcities of supplies. This figure results from buying items at the premium price, handling stock out situations, and dealing with the existing gaps in patient care delivery processes.
- Lost Revenue Opportunities: Deficient also leads to postponement of elective operations and treatment. Patients and caregivers lose about $350,000 annually in the hospitals.
- Excess Inventory: It is estimated that about $1 million of excess supplies are locked in due to booking excess raw material that was historically ordered due to supply unpredictability.
Contributing Factors to Shortages
- Global Disruptions: New flaws still emanate from political unrest factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war and environmental conditions including the Panama Canal drought.
- Regulatory Changes: Among the suppliers, 86% of the respondents expect major changes in the supply chain approaches within the year 2024 arising from reformative shifts in the regulating policies.
- Cybersecurity Threats: Another common threat affecting health care technology systems is cyber related hence increasing the time it take healthcare facilities to procure and use supplies.
The Human Resource Impact
Self-employment is a problem and it is gettin worse by worker shortages. Labor costs are also becoming an enormous problem for hospitals, with costs related to contracted staff rising by $51.1 billion in 2023 only. This financial cost tends to shift resources to other operation areas, thus compounding supply difficulties.
Key Areas of Supply Disruptions
The most commonly affected supplies are syringes, sterile water, and intravenous fluids. Any of these shortages acts as impediments of patients in as much as it hampers treatment procedures and raises likelihood of adverse events during treatments.
How Hospitals Are Adapting
To navigate these challenges, hospitals are adopting strategies such as:
- SKU Rationalization: Today’s meeting entails ensuring that all the items that were stocked are the most important for use in the project.
- Supplier Collaboration: Strategy of changing and using KPIs to enhance the supplier relations.
- Technology Investments: Scalable solutions for improving supply chain flexibility and leverage of supply chain statistics and auto-forecasting systems.
The Road Ahead
Heathcare leaders are now preparing for further inflation and labor shortages in the coming years, thus a more established supply chain will be crucial. The industry should adapt to systems that are beneficial for stakeholders to address the issues affecting the availability of vital medical supplies.
