Innovative, Collaborative Leadership Remains An Asset to COVID-Era Healthcare Logistics

The COVID-19 pandemic remains an unprecedented challenge for the US healthcare system, pushing the sector to innovate quickly and efficiently for the sake of patients, workers, and institutions alike. These changes include the optimization of healthcare logistics, the foundation of virus mitigation protocol. As healthcare- and lab-related supply chains fell into a state of indefinite flux, they warranted the formation of radical, exploratory solutions for crucial deficiencies amidst the pandemic’s broader social, political, and economic implications.  

With pandemic numbers still ebbing and flowing after two years, the healthcare field continues to innovate its broad supply chain functionality – especially regarding treatment and vaccine distribution and infrastructural compliance with ever-changing regulatory requirements. The result is a prevailing new era of logistical efficiency, which stands to meet the demand for faster, more reliable performance in this space – all while underscoring the importance of innovative, forward-thinking leadership and collaborative solutions. 

When COVID-19 became a global crisis, its immediate economic impact invoked supply chain lessons learned during past epidemics and pandemics, such as Ebola and influenza. Such crises highlighted the interplay between outbreaks and supply chain focal points like resource allocation and medical distribution. Comparatively, however, COVID-19 quickly proved to be a farther-reaching issue than its modern predecessors, challenging existing frameworks on reactionary protocol. 

The virus has exposed key weaknesses in the collective healthcare supply chain, and now, healthcare providers are forming ways to fix such vulnerabilities — even beyond the pandemic. Specifically, risk and disruption mitigation tactics focus on boosting bidirectional transparency between healthcare providers, manufacturers, and distributors; fostering better inventory management and documentation; and forging new relationships with dependable suppliers and companies capable of meeting essential healthcare needs during peak surges. Additionally, healthcare entities must work to create innovative internal solutions to keep their respective parts of the supply chain fluid and conducive to progress. Such initiatives have warranted a multifaceted, collaborative approach that, at times, transcends logistics alone. 

Speaking to the American Hospital Association (AHA), Michael Schiller, Senior Director of the Association for Healthcare Resource and Materials Management (AHRMM), pointed to AHRMM’s Vendor Vetting Program as one resource for addressing supply shortages and inconsistencies. The program analyzed over 1000 nontraditional healthcare vendors, vetting and approving nearly 40 percent of them and ultimately reducing the number of questionable vendors. In turn, such initiatives aim to streamline the collective supply chain, emphasizing both quality and efficiency en route to quicker aid. 

In the same piece, Penn State Health Senior Vice President and Supply Chain Officer Richard Bagley suggested the impact of senior executive support in formulating stronger organizational solutions for supply chain assets — namely, as they apply to high-level data tracking and visualization. Bagley noted, “My IT CIO came in and created dashboards overnight to help track and visualize where the inventory is. That was a huge showing of support for my team.”

Bagley also pointed to the operational support of partnering corporations: “As we were running out of warehouse space, I reached out to my counterpart in the Hershey Foods Organization … they graciously made [additional space] available to us to use. They took [their] supply chain staff and staffed it for us.”

Fundamentally, these kinds of inter-organizational solutions reflect the broader healthcare field’s dedication to creative, far-reaching solutions in working with outside entities. UPS Healthcare, for instance, offers an extra boost by providing initiatives centered around COVID-19 logistics; these strive to “facilitate clinical trials, diagnostic testing, humanitarian aid, and the global distribution of vaccines, therapies, and PPE.” UPS, alongside FedEx and DHL, also played a supplementary role in initial vaccine distribution logistics, working with Pfizer to establish a national and global vaccine shipping plan.  

Paired with federal efforts to expand vaccination access, these logistical adaptations have contributed to recent declines in reported COVID cases and related deaths. For now, however, the virus remains a significant consideration for healthcare logistics’ present and future. The healthcare field must remain vigilant and motivated to bridge crucial logistical gaps, mitigate supply chain disruptions, and promote a culture of efficiency to boost aid and ultimately position the broader healthcare sector for a brighter future. 

“We created this fragile supply chain that we’re in today,” Bagley said. “We realized that we didn’t have the infrastructure to support what needed to happen. “Invest time and effort to maintain a strategic supply chain and not a cost-cutting, transactional supply chain. That will allow you to better serve the community in their hour of need.”