PRODUCTS & SERVICES Pandemic response primes most intense
just-in-time, last-mile logistics projects Are non-acute care facilities truly ready to roll or merely rolling the dice? by Rick Dana Barlow
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omeone designated “supply chain” as a convenient target – if not scapegoat – for just about everything going wrong with the COVID-19 vaccine allocation on a federal, state and even local level. Of course, much depends on how crit-
S
ics define the concept of supply chain, which involves a number of functional components intricately linked to forge a comprehensive process of getting a product or service to one point from another while ricocheting off elements of incompetence, inefficiencies and intricacies in political machinations and maneuvering. Technically, supply chain comprises ordering, purchasing, contracting and dis- tributing components, among others. Each one of those components is fueled by sub- components, such as demand forecasting and planning, product/service evaluation and value analysis (clinical or otherwise) and storing. These elements encompass the provider-consumer-buyer side. On the supplier-producer-manufacturer side, supply chain involves raw material strategic sourcing, research and develop- ment, design, molding and mass produc- tion and packaging as well as distribution, logistics and transportation. Either of these intertwined supply chains hinge on what federal regulators like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allow. For the pandemic, the FDA fast- tracked approvals and clearances for vac- cines with nary a concern about procedural consequences and repercussions – not the
safety of the vaccines but the notion that if “desperate times call for desperate mea- sures” that do not generate dire outcomes then maybe the complicated processes during “normal” times can be streamlined effectively.
While the pandemic shook the very core and foundation of the healthcare industry from clinical to financial to operational to supply chain during the initial year that concluded in March, it largely concen- trated the pressure on acute-care hospitals for treatment and testing, non-acute care facilities for testing and retail outlets for available supplies. With the emergence of several vaccines during the last few months, the balance has shifted more to non-acute care facilities to administer the vaccines to tens of millions of citizens at physician practices, urgent care centers, long-term care facilities (LTCs), retail pharmacies, supermarkets and a growing number of “mass vaccination centers” (MVCs) man- aged by state, county and local departments of public health.
Some of these MVCs may reside in gyms and stadia, vacated department store buildings, temporary/tented buildings in parking lots, etc. These MVCs may be staffed by doctors, nurses, military or other professionals with varying degrees of clini- cal training.
But questions remain about their expe- rience and expertise in such operational components as distribution, inventory management and logistics during the “last
42 May 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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mile” of a supply chain, which includes the point of care or point of use.
Uprooting the root cause(s) The last few months of vaccine admin- istration among non-acute care facilities have yielded varying results that spanned successful completions to frustrations and finger pointing, arguably with plenty of blame to go around.
As the United States lumbers into Year 2 of the pandemic, uncertainties abound among COVID-19 vaccine production, distribution and administration. “I predict we’ll see at least a few instances of duct tape covering cracks in the walls,” noted Cory Turner, CMRP, Senior Direc- tor, Healthcare Strategy, Tecsys Inc. “Any suggestion that this vac- cine distribution process will be smooth as it scales should give you pause; not because of a particu- lar technology or policy, but because you’ve got a whole lot of people doing
Cory Turner
a bunch of new things, and that’s a recipe for human error.”
The demanding logistical pressures placed on non-acute care facilities admin- istering COVID-19 vaccine doses alone will expose the inherent complexities of supply chain operations that the general public rarely sees, recognizes or minds. “As this effort scales, we will be stitch- ing together non-specialized staff, siloed
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