Hospitals in the New York City area are using a private distributor to airlift millions of protective masks from China. The United States Army is bringing special swabs from Italy by air. And a Chicago-area medical supply company is also going to heaven, because a ship that takes a week just won’t.
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The race to import medical supplies reflects nationwide panic over shrinking stock of masks, gowns, and other protective equipment needed by health workers amid growing coronavirus pandemic.
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Demand is outstripping availability, in an injured supply chain that depends heavily on China and a depleting national arsenal. The country’s manufacturing giants, like 3M, have yet to make up for the shortage.
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A national survey found that Almost a quarter of hospitals have fewer than 100 N95 masks on hand and 20% report an immediate need for ventilators. In the hardest hit areas, such as New York City, the shortage can be life-threatening for patients and healthcare workers.
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Around 260 health systems representing 990 large hospitals responded to the survey conducted March 16-20 by Premier Inc., a group purchasing organization that negotiates with providers for discounts.
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While the survey provides a new picture of hospital operations across the country, the number of covid-19 cases has increased tenfold since the survey began, from less than 5,000 to more than 143,000. “In the absence of additional government or private sector interventions, we do not anticipate that the current status quo will change,” said Soumi Saha, senior defense director at Premier. “And the current status quo is not acceptable.”
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Increase national manufacturing
Saha said the national reserve “is intended to be a temporary bandage, not a long-term solution.” Premier called on the Trump administration to extend the scope of the Defense Production Act, to increase domestic manufacturing or provide clearer direction on what medical supplies are needed and expedite distribution.
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The alarm bells ringing in the hospital community contrast with a more subdued message from FEMA, which is helping hospitals purchase needed supplies.
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“The private sector can buy directly [equipo de protección personal] from manufacturers and distributors, as they normally do, “FEMA press secretary Lizzie Litzow said in a statement.” The private sector can also accept donations from other private entities. “The statement noted a document on” how to help. ” It describes how individuals and businesses can share supplies or other resources.
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In recent days, volunteer efforts have intensified to help healthcare providers who have turned to Twitter and other social media to ask for more protective gear. Grassroots efforts have emerged, with veterinary, computer, construction and industrial companies donating products while groups sew cloth masks.
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During a White House press conference on Tuesday the 24th, President Donald Trump said that FEMA is distributing more than 8 million N95 respirators, 14 million surgical masks and 2.4 million face shields. “The federal government is using all the resources at its disposal to acquire and distribute critical medical supplies,” said the president.
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3M, a large US manufacturer of N95 masks, said on March 20 that it had doubled its global production of crucial N95 respirators and plans to further increase production. Currently, more than 30 million specific industrial and healthcare N95s are produced each month for use in the country’s healthcare. Shipments totaling half a million 3M masks were scheduled to begin arriving in New York and Seattle on Monday, March 30, from their South Dakota plant.
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The influx of supplies occurs when healthcare providers are using 4 to 10 times more protective equipment than they typically wear, when a patient with covid-19 arrives.
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Vulnerable supply chain
“From our perspective, it is this amazing place that we are in, we realize that we have a vulnerable supply chain,” said Cathy Denning, senior vice president of sourcing operations for Vizient, an analytics and advisory firm that also makes purchases. group medical supplies.
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As the coronavirus paralyzed China, the center of trade for products such as face masks and disinfectant wipes, the United States supply chain began to crumble. With global competition for the same supplies, the crisis deepened and the large national suppliers are not offering enough products to satisfy the overwhelming demand.
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And waiting around a month for a supply cargo ship to arrive from China is a luxury of time that hospitals cannot afford, even though ships can carry more than 10 times more supplies than a cargo plane.
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Medline, a Chicago-area medical provider, began delivering face masks by plane last week after manufacturing resumed in China. According to spokeswoman Stacy Rubenstein, transporting the supplies will shorten the “dock to dock” time by three to four weeks, and the company will not pass the “significant cost increase” on to customers.
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But demand is still 300% higher than traditional inventory levels, Rubenstein said in an email.
Elsewhere, hospitals are contacting Michael Einhorn, president of Dealmed, a distributor and supplier of medical products who works with 12 hospitals in the New York metropolitan area, desperate for products that he cannot always ensure.
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“Does the hospital cost a lot of money? No doubt. But right now, that’s what they need to do to secure the product, “Einhorn said.” We can’t wait for it to come from abroad. “
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Einhorn is paying up to $ 40,000 for shipments arriving on multiple planes from Shanghai to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, and he sometimes loses money due to high shipping costs.
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The other support for hospitals was the national reserve, which has fallen far short.
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Despite receiving 49,200 N95 masks, 115,000 surgical masks, 21,420 surgical gowns, 21,800 face shields, and 84 overalls from the National Reserve, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment estimated that those supplies would last approximately a full day of operations statewide.
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Einhorn said that Hospitals are in a panic as they have lost faith in the supply chain and cannot find the much-needed products. “The national strategic arsenal, with all due respect, was a failure,” he said.
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Hospitals reported in the survey that supplying N95 masks is your main concern, and the best-supplied have a supply available of approximately 10 days.
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Hospitals identified the hand sanitizer as the second most pressing shortage: 64% of respondents said they were already running low. Next up were surgical masks, which provide less protection than N95 masks. Almost half of the hospitals had less than 1,000 on hand; a quarter of them reported having passed 1,000 a day.
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To keep up with that kind of demand, Einhorn said, more needs to be done to secure China’s products. “One of the things we’ve been asking for is assistance to bring these products in quickly,” said Einhorn. Instead, we are having people donate three boxes of face masks. “
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This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation unrelated to Kaiser Permanente.
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