COVID-19 Resource Roundup – Healthcare Supply Chain – (April 16 Update)

APRIL 16 UPDATE

Passing the Peak of New Cases but Not Yet the Surge

It is encouraging to see clear signs in the data suggesting that our social distancing and other preventive measures have begun to quell the exponential spread of COVID-19. At the same time, the situation is playing out differently across all parts of the country. While some locations may be through their peak numbers of new infections and even their patient “surge” of hospital cases, other areas have yet to get past and indeed are still approaching these milestones.  My blog post this week is dedicated to helping healthcare supply chain leaders to be agile and responsive in light of these regional differences in demand. 

Several of the tools referenced below offer information that you can customize/filter for your region/state/county, especially for ICU beds and ventilators. Surprisingly, according to Kaiser Health News, more than half of counties in the U.S. have no hospital ICU beds at all.  With that and your regional specifics in mind, be sure to check out the predictive tool by Definitive Healthcare below that can enable a targeted deployment of ICU beds and ventilators based on regional need. 

4 Resources on Allocation of ICU Beds & Ventilators

• COVID-19 Capacity Predictor – This interactive online tool by Definitive Healthcare enables deployment of ICU beds and ventilators, the resources that are most essential to treat the most severe cases of COVID-19. You can watch a replay of their webinar describing the tool by clicking here.
• Ventilator Allocation Checklist – This PDF tool from the Advisory Board offers 4 steps to design and implement ventilator allocation decisions. Whether your hospital already faces ventilator rationing challenges, or is expected to face these challenges in the proceeding weeks, determine your ventilator allocation guidelines now to prevent downstream moral distress, legal issues, and inappropriate use of scarce supplies.
• Factors Informing Clinical Decisions about Ventilator Use during Ventilator Shortages in an Infectious Disease Pandemic – In this informative PDF, ECRI examines the effectiveness of triage systems for identifying disease severity and mortality risk to inform decisions on scarce resource allocation during pandemics.
• Initial Lessons From Healthcare Supply Chain Leaders in Meeting COVID-19 Demand – (For Gartner clients) Check out our advice for supply chain leaders who are experiencing pressure to source for additional bed capacity and to acquire additional ventilators to care for this unprecedented demand surge of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

5 Free Resources to Manage Supply Shortages

• The Exchange for Healthcare – Resilinc recently launched an online marketplace where procurement organizations interact with each other across corporate and geographic boundaries to identify, locate and exchange critical products available from other similar organizations. Each organization will be able to list items they need and offer something they can spare, in exchange. Customers in the health care sector (hospitals, GPOs, distributors) will be able to participate on the Exchange free of charge for the COVID-19 response. 
• List of Critical Vendors – First DataBank (FDB) is providing to hospitals and other healthcare organizations at no cost or obligation, an extensive list of published manufacturers and vendors of critical, yet scarce, supplies such as ventilators, N95 masks, gloves, and other protective equipment. For related pharmaceuticals information, click here.
• Critical Supplies Resource Guide – Meperia compiled this spreadsheet as a resource guide for critical supplies required by hospitals to care for patients with COVID19. While supplies are limited in availability, this guide provides functional alternatives and a wide variety of distributors for all of these products.
• Lumere Trial for Sourcing Alternatives – Lumere has offered to provide complimentary access to non-customers to aid in sourcing supply alternatives required to battle COVID-19. They have also offered to provide full access to their entire device and drug research library until April 30, 2020.
• Vetting Offers For PPE From Unknown Sources – With PPE in short supply, hundreds of offers from unknown sources are filling inboxes across the supply chain. Health Industry Distributor’s Association (HIDA) has prepared these guidelines with references for determining if an offer is from a legitimate source with the ability to deliver. Also, be sure to check out AHRMM‘s resources on the same topic.

Lastly, if you haven’t done so yet, be sure to check out Gartner’s COVID-19 Resource Center. Please feel free to offer feedback in the comments below. Next Thursday, my blog post will incorporate a larger focus on resources on the leadership side.