TRENDS
BY KIMBERLY ANDERS AND CHAUN POWELL
Five Trends Healthcare Suppliers Should Watch and Leverage in 2022
will continue to grow. Finding ways to build a stronger, healthier, more resilient supply chain that can withstand disruptions brought on by the virus and other economic factors is vital – to ensure we emerge from this pandemic better prepared for the future. Where is the healthcare supply chain headed in 2022? What follows are the five
It’s been nearly two years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and
main trends that we believe will define the
disruptions continue to rock the global healthcare supply chain. There have been short-
industry and some insights on how sup-
ages of raw materials, labor and manufacturing; issues surrounding shipping, transporta-
pliers can set themselves up for success.
tion, warehousing and distribution; and now rising inflation hitting the entire healthcare continuum, from manufacturers to distributors to hospitals and everyone in between.
No. 1: Putting eggs in different baskets One of the things that COVID-19 highlighted was an over-dependency on the
Adding to the rocky landscape are
“great resignation”, a.k.a. “the big quit”,
production of products from Southeast
the historic number of supplier mergers
where the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Asia, specifically China. This included
and acquisitions in 2021 (activity has been
reports an overall turnover rate of more
everything from personal protective
more robust than anticipated with over
than 57 percent for the year.
equipment (PPE) like face coverings,
3,000 total transactions expected by
It’s a long list of disruptors and given
gowns and exam gloves needed to care
year-end, an increase of more than
the fact that the fight against COVID-19
for patients, to products like cotton
25 percent as compared to 2020) and the
is far from over, chances are the list
swabs needed for COVID-19 testing
The Journal of Healthcare Contracting | April 2022
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