4 minute read
The Healthcare Landscape in 2021
from JHC Feb 21
Key trends to watch
The COVID-19 pandemic placed enormous pressure on hospitals, other
healthcare providers and the communities they serve in 2020. Healthcare stakeholders and public health authorities worked tirelessly to help address and prevent the spread of COVID-19 while continuing to also provide patient care on non-COVID issues. Policymakers on Capitol Hill pursued swift solutions to help support COVID-10 response efforts as well as solutions to a variety of healthcare issues ranging from drug pricing to the drug shortages. With a new Administration taking over and the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, healthcare issues will once again be at the forefront in the year ahead.
The Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA) represents the nation’s leading healthcare group purchasing organizations (GPS), the sourcing and purchasing partners to virtually all of America’s 7,000+ hospitals, as well as the vast majority of the 68,000+ long term care facilities, surgery centers, clinics, and other healthcare providers. Given our unique line of sight over the entire healthcare supply chain and our experience working on the front lines of the healthcare industry, HSCA has an intimate understanding of the challenges the healthcare industry will continue to face as it enters the 2021.
Here are a few of the trends we are seeing as well as areas of focus and policy priorities that HSCA will continue to pursue in the coming year:
1 Supply chain resiliency and diversification
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of having a resilient and diverse healthcare supply chain. HSCA supports solutions that strengthen supplier resiliency and redundancy to help prevent disruptions to supply. The global nature of the supply chain should be leveraged to build in redundancies, shoring up domestic manufacturing as well as sourcing across the globe to help prevent supply disruptions for raw materials or finished products. Previous shortages due to manufacturing issues or natural disasters like Hurricane Maria make it clear that it is important to have sourcing and manufacturing capabilities both domestically and globally to help ensure multiple suppliers and the ability to scale up as needed. Increased redundancy will also reduce the risk of bottlenecks and severe disruption in the case of regional events or other issues impacting manufacturing.
GPOs have helped bring new or expanded products to market with U.S. manufacturers through long-term contracting to help support manufacturer investment and sustainability. HSCA supports policy solutions that increase domestic manufacturing through positive incentives such as public-private partnerships, tax incentives or loans, regulatory incentives, infrastructure investment, and incentives technological advancements such as advanced manufacturing to support production of quality medicines. We believe policy solutions should include long-term domestic manufacturing incentives to ensure a sustainable approach.
2 Upstream visibility and drug shortages
Ongoing product shortages continue to be a public health crisis and jeopardize patient access to affordable healthcare. HSCA is on the front lines of the short-
age fight, leveraging our unique line of sight over the healthcare supply chain to help hospitals and physicians avoid shortages, advocating for policy solutions that increase competition and help address drug shortages, and participating in a multi-stakeholder working group composed of leading healthcare provider organizations to develop policy proposals that prevent and mitigate shortages in a comprehensive manner.
HSCA and its member GPOs continue to support policy solutions that provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the private sector with greater visibility into the source, location, and volume of manufacturing for both raw materials and finished products. Access to this information will enable FDA and the private sector to plan for – and identify – potential shortages, consider backup supply, and take measures to help mitigate shortages before they occur. HSCA supports measures like those included in the CARES Act, which strengthened reporting requirements for manufacturers, including certain information about active pharmaceutical ingredients and other raw materials, and we believe policymakers should further build upon these provisions.
3 Generic drug competition and biosimilar medications
Prescription drug prices have been one of the leading drivers of overall healthcare costs. Americans rely on generic drugs to reduce costs and increase access to necessary medication, and price spikes for commonly used drugs jeopardize patient access to care. HSCA supports policy solutions that increase competition such as eliminating pay-for-delay and other tactics that some brand name manufacturers use to prevent or delay generic competitors from entering the marketplace.
Like generic drugs, biosimilar drugs have the potential to increase patient access to safe, less-costly therapies while reducing costs for patients, providers, and the healthcare system. As an increasing number of biosimilars come to market, ensuring a robust uptake and increased competition of these therapies is critical to safeguarding patient access to life-saving treatments. HSCA and its member GPOs support policy solutions like the Fairness in Orphan Drug Exclusivity Act (H.R. 4712), which can help reduce drug prices
by closing loopholes that some drug manufacturers have been exploiting in an attempt to prevent competition from entering the market. Additionally, authorities should examine payer policies that may prevent the adoption and usage of biosimilars and consider how payer policies can better incentivize the adoption of biosimilar products.
As we head into 2021, HSCA and its members remain committed to helping hospitals and healthcare providers deliver the most effective and affordable care possible to the patients they serve.
Khatereh Calleja, J.D., President and CEO of Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA)
