The healthcare supply chain is highly complex, intricate, and interwoven. Composed of several parts, processes, systems, and structures, a fully functional life science supply chain enhances patient care and satisfaction by ensuring that people have the products, treatments, and services they need to maintain or achieve wellness when sickness, disease, or other ailments strike. But if just one component of the supply chain process is compromised or encounters roadblocks — whether for pharmaceutical organizations, medical facilities, personal protective equipment manufacturers, or researchers in the life sciences — it can lead to setbacks for the entire supply chain, as events surrounding the pandemic have laid bare.
Lacking personal protective equipment inventory in the early stages of COVID-19, healthcare organizations and supply chain leaders were forced to come up with solutions to avoid exacerbating the disease’s transmissibility and compromising patient safety. With the help of the Defense Production Act — a presidential power that compels the private industry to prioritize the needs of the country — disruptions in supply chain operations were overcome, as medical facilities received the newly produced respirators, ventilator filters, N95 face masks, and other critical supplies in their time of need. If nothing else, COVID-19 proved that the life science supply chain needs some fine-tuning. Here are a few of the supply chain management trends expected in 2023 that may help the industry get into better shape.
Growth in retail health clinics
Even prior to the pandemic, at least one hospital in every state was in dire financial straits, a pattern which particularly affected community hospitals. COVID-19 proved to be the tipping point, as in 2020, dozens of hospitals went into bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg. Dozens more have ceased operations since then due to mounting debt and unsustainable patient care demand. Retail health clinics are increasingly filling the void left by rural hospitals. Many major players in the retail and e-commerce spaces — including the likes of Amazon and Walmart — are heavily invested in retail health clinics, as more of them are opening their doors throughout North America. They are joining the likes of CVS, Kroger, Walgreens, and Rite Aid, which own and operate the vast majority of existing retail health clinics.
Nate Bronstein, chief operating officer for the Convenient Care Association, told Drug Store News that this expansion is a result of more people using the businesses. “The thing with retail is it is uniquely driven by consumer demand,” Bronstein said. “As they ask for new things, you see these things arise.” The presence of retail clinics is expected to become even more widespread beyond 2023. According to Future Market Insights, the retail clinics market is expected to rise from a valuation of $4.6 billion in 2022 to more than by the end of 2028.
Businesses in the life sciences will turn to technology to plug the skills gap
Due in part to the so-called “COVID hangover,” numerous industries have a plethora of jobs that remain open. Life science is no exception. David Volk, executive director of healthcare supply chain management at the biotech firm Roche, told Forbes that with some organizations having churn rates of up to 50%, pharmaceutical companies are seeking experienced applicants.
Volk said that to pick up the slack and increase work efficiency, it is important for organizations moving forward to invest in technology. Leveraging automation, Volk stated, can help pharmaceutical companies better prioritize and allocate their resources so they are making the best possible use of the talent they have. In doing so, individuals are in a better position to share their knowledge and pivot to tasks that require critical thinking, while automation can handle tasks that are more tedious, like creating reports and putting spreadsheets together.
Investments in remote patient monitoring tools
Strides in medical treatments, technologies, research, and patient care quality have made a variety of once-deadly conditions highly treatable, including many types of cancers that at one time had low survival rates. Several of these capabilities have made it easier for healthcare professionals to deliver treatment in settings that are more convenient for the patient, such as their homes. However, chronic disease — which often requires medical intervention — is as prevalent as ever. According to the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, 60% of Americans live with at least one type of chronic health condition. Cardiovascular disease, for example, is responsible for more deaths per year in the U.S. than any other cause.
Remote patient monitoring is making the challenges associated with chronic conditions, such as hypertension, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, more manageable. Remote patient monitoring technology is a major innovation available to medical device manufacturers. With devices including glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, and CPAP machines for sleep apnea, remote patient monitoring brings the hospital to the patient’s doorstep by allowing practitioners to keep tabs on how their patients are doing from just about anywhere. The technology offers benefits to both the patient as well as healthcare professionals by lowering costs, improving patient care outcomes, and increasing convenience.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the social distancing measures that were in effect throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, remote patient monitoring has been increasingly embraced by healthcare organizations and insurers. According to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a leading medical journal, approximately 594 patients per 100,000 Medicare enrollees in September 2021 received care that involved remote patient monitoring, Mobi Health News reported. That is up from 91 per 100,000 before the pandemic occurred (February 2019). With more healthcare organizations adopting these technologies — and more patients aware that the technology exists — it will be incumbent upon medical device manufacturers and practitioners to help patients better understand how the data that remote patient monitoring collects is used to support their well-being. Understanding builds trust and makes it more likely that patients will incorporate the new method into the management of their health challenges in their daily lives.
“A couple of years ago, [patients] were looking at devices for personal use and collecting data,” said Waquaas Al-Siddiq, CEO of a remote patient monitoring manufacturing firm during a panel discussion at the Connected Health Summit, Mobi Health reported. “Now they’re looking at devices and technologies that are accurate and integrate within their care programs. ‘How does that information translate? How does that information get to their doctor? How does that doctor use that?’ A couple of years ago, that last piece was never really at the forefront of the consumers’ minds.”
Expanded use of telehealth services
In a similar vein, telehealth services are increasingly becoming the norm for patients and healthcare professionals, as broadband internet use and cloud adoption have exploded among consumers as well as businesses in North America and around the world. The proliferation of these technologies was an inevitability, but the COVID-19 mitigation measures likely hastened their penetration, as many organizations were forced to work in 100% remote environments during the pandemic.
While hospital and medical facilities are largely back to normal, telehealth services remain quite common. Indeed, nearly three-quarters of homeowners with children living at home say they have used telehealth at least once in the past year, including for routine checkups, wellness needs, and illness, according to Parks Associates. Most health insurers cover telehealth services. The technologies that make this approach possible has helped healthcare organizations reduce their operational expenses and overcome supply chain disruption caused by labor shortages and inventory bottlenecks involving medical supplies. As a result, telehealth is poised to expand in 2023 and beyond.
Turn to Inspirage
To optimize supply chain performance as a member of the life science business community, you need the right solutions that are aligned with your work processes. Inspirage can help. We specialize in delivering the right teams and technologies to help product-based organizations achieve their goals. Contact us today. Also please browse some of our Customer Testimonials and Spotlights, which are real-life examples in which the Inspirage team brought solutions to operational challenges for firms in a variety of industries, life sciences and otherwise.
