Many healthcare supply chains depend mostly on getting medicines and medical products from just a few places. For example, a 2021 White House report showed that 87% of facilities making active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for generic medicines are outside the U.S., mainly in China and India. Also, 67% of active antimicrobial API Drug Master Files come from these two countries. Having so much makeup in only a few places creates a big risk. If something happens in those areas\u2014like health problems, trade fights, natural disasters, or other issues\u2014the whole supply chain can get disrupted, which can cause shortages of important medicines.<\/p>\n
This focus on just a few areas can cause delivery delays and raise costs. This can be hard for healthcare providers who need steady supplies for patients. The COVID-19 pandemic showed how weak these supply chains can be. It exposed problems that people did not expect and made healthcare managers and supply teams in the U.S. rethink how they work.<\/p>\n
To avoid relying on only one place or supplier, the idea of multi-shoring has become popular. Multi-shoring means getting materials and making products in several countries or areas. It includes ways like:<\/p>\n
By spreading out where supplies come from, companies lower the risk that a problem in one region will stop all supplies. For U.S. healthcare, this means having medicines and supplies even if one supply center has problems.<\/p>\n
Having many places making drugs is important to stop shortages. Geographic diversity helps lower risks from natural disasters, pandemics, political troubles, and trade problems that can hit one area.<\/p>\n
Even though having supplies from many places helps, building that kind of supply chain is not easy. Healthcare groups and their suppliers face several problems:<\/p>\n
Still, there is unused capacity in U.S. drug manufacturing. About half of U.S. manufacturing space is not in use now. With the right investments in new machines and workforce training, U.S. production could grow to lower reliance on foreign supplies.<\/p>\n
COVID-19 disruptions made healthcare groups and supply chain workers rethink their sourcing plans. A survey of over 700 supply chain leaders found nearly 90% saw geographic diversity as important to reduce risks. But before the pandemic, only 31% had backup suppliers for 70% or more of their main suppliers.<\/p>\n
Also, 94% valued resilient supply chains, but only about two-thirds gave enough funding to build that mindset inside their groups. This shows a gap between knowing what matters and actually spending enough money to improve.<\/p>\n
The pandemic caused delays for more than 60% of original equipment makers (OEMs), mainly because supply chains were too focused in few places. In healthcare, delays can harm patient care, especially for people with long-term sickness or emergency needs that require key drugs.<\/p>\n
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