HIDA Applauds White House Efforts To Alleviate Transportation Challenges

Alexandria, VA – October 20, 2021 - The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) thanks the Biden Administration for its recent efforts to address global transportation supply chain bottlenecks.

“HIDA applauds the White House for aligning U.S. transportation operations to address supply chain challenges,” said HIDA President & CEO Matthew J. Rowan. “The next step is to prioritize and fast-pass critical medical supplies such as personal protective equipment throughout the transportation system.”

In an Aug. 4 letter to key department secretaries, including Transportation Secretary Buttigieg, HIDA outlining the importance of 24/7 transportation alignment and the need to prioritize critical medical products such as PPE. Read HIDA’s Joint Letter with AdvaMed and ISEA .

Port, shipping, rail, and trucking delays of medical products have transformed transportation into a healthcare issue. HIDA supports a Critical Cargo Program prioritizing medical supplies during the COVID-19 response and future public health emergencies. Specifically, HIDA recommends:

• Developing a “fast pass” system to expedite global transportation of essential medical products
• Utilizing “fast pass” with railroads, trucks, and small parcel carriers
• Aligning transportation operations to support healthcare during public health emergencies

Read HIDA’s full recommendations.

HIDA is the industry trade association representing 111 distribution companies operating 500+ medical distribution centers across the care continuum nationwide. HIDA members deliver medical products and supplies, manage logistics, and offer customer services to virtually every healthcare provider. In 2020, they reliably delivered 51 billion units of PPE “the last mile” to providers.