HIDA Supports The Medical Supplies for Pandemics Act
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The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) supports The Medical Supplies for Pandemics Act, a bipartisan and bicameral effort bringing the best of the public and private sectors together to establish long term preparedness solutions.
The Medical Supplies for Pandemics Act strengthens the public/private partnership between the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and the commercial medical supply chain. The policies will significantly enhance our nation’s ability to successfully manage future pandemics. The bill will:
- Diversify Production: Directs SNS to incentivize suppliers to geographically diversify medical products manufacturing.
- Invest In Capacity: Directs SNS to institute joint ventures with manufacturers. This ensures the ability to quickly ramp up to meet unanticipated increased demand.
- Create Partnerships With Distributors: Directs SNS to partner with commercial distributors to manage a cushion of critical pandemic supplies to meet the immediate needs of healthcare providers when a large scale public health emergency occurs. The cushion of products could include PPE, testing supplies, ancillaries and infection prevention products. Distributors will keep inventory current by monitoring expiration dates, rotating, and replenishing these buffer reserves as needed.
ASK CONGRESS: Cosponsor The Medical Supplies for Pandemics Act (S. 1693 and H.R. 3463)
For S. 1693, contact:
For H.R. 3463, contact:
These bills build on important previously passed bipartisan legislative initiatives, specifically the supply chain provisions in the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019 (PAHPAI). PAHPAI directs the public and private sectors to improve market capacity and identify key product substitutions.
Every day, distributors utilize their existing infrastructure and expertise. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, medical products distributors collaborated with the federal government as trusted partners. In 2020, they reliably delivered 51 billion units of PPE “the last mile” to providers. This included a 1,200% increase in N95 respirators, 150% increase in face masks, 36% more gowns, and 11% more gloves.
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