Principles of supply chain management in the time of crisis

Okeagu, Chikezie N.; Reed, Devin S.; Sun, Lu; Colontonio, Matthew M.; Rezayev, Arthur; Ghaffar, Yahya A.; Kaye, Rachel J.; Liu, Henry; Cornett, Elyse M.; Fox, Charles J.; Urman, Richard D.; Kaye, Alan D.

Hospitals face catastrophic financial challenges in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Acute shortages in materials such as masks, ventilators, intensive care unit capacity, and personal protective equipment (PPE) are a significant concern. The future success of supply chain management involves increasing the transparency of where our raw materials are sourced, diversifying of our product resources, and improving our technology that is able to predict potential shortages. It is also important to develop a proactive budgeting strategy to meet supply demands through early designation of dependable roles to support organizations and through the education of healthcare staff. In this paper, we discuss supply chain management, governance and financing, emergency protocols, including emergency procurement and supply chain, supply chain gaps and how to address them, and the importance of communication in the times of crisis.