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The MAHRMM Supply Chain Reaction - July 2025

Navigating Persistent Healthcare Supply Chain Disruptions in 2025: Challenges and Solutions

  • In 2025, the healthcare supply chain continues to face unprecedented challenges. From geopolitical instability and natural disasters to cyberattacks and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, these disruptions have exposed significant vulnerabilities in global sourcing and just-in-time inventory models. As a result, healthcare systems are grappling with threats to patient care, operational efficiency, and financial stability.

    This blog post aims to shed light on the persistent disruptions affecting the healthcare supply chain and explore the strategies being implemented to build resilience and ensure continuity in the face of ongoing challenges. By understanding the nature of these disruptions and the innovative solutions adopted by healthcare leaders, we can better navigate the complexities of the modern supply chain landscape.

    The Nature of The Disruption

    Healthcare supply chains are uniquely complex, involving a vast network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and providers. Disruptions in any part of this chain, whether due to geopolitical tensions, raw material shortages, or transportation delays, can have cascading effects. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed these vulnerabilities, and while the world has moved forward, the aftershocks are still felt by Supply Chain professionals in our everyday work.

    Today, supply chain leaders are not just reacting to crises, they are rethinking their entire approach to resilience and risk management.

    Mitigation

    Actions to reduce the impact of supply chain disruptions include:

  • Supplier diversification 
  • Identify the alternative sources for the product or a clinical equivalent. 
  • Establish secondary supplier relationships.
  • Support “nearshoring” or “reshoring” critical manufacturing.
    •  Use available data.
  • Utilize data driven tools to assist with forecasting demand.
  • Utilize data and machine learning to predict demand spikes.
    • Strategic inventory management
  • Set up routine review of safety stock on critical supplies.
  • Maintain contact with your region about emergency supply stockpiles.
  •  Establish relationship with other health systems as a backstop against “running out.”

Michigan leaders on the topic:

University of Michigan Health – Resilient Supply Chain Strategies
Tony Denton, COO of Michigan Medicine, contributed to a national report on hospital supply chain resilience. The report highlights strategies such as:

  • Just-in-case inventory models (90–120 days of supplies)
  • Centralized warehousing
  • Data-driven disruption-risk mapping
  • Clinically equivalent substitutions for critical supplies
    These strategies are being implemented by the team at Michigan Medicine and other leading institutions to proactively manage disruptions.

Link to the article McKesson_ResilientStrategies_exedialogue_Sept2021.pdf


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