Hurricane Helene knocked out production at a Baxter plant in Marion, North Carolina, that is responsible for manufacturing 60% of the nation’s supply of IV fluid solutions.
Now, 85% of healthcare providers across the country report facing IV shortages, which are forcing them to ration supplies, hold off on performing elective procedures, and wait until a medical emergency to use them, according to a survey conducted by healthcare supply chain company Premier Inc. The IV fluid shortage comes in the wake of flu and respiratory infection season. IV fluid is a common remedy used by healthcare providers to treat patients hospitalized with the flu.
The survey found that 54% of healthcare providers report having 10 days or less of IV fluid supplies in their inventory.
“When you take that much supply out of the supply chain in the U.S., it creates havoc,” Nancy Foster, vice president for quality and patient safety at the American Hospital Association, told the Hill. “Everyone is being told to be very careful with their supply of these IV solutions and other fluids.”
Although the Food and Drug Administration approved supplies to be shipped in from Baxter facilities in Ireland, Canada, China, and the United Kingdom, and hospitals have been permitted to create their own IV fluid supply, the shortage is predicted to last through the rest of this year.
The Baxter plant in North Carolina intends to restart production by the end of this year. It has built a temporary bridge to the area to move products and is building a second bridge. With some IV solutions, it intends to return to 90% to 100% production by the end of this year, but it does not have a timeline for when it will return to pre-hurricane levels.
“Unlike shortages for car chips, for example, it is a major concern and a life-threatening issue when there’s a medical supply chain disruption,” Tom Cotter, executive director of Healthcare Ready, a nonprofit organization that helps bolster supply chains during and after disaster, told the outlet.
Consolidating the manufacturing of crucial healthcare products to just a few companies and regions can be detrimental to the supply chain. However, it’s been created by the high barrier to entry into the marketplace and low return on investments. This limits manufacturing to just a few companies, who will choose to consolidate producing a product at a large scale to make a profit.
“So now you have consolidated manufacturing for essential medicines in a small number of large manufacturing facilities, and when those go down, you take out a very large percentage of the market,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Tuesday on CNBC.
IV shortages are not a new problem, as some solutions have been in short supply for the past 10 years.
Within the past five years, healthcare providers have faced cancer medication shortages due to a factory in India failing an inspection and Pzifer losing 25% of its production for generic sterile injectable medicines due to a tornado.
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Healthcare experts are calling for lawmakers and regulatory agencies to have a serious conversation about ensuring that the supply chain for healthcare supplies isn’t completely gutted by a natural disaster.
“I don’t know if it’s political will or what, but we’re acting very shortsighted as a country. All of the investments that we need today needed to be made 10 years ago because it takes time to build resilience into [the] supply chain,” Cotter said. “It doesn’t happen overnight with a grant.”