Medically Necessary

Hospital systems aim to make their communities healthier. Traditionally, that means simply providing health care. Increasingly, hospitals are going a step further, trying to create healthier communities by working with local suppliers and reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Hospital systems aim to make their communities healthier. Traditionally, that means simply providing health care. Increasingly, hospitals are going a step further, trying to create healthier communities by working with local suppliers and reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Shortages of many generic drugs have plagued the U.S. health system for decades. The leading cause of drug shortages is quality issues at manufacturing plants, which are mostly located overseas. Some experts argue that bringing pharmaceutical production back to the U.S. will help companies and regulators better monitor manufacturing and avoid issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused demand for PPE to spike and demand for products used in elective procedures and primary care visits to plummet. Effective vaccines raised hopes for a return to normal, but the delta variant has complicated that calculus. The next step is predicting how demand will change in this new stage of the pandemic.

E-commerce has made retail shopping as easy as clicking a button. Telehealth has already brought some of those conveniences to health care. Now, companies are trying to figure out how to use the tools of e-commerce to improve the health care supply chain.

China is a manufacturing superpower and in many industries U.S. companies have a hard time competing. Now, many policy makers are interested in boosting manufacturing of medical products and drugs in the U.S.