Objective

Identify the conditions or situation(s) that shift the medical supply chain up or down the Traffic Protocol phases — from green (normal/standard operations) to red (severe disruptions of operations)

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On June 13, 2025, approximately 80 health industry distribution and manufacturing leaders, federal partners, and nonprofit leaders gathered at HIDA's Resilience & Preparedness Summit in Washington, D.C. The summit concluded with a tabletop exercise of HIDA’s Traffic Protocol Partnership and associated Communications Plan. The objective of the tabletop exercise was to identify the conditions or situation(s) that shift the medical supply chain up or down the Traffic Protocol phases from green (normal or standard operations) to red (severe disruptions of operations).

Recommendations

  • Update the definitions of “green” and “yellow” for clarity
  • Segment the supply chain impact for better visibility

Green-Yellow-Red For Ramping Up & Down

Overall, the tabletop exercise showed that the protocol and communications plan provide a clear framework for continued collaboration between federal partners and HIDA members. Looking ahead, the exercise identified several areas for improvement including updating the definitions of “green” and “yellow” for clarity and to segment the supply chain impact for better visibility. Three potential segments are:

  • Demand: Spike in demand for medical products spurred by a disease outbreak or other incident
  • Manufacturing: Failure of a significant manufacturing plant limiting the supply of a certain medical product
  • Logistics: Challenges in shipping, freight, or other modes of transportation

Next Steps

  • Finalize Traffic Protocol definitions to better align with industry understanding of supply chain status
  • Industry leaders and federal partners to convene and discuss proposed new definitions, and update the Traffic Protocol and Communications Plan accordingly

HIDA is committed to supporting the collaboration between healthcare industry distributors and manufacturers and our federal partners. Based on the feedback of the exercise, the next step is to finalize Traffic Protocol definitions to better align with industry understanding of the status of the supply chain. Industry leaders and federal partners should convene and discuss proposed new definitions and update the Traffic Protocol and Communications Plan accordingly.

The Traffic Protocol Tabletop Exercise and After-Action Report was produced in whole or in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response under cooperative agreement number HITEP2100500. The document is not an endorsement of HIDA and does not necessarily represent any agency determination, view, or policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or its components.

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