October 2021
HIDA’s "Allocations: Best Practices For Conserving Medical Supplies During Shortages" white paper outlines best practice recommendations for medical supply allocations aimed at improving alignment and communication between trading partners.
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(Adobe PDF File)
The best practices address transparency, information sharing, allocation calculations and processes, and specific challenges in allocations management. Among the recommendations:
- Manufacturers should set allocations to their distributors, and allow their distributors to set customer allocations, to prevent customers from receiving conflicting information.
- The manufacturer should announce the allocation to distributor partners first, allowing them 48 hours to prepare before additional announcements.
- The baseline period for allocation calculations should be the same quarter from the prior year.
- When communicating allocation amounts to trading partners, the supplier should provide units not just percentages.