December 5, 2019
Alexandria, Va. – The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) and Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) are combining their efforts to address backorder and shortage issues throughout the healthcare supply chain. The team is committed to creating policies and practices to increase supply chain visibility, improve product availability, and ensure continuity of patient care.
“Backorders and shortages create unnecessary costs for the supply chain and can threaten patient care. This joint effort will allow us to accelerate progress in addressing supply chain inefficiencies,” said SMI Executive Director Thomas Hughes.
Resources developed through this joint effort will be made available to the industry regardless of membership status in either organization.
“HIDA’s Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative was established to encourage the broad adoption of standards and best practices throughout the healthcare supply chain,” said HIDA President & CEO Matt Rowan. “By joining forces with SMI, we can continue to address critical issues in a more effective way.”
The initiative’s outputs are expected to include:
- Backorder management protocols and tools
- Crisis management playbooks for suppliers and providers in the supply chain
- Education to help healthcare organizations improve demand planning and supply chain operations
About HIDA
The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) represents the country’s medical product distributors – the nation’s essential link between manufacturers and patient caregivers. HIDA members offer critical services increasing the efficiency of U.S. healthcare providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories, home care, and physician practices. HIDA formed the Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative to advance best practices for processes and data. The Collaborative includes leaders from across the end-to-end supply chain including manufacturers, distributors, providers, and GPOs. For more information, visit HIDA.org.
About SMI
The Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) is a non-profit, member-driven organization dedicated to improving the supply chain through direct information exchange and collaboration between senior healthcare supply chain executives and senior IDN supply chain executives. SMI members include healthcare providers, manufacturers, medical distributors, and other healthcare supply chain businesses. The members of SMI have created over 30 tools and resources, available free of charge, designed to help industry professionals address real supply chain challenges. For more information about SMI, including a complete list of members, visit smisupplychain.com.
Contacts
HIDA Healthcare Supply Chain Collaborative Director David Forbes, forbes@hida.org
SMI Associate Executive Director Nancy Anderson, nanderson@smisupplychain.com