The State of The Medical Supply Industry with Cindy Juhas
35m
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Champions of Care
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Healthcare systems find themselves needing to maximize operational efficiencies to remain viable in a period when the COVID-19 pandemic makes everything a heightened challenge.
Even before the pandemic struck, estimates projected that 50% of the healthcare industry in the U.S. will be part of the top 50 IDNs due to the need to realize economies of scale and survive.
Cindy Juhas, Chief Strategy Officer for CME Corp, spoke about these challenges and how the medical supplies industry is coping with the situation.
Like most medical suppliers, the onslaught of COVID-19 and the spike in specific equipment and supply needs proved challenging to manage, even for Juhas’s company.
“The demand was so great that we couldn’t meet the demand. No one could,” Juhas said. “Everybody was back-ordered. We were sourcing all over the place.”
Even an item most take for granted, thermometers, was sourced from over 15 different suppliers.
The pandemic showed that the nation’s healthcare systems need better preparedness while streamlining processes to keep costs down. Now, more than ever, healthcare systems need medical suppliers’ help to handle the logistics end and are ready to help with supplies at a moment’s notice. Juhas said customers recognize the need to work on their emergency preparedness plans, and CME wants to help them in that area.
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