COVID-19 has forced hospitals to be more careful about their suppliers. Here are some of the lessons learned.

Fierce Healthcare October 2, 2020
Robert King

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, CommonSpirit Health found itself among the health systems fighting a crush of demand to find enough personal protective equipment for medical staff as traditional vendors were overwhelmed.

For the 41-hospital system, a team of staffers searching for PPE from other suppliers found themselves fielding an explosion of inquiries from companies and individuals claiming to have PPE to sell. Their job quickly turned to finding ways to judge whether the suppliers were legit.

“We had hundreds of e-mails every week of offers of PPE from industry, private citizens to ‘I know somebody who knows somebody in China,’” said Cathryn Carpenter, vice president of sourcing, contracting and clinical strategy for CommonSpirit.

“A lot...

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