Since January, Juvare has been working with federal and state partners in public health and emergency management to address issues concerning supply chain as the spread of COVID-19 continues.
In particular, the entire healthcare industry is currently experiencing widespread shortages of critical supplies. The entire sector has been carefully monitoring utilization and burn rates to try to ensure sufficient resources remain available as the pandemic continues to grow in the U.S.
For example, care providers in Wisconsin are using Juvare EMResource to keep track of inventory as well as track patient capacity and contingency plans.
Agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration have been monitoring supply chain issues and potential shortages in medical products.
“We’ve been working diligently to mitigate any potential shortages in the supply chain, including addressing increased demand and supply challenges associated with personal protective equipment,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a recent statement.
Public Health Agencies Using Juvare EM Suite and WebEOC
Numerous healthcare institutions and public health agencies are utilizing solutions such as EMResource, WebEOC, and EMSupply to assist with monitoring personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies, such as masks, gloves, and respirators on hand and available for use; actual or potential supply chain interruptions that will impact the resources required to manage patient surge; and hospital critical care and isolation room bed availability.
State health departments and regional healthcare coalitions have been using EMResource to gather supply data for COVID-19 response, across hundreds of facilities, providers, and health systems, including:
- Resource availability for:
- Ventilators
- ECMO machines
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) quantities, including:
- N95 and surgical masks
- Respirators
- Isolation gowns
- Temporary Isolation Anterooms
- Bed availabilities and census counts for:
- Adult ICU Beds
- Pediatric ICU Beds
- Negative Flow Isolation Beds
- Medical / Surgical Beds
Public Health departments can also use EMResource for disease monitoring to identify the number of COVID-19 suspected or confirmed patients seen at emergency departments and clinics and the number admitted to hospitals. The same agencies are employing EMResource to distribute the latest CDC information to healthcare workers and providers in their areas.
EMSupply is also a key component of the COVID-19 response, helping ascertain supply availability, in particular PPE and other assets commonly needed in support of seasonal flu and respiratory illness. EMSupply is being used to manage and track both consumable and durable supply inventory – such as caches and distribution of N95 masks, gowns, and gloves, as well as managing the maintenance and tracking use and distribution of assets such as ventilators, PAPRs, and other equipment. EMSupply is proactively alerting users when critical thresholds (such as resupply and par levels) are met, and when preventative maintenance is due.
Other Supply Chain Concerns
Supply chain is also a major concern outside of healthcare, affecting businesses and manufacturers with potential shortages of components, raw products, or other items sourced from China or other countries.
As countries restrict the export of base materials, nutritional and food inputs, chemicals, and other manufacturing supplies, this could have an impact on production of a variety of consumer goods vital to treating and stopping the spread of COVID-19.
One U.S. consumer lobbying group wrote that “in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have already seen multiple countries enact restrictions on the export of base materials, chemicals, medical supplies and ingredients. If other countries were to follow suit,” the group wrote, it would “pose a serious threat to the public health.”
For these types of concerns, WebEOC is a solution Juvare clients are using to help map out and track those dependencies, locate current and secondary suppliers, and address any of those issues as quickly as possible.
Juvare is committed to supporting Public Health and Emergency Management agencies with preparedness, response, and eventually recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To find out more about how Juvare can support your organization, please contact us today.
