Emergency Preparedness – Supply Chain Coordination Seminar
Thursday, July 28–Friday, July 29, 2011
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
National Harbor, Md.
"Emergency Preparedness — Supply Chain Coordination" Seminar Highlights
Distributed in the August 9, 2011 edition of the HDMA Weekly Digest
HDMA and Rx Response’s seminar, "Emergency Preparedness — Supply Chain Coordination," convened July 28 and 29 in National Harbor, Md. The event provided an opportunity for supply chain professionals, risk management experts and public health officials to review and discuss lessons learned from real-world emergency events — with a shared goal of enhancing coordination in all-hazard planning for the future. A few session highlights follow.
Craig Vanderwagen, MD, RADM, USPHS (Retired), of Martin Blanck & Associaties, who served as founding HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, opened the seminar with a candid keynote about the ongoing focus on logistics in our national framework for emergency preparedness and recovery. Dr. Vanderwagen challenged the audience to think toward a future that leverages the expertise already at work in individual companies, to view the supply chain as a strategic asset and to facilitate a return to a “new normal” following a disaster. He also stressed the importance of building the right collaborative model and using metrics to assess progress against benchmarks.
Following Dr. Vanderwagen, a panel of government experts discussed current efforts and initiatives underway through their respective agencies, and how they have engaged the private sector through their work. Greg Burel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave an overview of the Strategic National Stockpile (or SNS, which he directs) and mentioned two specific items of interest to the audience: the “Request for Information” recently issued to solicit input from healthcare distributors on use of the commercial distribution system to distribute and dispense antiviral drugs from the SNS; and, the development of an Inventory Management and Tracking System based on lessons of the “Dashboard” project, on which HDMA and members collaborated with the CDC.
Nitin Natarajan of the HHS Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations provided remarks on information sharing and his office’s attention to critical infrastructure and logistics. The Homeland Security Information Network portal now has 1,400 users and is open to all with responsibility for preparedness and response in the healthcare sector. Natarajan also highlighted the benefits of electronic medical records in all “National Disaster Medical System” field hospitals, which allow for the easy aggregation of information about the types of injuries or conditions being treated in an emergency.
Rounding out the panel, the Department of Homeland Security’s Daniel Stoneking shared what FEMA is doing to invite public partners to join them in their Emergency Operations Centers, with executives from Target, Big Lots and Verizon recently serving as rotational private sector liaisons. Stoneking also mentioned a new online collaboration tool geared to support two-way communication between public and private sector experts.
Ron Guido of Johnson & Johnson delivered the seminar’s second keynote. In his presentation, Guido focused on a collective need for visibility, transparency and control of the pharmaceutical supply chain, with a message of zero tolerance for counterfeiting activities on a global level. He also offered his perspectives on two top 10 lists — one on vulnerabilities in the global supply chain and one on U.S. healthcare supply chain trends and what to consider during an emergency response. He also encouraged the audience to use such resources as Rx Response to capture and disseminate relevant and timely information to supply chain and public sector partners during disasters.
In another session, global risk consultancy Control Risks’ crisis and security team facilitated a crisis and business continuity management drill for seminar participants, based on a fictitious scenario surrounding an earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the central United States. While emphasizing the pharmaceutical industry’s overall resilience and dedication to serving the public good, the drill also successfully identified how the biopharmaceutical supply system can enhance their coordinated efforts during disasters. Seminar attendees agreed that establishing crisis communications procedures with key stakeholders, contractors and supply chain partners in advance of the disaster would reduce the uncertainty during a crisis response.
Speaker presentations from the seminar are available for download through HDMA’s website.
This seminar would not have been possible without the generous support and time of the organizations listed below.
Seminar Co-Host
Rx Response |
General Sponsor
Genentech, Inc. |
Supporting Organizations
Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA)
Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA)
National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS)
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) |
