Throughout the pandemic, hospitals across the U.S. have spent more than $3 billion to source personal protective equipment, according to an analysis conducted by Premier released Oct. 11.
Five key takeaways from the analysis:
- Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals typically spent about $7 per patient, per day on PPE.
- In the spring of 2020, hospitals were spending $20.40, driven by increased consumption of PPE as well as off-contract buying and health systems being forced to compete with state and federal governments for limited supplies.
- PPE costs have steadily declined since the second quarter of 2020, falling to about $12.45 per patient per day as of the first quarter of 2021.
- For some PPE categories, such as eye protection, surgical gowns and face masks, prices are close to pre-pandemic levels, despite demand being high.
- Though costs are declining, demand is still high for many types of PPE because of the high number of COVID-19 cases. Providers are still using 1,300 percent more N95 masks than they were pre-pandemic.
To conduct the analysis, Premier compared PPE spending trends starting in September 2019 through September 2021, using a database of 30 percent of U.S. hospitals across all geographic regions and hospital types. PPE items included in the analysis were eye protection, surgical gowns, N95 respirators, face masks, exam gloves and swabs. Total costs were calculated by measuring quantities used per patient, per day, multiplied by the percent change in pricing for that quarter.
Read the full news release here.