About 73 percent of U.S. physicians aren't confident in the supply chain's ability to deliver safe, quality medicines, according to recent survey findings.
Ipsos conducted the survey on behalf of U.S. Pharmacopeia, a global independent scientific organization, in September. It included 500 board-certified U.S. physicians who work or are affiliated with a hospital system or spend a portion of their time working in a hospital setting. The findings were published Feb. 3.
Four more findings:
1. Nearly all respondents, 95 percent, said they believe COVID-19 revealed medical supply chain vulnerabilities that aren't going away. A similar proportion of 90 percent said they're concerned the global medicines supply chain won't be reliable during a crisis.
2. Eighty-three percent of physician respondents said they believe drug shortages have become a larger issue in recent years.
3. Physicians working in underserved communities were more likely (37 percent) to say drug shortages led to poor patient outcomes "often" or "sometimes," compared to physicians (29 percent) in more resourced areas.
4. When asked who is responsible for maintaining a resilient medical supply chain physicians pointed to numerous stakeholders, including the federal government (92 percent), pharmaceutical companies (92 percent) and payers (79 percent.)