AHA Letter of Support for the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risk Assessment Act of 2023

August 4, 2023

Dear Chairman Peters and Senator Ernst:

On behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners — including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers — and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups, the American Hospital Association (AHA) writes to express support for the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risk Assessment Act of 2023 (S. 1961).

Hospitals and health systems share concern about chronic and increasing drug shortages that have serious consequences for patient safety, quality of care and access to therapies. Addressing drug shortages is complex and costly to hospitals and health systems in terms of staff time and other resources required to manage the shortages. This legislation represents an important step in furthering efforts to address these challenges and secure the future of pharmaceutical access for patients.

The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risk Assessment Act of 2023 would require a comprehensive risk assessment of the entire U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain. This overarching project will help provide critical information necessary to mitigate and prevent drug supply shortages. A disruption anywhere in the supply chain can create prolonged difficulties in pharmaceutical supply acquisition for providers, and avoiding these disruptions before they occur will benefit providers and the patients they serve.

A strong and reliable pharmaceutical supply chain is a critical component to delivering safe, effective, high-quality care to patients. It has become increasingly clear that our national pharmaceutical supply chain is fragile, and that fragility poses significant risk to the patients and communities served by America’s hospitals and health systems. Thank you for your leadership in protecting patients through the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risk Assessment Act of 2023. We look forward to working with you to bolster the nation’s pharmaceutical supply chain.

Sincerely,>/p>

/s/

Lisa Kidder Hrobsky
Senior Vice President, Advocacy and Political Affairs