AHA Letter of Support for the Rolling Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient and Drug, or RAPID, Reserve Act of 2023

August 4, 2023

Dear Chairman Peters and Senators Brown and Blackburn:

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 Rolling Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient and Drug (RAPID) Reserve Act (S. 2510).

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.

Pharmaceutical shortages and supply chain failures can have a devastating impact on patients. The RAPID Reserve Act would establish a program to improve supply chain resiliency for critical generic drug products, ensuring adequate supply is available even in the event of a shortage. The legislation awards contracts to eligible drug manufacturers requiring them to maintain a six-month buffer of these critical drugs and their active pharmaceutical ingredients to ensure continuous production flow. With adequate supply of necessary drugs, providers will be equipped to administer necessary, often lifesaving, drugs to patients.

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 RAPID Reserve Act. We look forward to working with you to shore up the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Sincerely,

/s/

Lisa Kidder Hrobsky
Senior Vice President, Advocacy and Political Affairs