Vizient Calls on Industry Stakeholders to Join Alliance to End Drug Shortages

IRVING, Texas (BUSINESS WIRE) – The number of active drug shortages in the U.S. has remained above 200 since 2017. As a result, patients and prescribers in the U.S. face disruption in accessing medications, sometimes impacting life-saving care. Vizient, Inc. today announced the formation of a new alliance to end drug shortages in the U.S. The End Drug Shortages Alliance will provide a forum for key stakeholders across the industry to take strategic aim at one of the health care industry’s most pressing and enduring issues.

Vizient, which connects more than half the nation's health care organizations to pharmaceutical suppliers through its contracting services, monitors more than $80 billion in pharmaceutical spend across all classes for trade. In 2019, a Vizient member survey revealed that managing drug shortages costs U.S. hospitals more than $359 million annually in labor alone.

“Providers and patients have had to suffer the consequences of drug shortages for too long,” said Dan Kistner, group senior vice president, pharmacy solutions for Vizient. “It’s a critical problem that is too big to tackle as individual organizations. We believe it will take all stakeholders working collectively with a common goal to end drug shortages in order to see real and effective change. That perspective is our driving force for forming the End Drug Shortages Alliance.”

The End Drug Shortages Alliance will formally bring together industry stakeholders, including providers, group purchasing organizations, manufacturers, distributors and other industry thought leaders and champions. Efforts will focus on improving access to medications through greater transparency across market participants, leading to improved quality manufacturing of medications and production of additional supply.

It has always been Vizient’s mission to end drug shortages and continues to be the focus in working with member health systems, supplier partners and other key organizations to make advances towards supply assurance. Vizient, along with members and supplier partners, recently achieved a significant milestone of 100 million units of essential medications or up to six months of additional inventory based on member purchases into to the supply chain since its inception less than two years ago. Vizient attributes success of the program to a new level of collaboration and support between its member health care organizations and contracted suppliers.

“Over the last two years we have learned a lot about factors across the supply chain that affect the consistent availability of medications in our country,” Kistner said. “There are also several new entities that have entered the market with strategies aimed at addressing this persistent issue. The goal of the End Drug Shortages Alliance is to bring these stakeholders together so we can share ideas and look for ways to consolidate our efforts to accelerate a sustainable solution.”

To learn more about the End Drug Shortages Alliance, visit https://www.vizientinc.com/our-solutions/pharmacy-solutions/drug-shortages. Click to read “Quantifying drivers of supply chain resilience in pediatric oncology medications,” a white paper on the challenges of pediatric oncology drug shortages, a collaboration involving the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Angels for Change and Vizient.

About Vizient, Inc.
Vizient, Inc. provides solutions and services that improve the delivery of high-value care by aligning cost, quality and market performance for more than 50% of the nation’s acute care providers, which includes 97% of the nation’s academic medical centers, and more than 20% of ambulatory care providers. Vizient provides expertise, analytics and advisory services, as well as a contract portfolio that represents more than $110 billion in annual purchasing volume, to improve patient outcomes and lower costs. In 2021, Vizient acquired Intalere, which expanded its footprint with ambulatory and rural acute care providers. Vizient has earned a World’s Most Ethical Company designation from the Ethisphere Institute every year since its inception. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vizient has offices throughout the United States. Learn more at www.vizientinc.com.

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Donna Ledbetter
(972) 830-6321
donna.ledbetter@vizientinc.com