In a new American Society of Health-system Pharmacists (ASHP) report, 92% of its "2021 Pharmacy Forecast" panelists say global issues like trade restrictions, pandemics like COVID-19, or climate change will increase the potential for more drug shortages, and almost 90% say a major technology failure or breach could cause widespread disruptions in the delivery of US healthcare supplies.To help mitigate these issues, 90% of panelists also predicted that at least 75% of health systems will develop allocation guidelines.
In the report, the ASHP notes a 36.6% increase in ongoing drug shortages from 2017 to 2020, with 276 shortages occurring in 2020.Uncertainty in global supply chainsThe first chapter of the ninth edition of ASHP's pharmacy