About 95 percent of U.S. physicians don't think the vulnerabilities the COVID-19 pandemic revealed will go away, according to recent survey findings.
Ipsos conducted the survey on behalf of independent nonprofit organization U.S. Pharmacopeia in September. The findings, which included 500 board-certified physicians, were published Feb. 3.
Four findings from the survey:
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.)