Launch of The State of Healthcare Supply Chains report with NCAPEC

Access Partnership is proud to have developed “The State of Healthcare Supply Chains in APEC” report in partnership with the National Center for APEC (NCAPEC). This report was launched at the Third APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM3) on 2 August 2023.

This report was prepared by Access Partnership and informed by extensive consultation with leading firms in the healthcare segment. In particular, the report has outstanding contributions from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and UPS. It also features an exclusive survey of over 300 healthcare firms across 15 APEC markets to understand the current state of resilience.

The top five takeaways of the report are:

1. Healthcare supply chains in APEC are highly integrated and susceptible to disruptions. Supply chains display significant vertical integration and specialisation. The pandemic and ensuing logistics constraints created significant coordination challenges.
2. Supply chains are resilient – but they show cracks. Surveyed firms have invested heavily in building visibility over supply chains and incorporating robust business practices, but lack flexibility in terms of products, customers, suppliers, and transportation options.
3. The pandemic offers important lessons for the future. APEC and policymakers can harmonise regulations, expedite cross-border flows, and shore up trade infrastructure. Businesses can invest in transparency, reorient distribution models, and focus on flexibility.
4. Five strategies can help APEC to foster resilient healthcare supply chains. These include establishing trade and movement of essential personnel as key priorities, creating APEC-level response guidelines, speeding up physical and digital connectivity, encouraging economy-wide taskforces for supply chain flexibility, and supporting capacity building for MSMEs.
5. Five strategies for healthcare firms to bolster supply chains. These include measuring supply chain resilience today, focusing on flexibility and diversification, creating more visibility, aligning with industry best practices, and joining industry advocacy efforts.

Access the report here: http://ncapec.org/library/State-of-Healthcare-in-SupplyChains.pdf.

This report forms part of NCAPEC’s ongoing work on supply chain resilience. It follows the release of NCAPEC’s study on “The State of APEC Supply Chains: Lessons Learned, Building Resilience”, launched at the 2^nd ABAC Meeting in Brunei on 27 April 2023. Additional milestones in this research include the launch of an MSME Supply Chain Resilience toolkit at the 3^rd APEC Business Advisory Council Meeting (ABAC-III) in the Philippines last week and additional segment reports ahead of the APEC CEO Summit in November 2023 (TBD).

Should you have any questions on this report or are keen to work with us on the topic of supply chain resilience, please contact [email protected].