Technology like ShortageCheck can detect early warning signs and forecast potential drug shortages with up to 90 days lead time and an average lead time of 42 days. This provides hospitals and health systems ample time to create a plan, reallocate inventory, and mitigate disruption to patient care.

The Reality of Shortages

Drug shortages aren’t slowing down, continuing to create operational, financial, and clinical challenges for health systems. Currently, there are more than 200 active drug shortages, as calculated by the ASHP, but what’s even more alarming is that around 41% of these shortages last longer than two years. As shortages persist, the financial and operational strain grows, creating ripple effects that extend far beyond supply challenges.

The Financial Toll of Drug Shortages

Hospitals often scramble to secure patient-critical medications through unexpected, emergency sourcing. Last-minute purchases mean higher prices from alternative suppliers. Additionally, reports are showing healthcare supply chain costs are expected to rise 2.3% adding more pressure on hospital budgets. Temporary fixes, whether paying inflated prices or reassigning staff, can become permanent budget leaks that drain resources year after year. This underscores the need for modern tools that help predict and plan for shortages, while optimizing drug purchasing strategies.

The Operational Toll

Drug shortages create hidden labor costs and workflow breakdowns across the system. Pharmacy staff, clinicians, and supply teams spend hours managing substitutions and sourcing, time that should be directed to patient care. The ripple effects include:

• Staffing strain: Overtime, fatigue, reliance on temporary staff, and added training on alternative drugs.
  
• Workflow disruption: Treatment plans rewritten, surgeries rescheduled, ICU care delayed, and compliance paperwork multiplied.

Each disruption compounds, slowing throughput and eroding efficiency. This creates a system-wide drag that turns daily adjustments into structural inefficiencies.

The Clinical Toll

The absence of the right drug carries direct patient risk. Clinicians are forced to substitute alternatives that may not offer equivalent efficacy. This introduces new dosing protocols, raises the risk of medication errors, and can lead to longer recovery times or poorer outcomes. Beyond the bedside, repeated delays and complications damage patient and family trust.

The Leadership Toll

Drug shortages force executives and pharmacy directors into making complex decisions: 

• Do we absorb inflated prices now or risk future shortages?
• Do we prioritize stock across departments?
• Do we cancel and reschedule procedures to preserve our remaining stock?

These considerations make budgeting harder and expose leaders to ethical dilemmas about equitable care delivery.

A Smarter Way Forward

Many active pharmaceutical ingredients are manufactured abroad, concentrated in a handful of regions. Natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, or trade policy shifts can quickly cascade into widespread scarcity. For health systems, this concentration of risk means shortages will continue to be a recurring challenge. Without proactive tools, hospitals are left reacting to shocks they cannot control.

ShortageCheck gives pharmacy and supply chain leaders the foresight to anticipate drug shortages and plan proactively. By combining predictive analytics with up-to-date inventory data, hospitals can:

• Identify potential shortages before they disrupt care
  
• Focus resources on the most critical shortages with the greatest cost and care impact
  
• Protect medication availability for critical treatments
  

This foresight turns reactive chaos into planned resilience, protecting budgets, staff time, and patient care.