The State of Drug Shortages 2023

For the 5th consecutive year in a row, The Hospital Pharmacy Operations Report (HPOR 2022) found drug shortages to be the largest issue among respondents. The FDA defines a drug shortage as a period of time when the demand or projected demand for the drug within the United States exceeds the supply of the drug.

Shortages put a strain on healthcare providers and force clinicians to make suboptimal substitutions. Second or third-line alternatives are often not a one-to-one substitution and can have damaging effects on patient care and safety. One US study found an increased rate of in-hospital death for hospitals experiencing a norepinephrine shortage. Clinicians can also be substituting these drugs for less common drugs or dose sizes they are not used to handling which can increase the risk of medication error.

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