New York, NY —The Community Impact Policy Institute, the research arm of Fedcap, in partnership with Healthcare Ready, today released a new report, “Middle East Conflict Is Exposing the Fragility of America’s Healthcare Supply Chain: Recommendations for Healthcare Organizations.” The report finds that ongoing conflict and shipping disruptions in the Middle East are putting critical pressure on the U.S. healthcare supply chain, potentially limiting access to essential drugs, medical devices, and key inputs needed to deliver patient care.

The analysis concludes that the U.S. healthcare system remains highly dependent on vulnerable global chokepoints for commodities such as oil, petrochemicals, plastics, helium, aluminum, and pharmaceutical inputs. The report also offers six recommendations for healthcare organizations and policymakers to reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and build long-term resilience against future disruptions.

“What we’ve learned from COVID is that healthcare systems cannot be resilient if its supply chain is one international crisis away from disruption—disruptions that disproportionately impact the communities we serve,” said Christine McMahon, President and CEO of Fedcap. “The Community Impact Policy Institute’s report provides policymakers and healthcare systems concrete steps they can take now to protect patients and keep care going when facing emergencies. The report clearly articulates that resilience is possible, but it must be built intentionally, before the next crisis, not during it.”

The report highlights how disruptions to oil and petrochemicals increase logistics costs for hospitals and clinics, how helium shortages threaten MRI operations and respiratory care, and how volatility in plastics and aluminum markets jeopardizes everything from IV bags and syringes to pharmaceutical packaging and surgical tools.

To help healthcare system leaders and policymakers move from risk to resilience, the report outlines practical actions: rethinking inventory management by moving away from purely “just-in-time" models; strengthen relationships with manufacturers, group purchasing organizations, logistics partners, and healthcare coalitions to improve visibility into disruptions; using regional coalitions and resource networks to coordinate during multi-regional emergencies; promoting equitable access to care by expanding telehealth and transportation support when fuel and travel costs spike; adopting closed-loop practices such as helium recycling for MRI machines and recycling non-contaminated medical plastics; and advocating for policy changes that supports strategic domestic manufacturing and supplier diversification without unintentionally worsening shortages or cost pressures.

The authors emphasize that the vulnerabilities exposed by the current Middle East conflict mirror those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and that healthcare organizations should treat this as another warning or an opportunity to harden systems before the next shock.

A full copy of the report can be found here.