By the first quarter of 2024, drug shortages had reached their highest peak since 2014. Although levels have declined since then, the 271 active drug shortages still pose a significant challenge to patient care.
Health system pharmacies face unique obstacles during drug shortages. Generic sterile injectable medicines (like morphine) are essential for hospitalized patients. Yet, as one U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) call-to-action notes, “the generic sterile injectable drug supply in particular has experienced shortages for over a decade.” Between 2017 and 2023, injectables made up 67% of the drugs on the FDA Drug Shortages list. GLP-1 products and chemotherapy drugs have also seen significant supply issues. New tariffs and geopolitical issues, as well as continued raw material shortages and unpredictable demand will likely exacerbate the problem.
To mitigate risk and ensure continuity of care, health system pharmacies must be proactive. A solution like SureCost helps health system pharmacies ensure continuity of care for their patients, mitigate the impact of drug shortages and drive efficiency.
Unified Purchasing and Efficient Process
When a drug shortage hits, sourcing alternatives “on the fly” is a challenge. It’s not just navigating the web of vendors, manufacturers, GPOs and purchasing systems–it’s also comparing options by price, equivalent NDC, availability, compliance impact and other key variables. Managing this manually is unsustainable without the right tools.
As a unified purchasing solution, SureCost consolidates all purchasing data into a single interface. It instantly compares all purchasing options to find the best one, factoring in availability, compliance and pricing–whether for 340B, WAC or GPO purchases. With SureCost, you can view availability for the same NDC and equivalent NDCs across all vendors in one place.
Instead of uploading purchase orders across multiple vendor portals, you can use SureCost as your centralized purchasing hub. The system can automatically replenish unavailable items with the next best-priced item. If a vendor can’t fill an order, SureCost auto-reorders from the next-best source—continuing until the item is fulfilled. Pharmacies have cut time spent on purchasing by half, giving teams more time to focus on clinical care.
When patients or clinical providers request medication, you don’t want to scramble for alternatives if your current vendors are out of stock. SureCost’s vendor pairing enables health system pharmacies to search by NDC and see all other vendors carrying the product. If your enrolled vendors don’t have it, you can submit a request and receive new sourcing options within 24 hours–saving time and reducing the burden of manual searches and outreach.
“SureCost is also working to shorten that response time. We’re developing product pairing capabilities to proactively identify vendor shortages and suggest alternative vendors or equivalent products before disruptions occur. SureCost pharmacies will be able to see the trends and receive alerts about potential supply issues. These insights come from analyzing the 36 million annual purchasing transactions processed through SureCost against real-time availability data.” - Calvin Hunsicker, Founder & Chief Product Officer at SureCost
The Drug Shortages Landscape
Drug shortages are, unfortunately, ubiquitous across the pharmacy industry. Hospitals and health systems face even greater complexity—with some having dedicated committees focused solely on addressing this challenge.
No one went to pharmacy school to spend their days chasing supply gaps. Wasting time and resources just to secure essential medications is frustrating. Failing to secure them is far worse. Health system pharmacies need every advantage to stay ahead of drug shortages. SureCost is designed to give pharmacy teams that advantage—so they can get back to the work that matters most.
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