I won't go into the mismanagement of the DHS and how bad it is at inventory management, but as a supply chain member you can help.
Read the gory details here if you like. But the long and short of it is that they need help and you can provide it.
http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2014/OIG_14-129_Aug14.pdf
DHS agreed with all 11 suggestions the Inspector General's Office made to improve the program. The department will assign an office to oversee the supplies and develop an adequate strategy for making sure the material stays current. It has applied for a shelf life extension with the Food and Drug Administration to extend the expiration dates on the antiviral medicine it has that will expire in 2015.
HIDA has developed an Ebola information clearinghouse for supply chain news of particular interest to distributors, manufacturers and other industry stakeholders.
How can you as a Healthcare supply chain member help?
Utilizing the MDS-Nx
Pandemic Inventory and
Distribution System
Your company can become one of the selected Pandemic Distribution and Housing Centers.
If your company is selected to store and administer medical supplies that are to be available in event of a pandemic situation. the MDS-Nx system can easily manage it for you.
If your company is selected to store and administer medical supplies that are to be available in event of a pandemic situation. the MDS-Nx system can easily manage it for you.
Your company would receive a purchase order from a hospital or Health Center, detailing the products to store in case of a pandemic situation.
You would then purchase the products from your vendor sources. The product is received and paid for as usual. Rebates may or may not be applicable to the purchased product.
These supplies will likely include both dated and non-dated product.
This new pandemic inventory will be stored in a segregated location, which will be designated on the MDS-Nx System as a separate warehouse.
Location, Lot and Serial control are available to track the expiration date and details of the product in each location.
There may be multiple consignments open at one time, and is placed in a separate logical warehouse. Allowing a separate owning company to designate this warehouse as owned by a separate pandemic holding company and not affect your inventory, Or by your customer I.E the hospital. Replenishment of the products can take into account short dated items and allow you to sell items from the pandemic inventory to other customers allowing you to perform stock rotation as a service to the pandemic inventory owner, or to bill them back for expiring goods you replace.
Pandemic Inventory Management Allows you to:
•Manage Customer Owned/Consignment Inventory with
stock rotation using lot and serial control and expiration or received date
•Invoice customer when put into Stock
•Ability to borrow from inventory and replenish
•Multi warehouse
•Multi location
•Multiple replenishment path
•Multiple customers/Pandemic inventories can be managed
Become part of the Supply chain solution and show the DHS that the supply chain knows how to manage this task effectively and inexpensively.
For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com
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