Waiting to gauge Iran war's impact on medical supplies

With America going to war in Iran, business analysts say the conflict could affect the supply chain of some products.

Consumers are already seeing higher gas prices, with the average national price rising 34 cents in the past week, according to AAA.

Analysts at Premier Inc. say the conflict bears watching, but it’s unclear if the war is going to cause disruptions of supplies used by hospitals and health systems.

The core Pacific Ocean routes that support most shipping for medical devices and pharmaceuticals bound for the U.S. continue to operate, says Kyle MacKinnon, senior director of operational excellence at Premier Inc., which works with hospitals on group purchasing. Many of those shipping routes don’t flow through the Strait of Hormuz to the Persian Gulf.

“Nothing's come to fruition just yet, but it's something that obviously we're going to monitor, because we don't know exactly, timing wise, how this event is going to end up,” he says.

The region does have some pharmaceutical manufacturing, says Mark Hendrickson, director of supply chain policy at Premier Inc. Teva Pharmaceuticals is based in Israel, but the company also has manufacturing all over the United States. Other Middle Eastern countries also have some pharmaceutical manufacturing.

“We haven't seen any hiccups yet, and most companies have a certain amount of safety stock in place,” Hendrickson says. “If the events do continue long term, then it might start becoming more of an issue for a focused number of products.”

Most businesses are focused on the energy impact from the conflict, and the petrochemical industry is also responsible for plastics. MacKinnon says it’s not clear if there could be an impact on medical device tubing or anything else tied to the manufacturing of goods.

Providers have been asking questions about potential disruptions or delays in shipping of medical supplies, MacKinnon says.

At this point, hospitals and health systems aren’t advised to ramp up purchasing of products due to the conflict in Iran. MacKinnon says such steps could have unintended consequences.

“Given that there's no indications of widespread disruptions to the inbound medical devices or pharmaceuticals in that state, broad stockpiling and/or accelerating of any ordering isn't recommended at this time,” he says.

“Historically, those sudden shifts in purchasing behavior during the early stages of a disruption could unintentionally create artificial shortages,” he says. “And we want to again, make sure that we can preserve the supply availability for all healthcare systems, and not have it flow into a region that's buying up more than than another.”

Health systems and hospitals have seen supply interruptions tied to natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene in 2024. Hospitals suffered a variety of supply shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years, hospitals have worked to gain a better understanding of the source of supplies.

“More and more health systems, suppliers, really, everybody in the healthcare field is more and more focused on where these products are coming from, where the components are coming from,” Hendrickson says.

“And so I think there's a growing understanding of that, and a need for more of that understanding and transparency throughout the entire healthcare supply chain,” he adds. “So that we can understand when events occur, what's the true disruption going to happen on the ground to patients in a certain hospital, in a certain city. So the more of that collaboration we can do, the better.”

Hospitals should be talking with suppliers and checking on the availability of their products, and they need to be nimble, experts say. Health systems also should be checking with staff in their own organizations to have the best possible insights on their supplies as well.

Health systems have made strides in building more mature and resilient systems, experts say.

“Every event like this gives us a really unique opportunity to try to continue building upon what we've already established,” MacKinnon says.