“Back in January, we thought medical device sterilization was going to be a key issue for the healthcare supply chain in this election year, which just goes to show how capricious 2020 has been,” stated Chaun Powell, group vice president, strategic supplier engagement for Premier, Inc. In fact, Powell and colleague Soumi Saha, senior director of advocacy wrote an exclusive article about the issue for MedTech Intelligence (Read “Four Ways to Approach the Medical Device Sterilization Predicament in an Election Year”).

Yet just a couple of months later, priorities shifted. With the 2020 presidential election yet to be officially decided (at this time of post), Premier has pointed to six healthcare topics that are critical now and over the next four years.

1. Augmenting testing with a COVID-19 surveillance strategy
2. Shift to alternative payment models and value-based care
3. Taking action on drug shortages and more transparency in the supply chain
4. Improving public health data collection and reporting with modern, standards-based data systems
5. Progression towards an advanced healthcare payment system
6. Supporting healthcare workers with a more transparent, reliable and functional supply chain system that addresses global pandemics, vaccine distribution, greater upstream visibility, and stockpiling

“Regardless of the outcome, we look to the President and Congress to press ahead on critical bipartisan healthcare policies,” said Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs for Premier in a news release. “This includes accelerating the movement to value-based care, creating a healthier marketplace for drugs and medical devices, expanding access to health coverage, and achieving a fully interoperable health information technology infrastructure that allows secure data sharing and exchange.”

View the full details of “Top Things We’re Watching on Election Day” on Premier’s blog.