COVID-19 Resources for Supply Chain


Hospitals and other healthcare facilities that are responding to the COVID-19 outbreak are looking for alternative suppliers of certain personal protective equipment (PPE) and life-saving medical technology. Many facilities are experiencing shortages of PPE, including masks, gowns and gloves .

The depth and breadth of our medical technology databases enables us to benchmark pricing on nearly 2 million supplies and more than 100,000 capital equipment items. We are expanding access to our exclusive content to help you respond to COVID-19 with the free resources listed below. Additional comprehensive content is available on our membership websites. Through these programs and customized consulting services, we assure smart purchasing choices and safe patient care. Please contact us to learn more.

High-Priority ECRI Alerts

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Key resources

  • Vendor Check | Contrast Media: This complimentary report provides Contrast Media and indicates whether a vendor has product available and equivalent products to consider to assist in navigating product shortages. View the related Clinical Evidence Assessment.
  • Vendor Check | Hypodermic Needles: This complimentary report provides hypodermic needles and indicates whether a vendor has product available to assist in navigating product shortages.
  • Vendor Check | Prefilled Flush Syringes: This complimentary report provides prefilled flush syringes and indicates whether a vendor has product available to assist in navigating product shortages.
  • Crutch Reuse Policy: The following guidance identifies crutch inspection considerations when evaluating a crutch reuse policy for your healthcare facility.
  • Vendor Check | Blood Collection Tubes: This complimentary report from ECRI provides blood collection tubes and indicates whether a vendor has product available to assist in navigating product shortages.
  • Vendor Check | Collection Containers Aspirator/Suction Unit: This complimentary report provides collection containers aspirator/suction unit vendors and indicates whether the vendor has product available to assist in navigating product shortages.
  • Vendor Check | Aluminum Underarm Crutches: To assist in navigating product shortages, this complimentary report from ECRI provides a listing of aluminum underarm crutches vendors and indicates whether the vendor has product available.
  • Disinfectant Concentrations and Contact Times for EPA's List of Products Effective against Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the Cause of COVID-19: This table lists disinfectant concentrations and contact times for EPA's List N, which covers antimicrobial products effective against novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This will help you ensure you're using an effective disinfectant at a sufficient concentration and contact time to kill SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.
  • White Paper | Lessons of COVID-19: Three Actions for a More Resilient Supply Chain: The challenges faced by supply chain professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic included shortages of critical PPE supplies, overreliance on supplies from China, and purchases from non-traditional international suppliers creating uncertainty about safety during an unprecedented health crisis.
  • N95 Mask Testing Program: By testing imported masks, as well as isolation gowns, ECRI is helping healthcare organizations validate products prior to purchase and verify the safety and quality of products already in inventory.
  • Leveraging ECRI’s Expertise: Vetting Non-Traditional Suppliers During Emergency Situations and the Recovery Phase: Recent experience with COVID-19 has shown purchasing PPE products and COVID-19 supplies from non-traditional suppliers, especially those outside the US, is a challenge for many providers.
  • ECRI is collaborating with The Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) to provide lists of non-traditional suppliers offering PPE supplies. In this collaboration, AHRMM is tracking non-traditional domestic suppliers and ECRI is tracking non-traditional international suppliers. The combined effort and solution will help providers vet non-traditional suppliers and provide assurance that they have been assessed by each organization.
  • COVID-19 Technology Management Resources: Checklists, equipment recommendations, alternate suppliers, and infection control guidelines to help biomedical and clinical engineers, supply chain professionals, and clinicians prepare for contagious outbreaks.
  • Intensive Care Ventilators Overview: Understand ventilator technology as it pertains to the intensive care setting, including their design, operation, use, and cost considerations. Compare currently marketed models in the accompanying Product Comparison, which includes suppliers and their models from around the world.
  • Anesthesia Units Overview: Principles of operation, purchase considerations, and much more in one place, aligned with a Product Comparison of currently marketed models that are sourced and available globally.
  • Transport Ventilators Overview: Understand transport ventilator technology, including their unique needs, clinical use, and cost considerations. Compare currently marketed models in the accompanying Product Comparison.
  • COVID-19 FAQs | Your Questions Answered: Get answers to your frequently asked questions for COVID-19 relating to clinical, infection prevention, patient safety, and supply chain concerns.
  • Emergency Preparedness Device List: A list of bioterrorism and emergency preparedness devices organized according to ECRI's Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System (UMDNS) device terms.

Return to the ECRI COVID-19 Resource Center

* All material in this COVID-19 Resource Center, https://www.ecri.org/coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-preparedness-center/, is protected by copyright, and all rights are reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. However, in light of current circumstances, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ECRI will permit the ECRI content accessible from this COVID-19 Resource Center to be reproduced and shared, in whole or in part, for non-commercial purposes only. If you desire to reproduce or share content from third-party sources cited within this Center, you must first seek approval from that third-party source.