AHA, AMA and ANA Letter to the President to Use DPA for Medical Supplies and Equipment

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We thank you for the actions you have taken to respond to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-­‐19) pandemic, including using your authority to declare a national emergency, which has resulted in much-­‐needed Medicare and Medicaid flexibilities for hospitals, health systems, physicians, nurses and other front line health care providers so they can continue to provide care to patients and prevent spread of the virus. We also greatly appreciate you using your executive authority on March 18 to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA).

America’s hospitals, health systems, physicians and nurses urge you to immediately use the DPA to increase the domestic production of medical supplies and equipment that hospitals, health systems, physicians, nurses and all front line providers so desperately need. As COVID-­‐19 continues to spread throughout the country, these supplies are urgently needed to care for our patients and communities.

The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association have concerns that increasingly there are dwindling supplies of N95 respirators, isolation gowns, isolation masks, surgical masks, eye protection, intensive care unit equipment and diagnostic testing supplies in areas that had the first community outbreaks and in many other areas of the country. Even with an infusion of supplies from the strategic stockpile and other federal resources, there will not be enough medical supplies, including ventilators, to respond to the projected COVID-­‐19 outbreak. We have heard of health care providers reusing masks or resorting to makeshift alternatives for masks.

Our organizations have been working with your Administration, including the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and with officials at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Assistant Secretary for Health, the U.S. Surgeon General and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We are sharing information directly from the front lines as we hear from hospitals, health systems, physicians and nurses who are working tirelessly to treat COVIDP-19 patients and prevent further spread.

Thank you for your ongoing leadership during this difficult time.

Sincerely,