During Disasters

Rx Response is ready to take action when a disaster has the potential to severely disrupt the normal flow of medicines to patients. As the only coalition of its kind, Rx Response plays a unique role helping to address and resolve obstacles impacting normal bio-pharmaceutical supply chain operation.

Rx Response provides the essential tools for facilitating solutions in disasters, including:

  • Rapid access to the right contacts in government or the private sector;
  • Trusted, protected communications channels to share and react to sensitive information;
  • Reliable, tailored situation updates compiled from public and private sources; and
  • Subject matter expertise on the policy and operational aspects of bio-pharmaceutical disaster response.

When a disaster occurs, Rx Response also activates Rx Open maps to help the public and emergency responders see where pharmacies are open and closed in the affected area.

How has Rx Response helped in the past?

These are just a few examples of how private sector, government, and others have relied on Rx Response:

A truck attempting to deliver critical medicines was stuck at a roadblock… [more]

…and the driver was unable to produce the paperwork requested by checkpoint officials. Pharmacies in the affected area were expecting the shipment and were not aware of the issue.

Rx Response worked with federal and state officials to get credentialing letters allowing delivery trucks into the restricted areas. By quickly reaching the appropriate decision-makers, Rx Response was able to resolve the situation in a matter of hours.

Credentialing is often an issue during disasters, and no standards currently exist for these situations. Rx Response is a critical link between government agencies and private sector as regulations and guidelines change rapidly.

In an area experiencing wide-spread power outages, patients relying on medical devices were running out of battery power… [more]

…so federal officials put out a call for companies willing to set up charging stations. Rx Response quickly relayed the situation to private sector companies and asked for charging station support. Multiple national chain pharmacies responded within hours and charging stations were opened to ensure critical devices were available for the individuals needing them.

As a reliable, efficient link between the government and private sector, Rx Response was able to solve a problem and offer companies an opportunity to step in and demonstrate their commitment to public health during disasters.

A pharmacy had lost power and was running out of fuel for their generator… [more]

…and called Rx Response to seek a solution. Rx Response contacted state authorities and arranged a priority fuel delivery to the store so it could continue operations.

Priority fuel deliveries are not regulated by one set of guidelines, so arranging such a delivery is different in every disaster. With strong, trusted contacts throughout state and federal government agencies responsible for disaster response, Rx Response is able to quickly and effectively navigate the constantly-changing process.

A distribution center had lost power, and their fuel supplier wasn’t keeping up with timely deliveries… [more]

…and called Rx Response to seek a solution. Rx Response contacted state authorities and arranged for a priority fuel delivery to the distribution center so that it could continue to utilize their emergency generators to continue operations to supply critical medicines to the hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

Priority fuel deliveries are not regulated by one set of guidelines, so arranging such a delivery is different in every disaster. With strong, trusted contacts throughout state and federal government agencies responsible for disaster response, Rx Response is able to quickly and effectively navigate the constantly-changing process.

A state emergency declaration included regulatory changes for pharmacy practices… [more]

…but in the chaos of the disaster, many pharmacies did not have the time or staff capacity to read and carefully analyze the entire emergency declaration as soon as it was given.

Rx Response was carefully monitoring the situation for any potential impact on the bio-pharmaceutical industry and immediately caught the regulatory update. Utilizing its proven communication tool, Rx Response quickly sent a notification to its partners in the affected area explaining the regulatory change and the steps pharmacies would have to take. Rx Response staff were on call to answer any questions or concerns, saving pharmacy staff time they might have spent trying to reach the correct government employee.

Click on any state or territory on the map below to see where and when Rx Response has activated